8 ms·

I know that a lot of people were sad that we switched from +word to "word" to do an exact match for a word. The good news is that we're rolling out a "literal

I know that a lot of people were sad that we switched from +word to "word" to do an exact match for a word. The good news is that we're rolling out a "literal mode" that will search for exactly the words you typed. It does a verbatim match with your words, so it turns off things like spelling corrections, stemming, synonyms, optionalized terms, and so on. I think we saw multiple proposals for this on Hacker News, so thanks for the suggestion.

redler 15y ago
Matt, do you know if there are any plans to once again allow the mixing of exact match with the regular fuzzier search functionality? It's great to have exact matching back, but I often found it a useful strategy to build the search loosely, then refine with +specifics. Perhaps something like this, in exact match mode: ~run ~sprint ~hurdle nike could be the equivalent of the old: run sprint hurdle +nike
- davorak 15y ago
  Yes please allow something like this, mixing verbatim with fuzzier search functionality is powerful.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- Xuzz 15y ago
  You still can do that, you just have to use "quotes" "around" "the" "words" instead of +putting +the +plus +sign +before +each +word. This just lets you get that type of search for every word easier.
- DanBC 15y ago
  Isn't run sprint hurdle "nike" what you want?
  - redler 15y ago
    Yes, and of course that works fine. It's just the ease of using an inline prefix to modify the term, rather than enclosing it in quotes. We're mourning the loss of the +.
ctdonath 15y ago
Thank you. Irritation has been growing that I can't search for what I want without fielding all kinds of "well what about this variant..." results, without even + prefix and "" squishing into some unwanted twist. Would be nice to make (at least as an option) Verbatim mode the default, with a link provided per search to show variants.
brador 15y ago
This isn't really the solution we were looking for Matt. Can we replace the + operator with something else? How about¬? We don't use that very often to the point I don't even know what it's called, but it's there on the keyboard in one keypress.
- Xuzz 15y ago
  Not on US keyboards, I don't think.
  - nknight 15y ago
    Depends on your OS. ¬ is a quick alt+l on any Mac. However, it's the symbol for logical negation[1], and thus probably not a great substitute for +. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%AC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%AC
    - Natsu 15y ago
      On Windows, you have to do Alt+0172 to get a ¬ unless there's some shortcut I don't know offhand.
  - hessenwolf 15y ago
    I've looked all over my German keyboard, with its crazy-assed bracket locations, and I don't see it anywhere.
    - bobbles 15y ago
      My UK keyboard has it left of the '1' key above the qwerty keys
      - hessenwolf 15y ago
        I have carat and a little circle. The bastards.
- georgemcbay 15y ago
kitsune_ 15y ago
finally... and thanks.
InclinedPlane 15y ago
Out of curiosity, how does google judge search result quality? It seems as though search is trending toward the idea that more results are better, when usually the opposite is true.
- tamersalama 15y ago
  A bit speculative: this is more related to Ad revenue. A wider spectrum of search results means more Ad variety and the ability to serve more advertisers per search query. I'm annoyed by Google's search quality by the day. I'm starting to use DuckDuckGo more (unless there are other alternatives).
  - moultano 15y ago
    I know it's tempting but please don't speculate like that, it raises my blood pressure. :) Google keeps ranking changes completely siloed from the ad side of the company, and the decision makers about ranking changes don't see statistics about how it might effect ads. We don't even have a way of collecting that data. (At least as far as I've ever seen.)
    - itswindy 15y ago
      Moultano, don't be so naive. There's someone above your pay-grade that watches these things, like this change hurt the earnings or increased them. Then winks and nods kick in. Not to mention that innocent things like favoring brands can do wonders for Google's bottom line. So you can change the results all you want, as long as you favor brands. Henry Ford and car color
    - tamersalama 15y ago
      I couldn't resist the speculation temptation :) Correct me if I'm wrong; When I'm searching for (unquoted) "Canadian equivalent to SOPA Bill". I'm getting results about Soap, Telenovela, Spas, Dishwasher Soap, TV shows (and 1 related hit). The result, as you mentioned, could be ranked independent of Ads, but the Ad spectrum is wider (Soaps, Spas, Soap operas, TV shows, etc...) [I'm not getting any in this particular case]. If it's restrictive search (quoting each word - sigh!), the search result quality is slightly better (first 3 hits), but the potential of Ads is also low. I know you put the user first - but wouldn't you speculate in my case?
tamersalama 15y ago
Why aren't you allowing for both; The original +prefix as well as the quotes?
bambax 15y ago
Although "sad" with where Google search is (was) going isn't the right term, I am now very much unpissed, so many many thanks for this. How is "literal mode" different from what "allintext:" promised? And is there an option to turn this on permanently?
