How to Quickly Check Google Search Results for Reliability and Safety
Google has added a helpful About This Result menu to search results. The new menu includes contextual information that you can use to check if you are getting expert advice from a trusted source, a recent job posting, or confirming that the site you are about to navigate to is safe.
US users can now access the new About This Result menu in Google searches on computers and mobile devices. It works in all browsers, Google Android built-in search and Google iOS app. However, the information cannot be viewed right away — you need to click the three-dot icon next to the website name to open the About this Result information card.
Google says most – but not all – search results will now have an “About These Results” card. For those who do, you will see a short description of the website taken from Wikipedia. If there is no Wikipedia entry for the page, the description is taken from one of the Google services, although it will not be as detailed. At least you’ll see the first time Google has indexed the page. Google also links to all sources of any information on the card.
Checking the “About this result” card on a website can also improve your online safety. The map will indicate “Your connection to this site is secure” if it uses HTTPS, which is important to keep your personal information safe while browsing. The ability to pre-check a secure connection is handy no matter what you’re looking for, but especially if you’re looking into a danger zone outside of the first page or two of results.
Finally, the quick links at the bottom of the card can direct you to the privacy settings of your Google account and information about how the Google crawler works. Some websites will also have a link to quickly find similar results, or a link to the latest cached version of the page if you’ve visited it before.
Please note that the “About This Result” feature is still in beta testing, so some information may be incomplete and the feature may not always work correctly. If you find errors or inaccuracies, there is a link to “Send feedback on this information” to Google.