Let's say someone just happens to call and ask about the birthdate of a particular actor who played Matt Dillon in the TV series Gunsmoke, that is currently airing on TV Land. I know, that's crazy - nobody would ever call and ask about that!
Anyway, Google is now using
Squared technology in their regular searches, helping to find the answers to brief, factual questions (sound familiar?). For example, if we search in Google for the answer to the question above, we would search for
James Arness date of birth.
The results list will look like this:
Instead of a clickable link, at the top of the results list we find the answer to our query in bold print. By expanding the
Show Sources link, you can see several different sources for the answer, which is May 26, 1923. This lets you choose from multiple sources to verify the answer quickly:
However, as with most reference work - let the searcher beware. Though this new feature can be useful, it can also be inaccurate.
Trust, but verify. Also, similarly phrased searches as the example we used above may or may not list an answer with sources at the top of the results list. Like all search engine indexing, it is a never-ending work in progress. However, in the course of preparing this post I did find that one of my sample searches had been changed hours later. I tried a search for
prime minister of united kindgom, only to initially find a bolded result listing Tony Blair as the answer. Whoops! A few hours later, I was unable to replicate that same result with that search. It could be a case where someone searching and finding the same result used the
Feedback button (listed above
Show Sources) to alert Google of potential errors.
Read more about this feature on
The Official Google Blog.
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