beernutz 15y ago
I always used the + to mean "the following word or quote surrounded string HAS to appear in the result text". Was this incorrect?
pasbesoin 15y ago
I seem to recall reading in prior discussion on this that +foo included stemming while "foo" does not? (And, therefor, some people were unhappy with "foo" not just due to the syntax change but also due to the difference in behavior.) Some other people in this thread have suggested ¬ as a substitute (and no, it's not on a typical U.S. keyboard). Others point out that ¬ means negation in a typical context. Do you folks index backticks? If not, what about backtick? I guess that wouldn't be too *NIXy; however, most keyboards seem to have one, and if it's not currently indexed, might be a choice. (It's also "sort of quotish", in nature.) P.S. Hmm... Backtick could cause unexpected results in the case of someone pasting a single quoted value from Word, or similar. Might not be the common, though, and I never did like Word's "smart quotes", anyway. ;-)
ElbertF 15y ago
I'm not seeing the change yet, will we be able to use "verbatim:hello world" to do an exact search? I don't see myself navigating through the sidebar each time I need to find something specific.
- bromley 15y ago
  Yes, please, verbatim: or similar would be great, especially for use on a mobile.
- JonnieCache 15y ago
  This is a good idea, it will allow us to use the string interpolation address bar search functionality we all love in our favourite browsers. In general, nice one google for once again keeping an ear to the ground.
redthrowaway 15y ago
Still waiting on being able to search for punctuation. Being able to search for "$. ruby" or "$_ perl" or "$: << '.' ruby" would be super handy. edit: Just realized "$_ perl" actually does work. It would be nice, however, if we could search for these kinds of terms generally and not just in specific case.
- polshaw 15y ago
  1000 times this. I have been waiting a decade to be able to search for '1/2' or '6' 3"' or '£3.50' (not necessarily numbers, you get the point i'm sure), and i was dissapointed to find this post wasn't announcing that.
- dncrane 15y ago
  I launched a search engine that does exactly this just over a week ago, you can see it here: http://symbolhound.com/ http://symbolhound.com/ I freaked out when I saw this headline and thought it meant google had finally decided to implement this feature a week after my launch.
  - redthrowaway 15y ago
    That's freaking fantastic. Shame it didn't get much notice on proggit. I'll resubmit it at a busier time and share it on G+ and whatnot. You might want to submit it here yourself, so you can answer any questions people might have and let the community get to know you. Try submitting it with the "Show HN:" heading. Send me an email (in my profile) when you do submit it and I'll be sure to swing by and give it one of the critical first upvotes. Really cool tool; thanks for that.
    - dncrane 15y ago
      Thanks! I do plan to post it on HN, I just want to wait until it's a bit better (right now stackoverflow dominates the results, so I need to adjust the ranking system and index more sites). BTW, I don't see your email in your profile.
goblin89 15y ago
Nice, now search personalization can be turned off! > With the verbatim tool on, we’ll use the literal words you entered without making normal improvements such as <...> personalizing your search by using information such as sites you’ve visited before Personally, I appreciate this more than allowing to search for exact matches. Hopefully ‘filter bubble’ just became less… bubbley. =)
jerrya 15y ago
Can you confirm or discuss more about what this does to the "filter bubble?" In two windows of the same browser, I typed gyros, one immediately offered me an instant search result of gyros Phoenix (where I currrently am), the other window, in verbatim mode offered me gyros, gyroscope, and gyros recipe. (Don't ask me why I tried gyros as my search example.)
- Matt_Cutts 15y ago
  I believe verbatim mode turns off personalization, and it looks like it turns off localization as part of that. So the query [yoga] shows local places to do yoga for me, but in verbatim mode I don't see that.
wooster 15y ago
Thanks Matt. This helps with at least one of my complaints about the direction Google search has been heading. (Now if you'd just eliminate that godawful slow URL redirector on result links…)
drivebyacct2 15y ago
Why does this query not do what one would expect. halo -"halo 2" -"halo 3" Also, removing "Advanced Search" from the main google.com and from the top of a search results page beats out moving "cached" to the preview page in terms of "stupidest decision Google has ever made".
- Matt_Cutts 15y ago
  I'll ask about the halo query. In the mean time, it looks like [halo -halo.2 -halo.3] does what you want. Do you see a gear symbol in the top of main google.com and the results page? I think that's where Advanced Search is now.
  - drivebyacct2 15y ago
    Thanks for the query recommendation. Curious why the other didn't work, I feel it (or similar ones) have worked as I might expect in the past. >Do you see a gear symbol in the top of main google.com and the results page? I think that's where Advanced Search is now. Seems Android action-bar-esque almost, but yes, thanks.
walropodes 15y ago
Could you guys consider bringing out a case-sensitive search feature sometime?

