Google 'Verbatim' Tool Lets You Search Literally (PICTURE)

Sometimes Google's algorithms don't know better, or at least that's the thought behind "verbatim", a new Google Search feature announced on Wednesday.

In verbatim mode, which can be accessed by clicking "Show search options" in the left-hand column of a Google results page, Google will not make any of its "normal improvements" to your search and will only look for the literal words you type into the search bar. According to the Google blog, the improvements that Google will not make when searching in verbatim include the following:

• making automatic spelling corrections
• personalizing your search by using information such as sites you’ve visited before
• including synonyms of your search terms (matching “car” when you search [automotive])
• finding results that match similar terms to those in your query (finding results related to “floral delivery” when you search [flower shops])
• searching for words with the same stem like “running” when you’ve typed [run]
• making some of your terms optional, like “circa” in [the scarecrow circa 1963]

It used to be that a "+" between keywords would denote an exact search, but in October it was reported that Google had quietly dispensed with the rarely and incorrectly used symbol in favor of double quotes around keywords.

Some said the "+" search operator was replaced because Google wanted to use it in Google+ profile searches without confusion.

Regardless of the reason, there was a niche uproar over the change. According to Wired.com, blogger Andy Baio tweeted, "Google phased out the + operator yesterday, which means I now have to 'quote' 'every' 'term' 'like' 'this'. Nobody else finds this annoying?" A Google employee quickly responded to say they were working on a fix. Today's announcement of Verbatim, which Google calls a "more deliberate" way to search exact terms, appears to be that fix.

Baio was apparently pleased. Following the verbatim announcement, he tweeted, "It feels strange to have influenced Google, and I'm frankly astonished at how quick the change was introduced. Nice work."

Take a look at the screenshot (below) to see where you can access this new search tool.

LOOK:

Comments

[Matthew DiMarchista]

05:37 AM on 05/22/2012

Do you want Firefox to always use Google's verbatim search??
Add
<Param name="tbs" value="li:1"/>

after the three occurences of
<Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/>

in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\google.xml

[Deltiologist]

10:16 PM on 01/06/2012

Verbatim still doesn't work properly. Searching for "Log-in" consistently returns results with "Log in". Why Google can't implement functionality that is so simple, which other software applications have made available for decades is beyond me.

Actually since I work in the high-tech industry it may not be beyond me. Implementing direct literal searching may interfere with their underlying marketing and advertising functions, but I haven't looked into it.

Often when a software application doesn't perform some obviously simple function it's because it interferes with something else the designer is trying to force to happen.

Oh well, there are search engines other than Google out there.

[Buzz Mega]

01:03 PM on 11/18/2011

Ahem. On my Google search page, there is no such thing as a listing for "Show search options" as the article describes.

Once accesses Verbatim through this path: Search > All results > More search tools > Verbatim.

This is true for all browsers I can test. And it provides an example of how an article writer, Ramona Emerson in this case, can often become paradoxically-challenged.

Here, the "verbatim-ness" of the new feature has been trampled by the writer's inability to direct you to the feature through a simple set of words she wrote without checking to see if they were *ahem* verbatim.

Oh, the crushing irony!

[Funky Discharge]

09:04 AM on 11/17/2011

I never knew about or used the + operator - I almost always put my search in quotes: "jimi Hendrix" gives me more exact information than simply typing Jimi Hendrix. I'm surprised how many Google users I encounter that never knew that.

[latinrayford]

09:48 PM on 11/16/2011

Tools from google always need a thick guide book. Siri and Watson go go go.

[Sharon Hunt]

09:41 PM on 11/16/2011

wow

[jkkFL]

09:04 PM on 11/16/2011

YAY! I am so sick of getting off the wall, irrelevant answers- I will be hopping on this like a bird on a worm!

[Steven Travis]

04:46 PM on 11/16/2011

Wow that's awesome - sounds like the Google I knew and loved back in the late 90's.