Why Google’s Popular Answers Can’t Always Be Trusted
When you enter a question into a Google search , you often get the complete answer right at the top of the page. These featured answers can be a huge time saver, but they can also be completely wrong.
Why should Google give you the wrong information in the spotlight? Well, the video above from the Vox YouTube channel reveals the beans. These short snippets of information at the top of the Google search page, known as “Featured Snippets,” are considered “extended answers” or high priority responses beyond the regular results you find below them. Essentially, detailed answers give you the information you want without having to click on any links. Or, if you have Google Home, these extended answer snippets usually appear when you ask a question to your personal assistant device.
As explained in The Outline , Google defines these snippets using technology similar to its Knowledge Graph database , but is also not limited to verified sources as the Knowledge Graph does. This means that Google’s Featured Answers can be retrieved from just about any popular search result, even if it’s a third-party website. So how do they get to the top? This is partly popularity, but that’s not all. Google prioritizes links that directly answer common questions, links that answer those questions with fewer words than others, and likes links that offer information in a list format. It doesn’t matter if the information is accurate or not. For example, if you previously asked Google “why fire trucks were red,” you would get a quote from Monty Python. Other examples from the past include Google’s announcement of Barack Obama as “King of America” or a passage that says dinosaurs never existed.
And these passages raise many questions. In fact, one study found that about 31.2% of 1.4 million searches had a snippet at the top. Of course, not all of these detailed answers are wrong, but many of them may be wrong and the Google search police do not know. Why? Google Search uses an automated process that decides whether to save or modify a snippet based on the snippet’s performance. Thus, a completely false statement can be a popular answer until someone points it out. Google usually fixes these things pretty quickly when someone notices, but they can’t grasp everything before it can potentially do some damage. So, when you search the Internet, don’t always believe the first one you read.