You suck at Googling: 5 tips to improve your search skills
There is, in fact, a wrong way to use Google
One question, millions of answers
There are around201 known factorson which a website is analyzed and ranked by Google’s algorithms. Some of the main ones are:
Research has shownusers pay more attention to higher-ranked results on the first page. And there are known ways to ensure a website makes it to the first page.
One of these is “search engine optimization”, which can help a web page float into the top results even if its content isn’t necessarily quality.
The other issue is Google Search resultsare different for different people, sometimes even if they have the exact same search query.
Results are tailored to the user conducting the search. In his bookThe Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser points out the dangers of this – especially when the topic is of a controversial nature.
Personalized search results create alternate versions of the flow of information. Users receive more of what they’ve already engaged with (which is likely also what they already believe).
This leads to a dangerous cycle which can further polarise people’s views, and in which more searching doesn’t necessarily mean getting closer to the truth.
A work in progress
While Google Search is a brilliant search engine, it’s also a work in progress. Google iscontinuously addressing various issuesrelated to its performance.
One major challenge relates to societal biasesconcerning race and gender. For example, searching Google Images for “truck driver” or “president” returns images of mostly men, whereas “model” and “teacher” return images of mostly women.
While the results may represent what hashistoricallybeen true (such as in the case of male presidents), this isn’t always the same as what iscurrentlytrue – let alone representative of the world we wish to live in.
Some years ago, Googlereportedlyhad to block its image recognition algorithms from identifying “gorillas”, after they began classifying images of black people with the term.
Another issue highlighted by health practitioners relates to peopleself-diagnosing based on symptoms. It’s estimated about40% of Australianssearch online for self-diagnosis, and there are about 70,000 health-related searches conducted on Google each minute.
There can be serious repercussions for those whoincorrectly interpretinformation found through “Dr Google” – not to mention what this means in the midst of a pandemic.
Google has delivered a plethora of COVID misinformation related to unregistered medicines, fake cures, mask effectiveness, contact tracing, lockdowns and, of course, vaccines.
According toone study, an estimated 6,000 hospitalizations and 800 deaths during the first few months of the pandemic were attributable to misinformation (specifically the false claim thatdrinking methanol can cure COVID).
To combat this,Google eventually prioritisedauthoritative sources in its search results. But there’s only so much Google can do.
We each have a responsibility to make sure we’re thinking critically about the information we come across. What can you do to make sure you’re asking Google the best question for the answer you need?
How to Google smarter
In summary, a Google Search user must be aware of the following facts:
This article byMuneera Bano, Senior Lecturer, Software Engineering,Deakin Universityis republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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