Google is introducing new ways for users to verify information on Search, the company announced on Tuesday. The search giant is launching new features called “Perspectives” and “About this author,” while also expanding some of its current tools, including “About this result.”
The new Perspectives feature is a carousel that will appear below Top Stories and showcase insights from a range of journalists, experts and other relevant voices on the topic you’re searching for. The idea behind the feature is to give users a variety of noteworthy voices on a news topic to broaden their understanding of the subject matter. The carousel will launch soon in English in the U.S. and will be available on desktop and mobile, Google says.
Google is also launching a new feature called “About this author” that lets users easily learn more about the authors behind the content they are reading. With this new feature, users will be able to find more information about the background of the authors that Google surfaces on Search. The feature is launching on Search results in English globally and on the Perspectives carousel in the U.S. in English.
The “About this author” feature is an expansion of Google’s current “About this result” feature, which first rolled out in 2021 in English. The company announced that it’s now launching the “About this result” feature globally in all languages where Search is available in the coming days. Now, all users will see three dots next to most results on Google Search. Tapping those three dots gives users details about where the information is coming from and how Google’s systems determined it would be useful for the query.
In addition, Google announced that it’s making it easier for users to access its “About this page” feature starting today.
“When you click on the three dots next to a result, you can learn more information about the source and topic of a particular page,” the company said in a blog post. “Now we’re making this information even easier to access. Say you’re searching for a rainforest protection organization. Starting today, you can type in the URL of the organization in Google Search and information from About this page will populate at the top of Search. You’ll be able to quickly see how the website describes itself, what others on the web have said about a site and any recent coverage of it. From there, you can evaluate whether you want to visit the website and learn more. This feature is now available globally in English.”
Last August, Google rolled out advisories in Search results that are triggered when its systems don’t have high confidence in the overall quality of the results available. The company is now expanding these advisories to languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese in the coming months. The idea behind these advisories is to provide context about the whole set of results on the page. It’s worth noting that you can always see the results for your query, even when the advisory is present.
Google also gave an update on its $13.2 million grant to the International Fact-Checking Network to launch a new Global Fact Check Fund, which was initially announced last year. The company says the fund will open in the coming days and support more than 130 fact-checking organizations from 65 countries covering over 80 languages.
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