AP file photo
SAN FRANCISCO—Google announced Thursday a major adjustment to its search engine to bake more freshness into results.
“Search results, like warm cookies right out of the oven or cool refreshing fruit on a hot summer’s day, are best when they’re fresh,” Google fellow Amit Singhal said in a blog post.
“Even if you don’t specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent.”
The change to Google’s results-ranking algorithm was expected to change outcomes of about 35 percent of searches, giving higher ranking to current information.
Types of searches affected included hunts for hot news topics such as the Occupy Wall Street movement and topics along the lines of frequently updated consumer gadget reviews.
“Different searches have different freshness needs,” Singhal said.
“This algorithmic improvement is designed to better understand how to differentiate between these kinds of searches and the level of freshness you need, and make sure you get the most up-to-the-minute answers.”