Google Search gets ‘About this result’ to get more insights and possibly weed out ‘Fake News’

Google's About This Result feature
Google offers additional information about search results. Pic credit: Simon/Pixabay

Google Search results are getting a new panel. The search results will have an additional snippet of information through the “About this result” menu.

Google is adding a major new feature to the Google Search results. Users will gain access to the “About this result” menu that will pull additional information from reputed websites.

How to use Google Search ‘About this result’?

Google has introduced a new feature to help users find out more information about the websites that show up while using the company’s search engine. The search giant has introduced this feature on a trial basis.

The ‘About this result’ menu is only available to users residing in the United States of America for now. However, Google should expand the availability soon.

Users in the USA should start seeing a three dots icon next to each search result. Tapping on the icon will bring up a description of the website that’s on the other end of the link.

The Google Search ‘About this result’ feature is available to the users of Google Mobile Search as well as the desktop search platform.

For now, the About this result feature pulls information from Wikipedia. However, in certain cases, Google will direct users to one of its services. In this case, the search giant will offer a small blurb on how it sources the data.

There will invariably be several cases wherein the search result listings might not have adequate information. In this case, Google will draw up some basic information about when it first indexed the website. This should indicate how old the website is.

In every instance of the ‘About this result’, however, Google will note if the user’s connection to the website is secured through HTTPS. Needless to add, Google recommends avoiding websites with HTTP protocol as it is usually not safe.

Is Google hoping to fight misinformation and Fake News with the “About this result’ menu?

The Google Search ‘About this result’ offers multiple benefits. Users usually attempt to conduct a secondary search out about the website they are about to visit. Now the relevant additional information is easily available.

Essentially, the panels should allow users to make more informed decisions. Google claims the new result information will help provide additional “peace of mind” when searching. However, it is quite likely that the panel will help in combating Fake News.

Tech and Internet giants such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, etc. have been fighting a tough battle against misinformation campaigns. The Fake News peddling websites often attempt to manipulate their content to rise in search results.

Google Search ‘About this result’ could offer an additional checkpoint to users. But for now, with information coming primarily from Wikipedia, the method isn’t completely fool-proof.

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