Google has announced two new features aimed at assisting US-based and English-language searchers in evaluating information within Google Search and verifying sources and claims made by those listings. The first is a feature that displays a highly cited label in the Top Stories results, and the second is a feature that improves the about result feature for rapidly evolving topics.
Highly cited label
Google will soon introduce a new highly cited label to its US English search results, which will appear on Top Stories within Google’s mobile search results. This label will assist users in identifying stories that have been widely cited by other news outlets.
This, according to Google, will help elevate original reporting, which it first mentioned in 2019 as an area it wanted to improve. This label will reassure searchers that the story has been cited by a number of other journalists and is likely to contain unique and valuable information on which they can rely. This, according to Google, helps users find the “most useful or relevant information for a news story.”
According to a Google spokesperson, this label is a continuation of the company’s efforts for the fact check explorer.
What is the procedure for obtaining this label? Google essentially stated that it is all about who is being linked to across the internet and which stories are being cited the most.
About this result for rapidly evolving topics
Google is also using the about this result feature to inform searchers about any potential issues with search results related to a trending topic or breaking news story. Because the topic is rapidly evolving, Google will display a notice that the search results for a query may change. This complements Google’s about this result feature, which displays a notice that says “it appears that these results are changing quickly” for rapidly evolving topics.
Read Google Autocomplete: A Complete SEO Guide.
Google then provides instructions on how to verify the source of the result, as well as an invitation to return in a few hours when Google has figured out what is best to rank for those queries. This feature’s screenshot is as follows:
Here, Google offers information literacy tips, as well as a link to a new resource page with best, practices for determining information’s credibility. In addition, Google reminds the searcher that they can check whether a source is reliable on a given topic or return later when more information is available.
Google has also added more details to the information about this result feature; here’s a GIF of it in action:
Why we care
Both of these labels and features may have an impact on how Google displays your site in search results. A story with a “highly cited label” will almost certainly have a higher click-through rate than one without. Also, if you’re covering breaking news on a topic, there’s a chance you’ll get less traffic if Google displays a message telling searchers to return later.
Changes to the Google search interface can have a direct impact on your site’s traffic, so be aware of these features and how they may affect your site.
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