5 ms·

I work for Google Search. We have several ways for you to do this. The easies is to put quotes around a word or a phrase that you absolutely, positively want to

I work for Google Search. We have several ways for you to do this. The easies is to put quotes around a word or a phrase that you absolutely, positively want to be present in content retrieved. And yes -- it still works. It really really does, but if you or anyone finds an example where you believe it doesn't, please let me know. We'll debug it. The reasons people sometimes think it's not working is because the text appears in ALT text, or it appears in text that's not readily visible on a page (maybe in a menu bar or small text), or there's punctuation ("dog cat" will match "dog, cat") or sometimes a page has changed after we've indexed it (so view the cached copy, if available). You can also use verbatim mode from the toolbar so that we search for only the exact words you provide.

johnny22 5y ago
why can't verbatim mode be combined with time frame limits?
- dannysullivan 5y ago
  You should be able to. I can. Tools, then change All results to Verbatim. Then change Any Time to one of the presets of custom range. Or just quote the words in regular mode then use our before/after commands: https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1115706765088182272 https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1115706765088182272
  - b112 5y ago
    What?! Have you tried this? It immediately turns verbatim off. For everyone! It's been like this forever. Years and years. Gaslighting won't help here! In terms of quotes, again, this does NOT work like +, like verbatim. If it did, then that term would absolutely show up, just as it is, in search results. Yet, over the years I've seen: - aliasing happen from within quotes (EG, bob -> robert) - quotes entirely ignored (eg, those terms NOT showing up) Yet searching with verbatim on, immediately causes those quoted words to appear! You are absolutely gaslighting people on this! Right now, in this thread. And if it isn't intentional, if you aren't gaslighting, then how can you not even notice that verbatim turns off, the second you select a date range? I want to say so much more here, but it's filled with such ... vitriol, that I think my terminal would melt.
    - aceazzameen 5y ago
      I can confirm what bbarnett says about date ranges and verbatim. Turning on a date range toggles verbatim off. Turning on verbatim toggles the date range off. It's impossible to enable them both.
    - dannysullivan 5y ago
      I'm not trying to gaslight anyone. And what would be the point? To say something works if it demonstrably doesn't work? Yes, I tried this for some of the presets before I replied. It worked. It still works. My sincere apologies for not specifically testing custom date range option as well. I should have; you are correct. That won't work. I'll pass it on to see if there's a way it can. My apologies again. If you need to do this another way, what I also said works. Do it in the search bar using the before/after command. Just quote all the words, and that's the same as verbatim.
      - b112 5y ago
        That is absolutely not the same as verbatim, and you need to do some empirical tests on your end, before you state things like this. Take a look here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29424094 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29424094 It's like you're just spouting Google propaganda, without validating what you're saying. Just like with vertabim/date range, which has been a thing for close ot a decade, which Google has received endless reports about, this too does not do what you say. Your responses are akin to those canned responses one gets when you post a bad review. "So sorry, please contact us here at this email address.", which of course is all about impression, and results in nothing ever happening. This has been going on almost a decade, yet oh what, no, haha is your response.
        b112 5y ago
        For additional clarity, quoting has always, always, always been different than +, and verbatim. When you(Google) removed +, so that 'google+ searches' could work without interference, quoting was already a thing, and people were just told by some airhead googler "Oh, but quoting is the same! Just use that!" It wasn't. It isn't. I never has been. Ever. Verbatim was introduced to replicate that lost + functionality, after massive outrage at the inability to find search results. The fact that you, and other Googlers still think "" is the same as verbatim/+, when it doesn't even show the same search results, is highly, highly questionable. To be beyond blunt, you're wrong. You are completely and totally wrong. +/verbatim and "" are not the same thing. Please go away, and learn how your own product works, before commenting on it, ok?
boatsie 5y ago
I don’t think op meant it literally, but the fact that the results are so keyword stuffed that despite “appearing” on the page they are actually irrelevant to the page and thus useless.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

johnny22 5y ago

why can't verbatim mode be combined with time frame limits?

dannysullivan 5y ago
You should be able to. I can. Tools, then change All results to Verbatim. Then change Any Time to one of the presets of custom range. Or just quote the words in regular mode then use our before/after commands: https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1115706765088182272 https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1115706765088182272
- b112 5y ago
  What?! Have you tried this? It immediately turns verbatim off. For everyone! It's been like this forever. Years and years. Gaslighting won't help here! In terms of quotes, again, this does NOT work like +, like verbatim. If it did, then that term would absolutely show up, just as it is, in search results. Yet, over the years I've seen: - aliasing happen from within quotes (EG, bob -> robert) - quotes entirely ignored (eg, those terms NOT showing up) Yet searching with verbatim on, immediately causes those quoted words to appear! You are absolutely gaslighting people on this! Right now, in this thread. And if it isn't intentional, if you aren't gaslighting, then how can you not even notice that verbatim turns off, the second you select a date range? I want to say so much more here, but it's filled with such ... vitriol, that I think my terminal would melt.
  - aceazzameen 5y ago
    I can confirm what bbarnett says about date ranges and verbatim. Turning on a date range toggles verbatim off. Turning on verbatim toggles the date range off. It's impossible to enable them both.
  - dannysullivan 5y ago
    I'm not trying to gaslight anyone. And what would be the point? To say something works if it demonstrably doesn't work? Yes, I tried this for some of the presets before I replied. It worked. It still works. My sincere apologies for not specifically testing custom date range option as well. I should have; you are correct. That won't work. I'll pass it on to see if there's a way it can. My apologies again. If you need to do this another way, what I also said works. Do it in the search bar using the before/after command. Just quote all the words, and that's the same as verbatim.
    - b112 5y ago
      That is absolutely not the same as verbatim, and you need to do some empirical tests on your end, before you state things like this. Take a look here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29424094 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29424094 It's like you're just spouting Google propaganda, without validating what you're saying. Just like with vertabim/date range, which has been a thing for close ot a decade, which Google has received endless reports about, this too does not do what you say. Your responses are akin to those canned responses one gets when you post a bad review. "So sorry, please contact us here at this email address.", which of course is all about impression, and results in nothing ever happening. This has been going on almost a decade, yet oh what, no, haha is your response.
      - b112 5y ago
        For additional clarity, quoting has always, always, always been different than +, and verbatim. When you(Google) removed +, so that 'google+ searches' could work without interference, quoting was already a thing, and people were just told by some airhead googler "Oh, but quoting is the same! Just use that!" It wasn't. It isn't. I never has been. Ever. Verbatim was introduced to replicate that lost + functionality, after massive outrage at the inability to find search results. The fact that you, and other Googlers still think "" is the same as verbatim/+, when it doesn't even show the same search results, is highly, highly questionable. To be beyond blunt, you're wrong. You are completely and totally wrong. +/verbatim and "" are not the same thing. Please go away, and learn how your own product works, before commenting on it, ok?

boatsie 5y ago

I don’t think op meant it literally, but the fact that the results are so keyword stuffed that despite “appearing” on the page they are actually irrelevant to the page and thus useless.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]