Google Launches Verbatim Search

 

Google today added a twist to its search features. For the first time, Googlers can intentionally search for a misspelled or made-up term without using special characters such as a "+" sign or quotation marks by using “Verbatim,” an advanced Google search function.

 

Google search engineers found that users typed the “+” operator in less than 0.5 percent of all searches , and in two-thirds of those searches, used it incorrectly. Google removed the “+” capability several weeks ago and encouraged users to enclose their special term in quotation marks. Fail.

 

“Since then, we’ve received a lot of requests for a more deliberate way to tell Google  to search using your exact terms,” Corin Anderson, principal engineer for Google, wrote in a blog post. “Starting today, you’ll be able to do just that through verbatim search.”

 

With verbatim search turned on, automatic spelling correction, showing synonyms for search terms and similar phrases, including search history, and any other substitutions will be turned off.

 

The verbatim tool can be found under “More search tools” on the left-hand side of the page after a search has been initiated. Verbatim will be rolled out to all users over the next few days.