redler 15y ago

Matt, do you know if there are any plans to once again allow the mixing of exact match with the regular fuzzier search functionality? It's great to have exact matching back, but I often found it a useful strategy to build the search loosely, then refine with +specifics. Perhaps something like this, in exact match mode: ~run ~sprint ~hurdle nike could be the equivalent of the old: run sprint hurdle +nike

davorak 15y ago
Yes please allow something like this, mixing verbatim with fuzzier search functionality is powerful.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
Xuzz 15y ago
You still can do that, you just have to use "quotes" "around" "the" "words" instead of +putting +the +plus +sign +before +each +word. This just lets you get that type of search for every word easier.
DanBC 15y ago
Isn't run sprint hurdle "nike" what you want?
- redler 15y ago
  Yes, and of course that works fine. It's just the ease of using an inline prefix to modify the term, rather than enclosing it in quotes. We're mourning the loss of the +.

ctdonath 15y ago

Thank you. Irritation has been growing that I can't search for what I want without fielding all kinds of "well what about this variant..." results, without even + prefix and "" squishing into some unwanted twist. Would be nice to make (at least as an option) Verbatim mode the default, with a link provided per search to show variants.

brador 15y ago

This isn't really the solution we were looking for Matt. Can we replace the + operator with something else? How about¬? We don't use that very often to the point I don't even know what it's called, but it's there on the keyboard in one keypress.

Xuzz 15y ago
Not on US keyboards, I don't think.
- nknight 15y ago
  Depends on your OS. ¬ is a quick alt+l on any Mac. However, it's the symbol for logical negation[1], and thus probably not a great substitute for +. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%AC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%AC
  - Natsu 15y ago
    On Windows, you have to do Alt+0172 to get a ¬ unless there's some shortcut I don't know offhand.
- hessenwolf 15y ago
  I've looked all over my German keyboard, with its crazy-assed bracket locations, and I don't see it anywhere.
  - bobbles 15y ago
    My UK keyboard has it left of the '1' key above the qwerty keys
    - hessenwolf 15y ago
      I have carat and a little circle. The bastards.
georgemcbay 15y ago

kitsune_ 15y ago

finally... and thanks.

InclinedPlane 15y ago

Out of curiosity, how does google judge search result quality? It seems as though search is trending toward the idea that more results are better, when usually the opposite is true.

tamersalama 15y ago
A bit speculative: this is more related to Ad revenue. A wider spectrum of search results means more Ad variety and the ability to serve more advertisers per search query. I'm annoyed by Google's search quality by the day. I'm starting to use DuckDuckGo more (unless there are other alternatives).
- moultano 15y ago
  I know it's tempting but please don't speculate like that, it raises my blood pressure. :) Google keeps ranking changes completely siloed from the ad side of the company, and the decision makers about ranking changes don't see statistics about how it might effect ads. We don't even have a way of collecting that data. (At least as far as I've ever seen.)
  - itswindy 15y ago
    Moultano, don't be so naive. There's someone above your pay-grade that watches these things, like this change hurt the earnings or increased them. Then winks and nods kick in. Not to mention that innocent things like favoring brands can do wonders for Google's bottom line. So you can change the results all you want, as long as you favor brands. Henry Ford and car color
  - tamersalama 15y ago
    I couldn't resist the speculation temptation :) Correct me if I'm wrong; When I'm searching for (unquoted) "Canadian equivalent to SOPA Bill". I'm getting results about Soap, Telenovela, Spas, Dishwasher Soap, TV shows (and 1 related hit). The result, as you mentioned, could be ranked independent of Ads, but the Ad spectrum is wider (Soaps, Spas, Soap operas, TV shows, etc...) [I'm not getting any in this particular case]. If it's restrictive search (quoting each word - sigh!), the search result quality is slightly better (first 3 hits), but the potential of Ads is also low. I know you put the user first - but wouldn't you speculate in my case?

tamersalama 15y ago

Why aren't you allowing for both; The original +prefix as well as the quotes?

bambax 15y ago

Although "sad" with where Google search is (was) going isn't the right term, I am now very much unpissed, so many many thanks for this. How is "literal mode" different from what "allintext:" promised? And is there an option to turn this on permanently?

beernutz 15y ago

I always used the + to mean "the following word or quote surrounded string HAS to appear in the result text". Was this incorrect?

pasbesoin 15y ago

I seem to recall reading in prior discussion on this that +foo included stemming while "foo" does not? (And, therefor, some people were unhappy with "foo" not just due to the syntax change but also due to the difference in behavior.) Some other people in this thread have suggested ¬ as a substitute (and no, it's not on a typical U.S. keyboard). Others point out that ¬ means negation in a typical context. Do you folks index backticks? If not, what about backtick? I guess that wouldn't be too *NIXy; however, most keyboards seem to have one, and if it's not currently indexed, might be a choice. (It's also "sort of quotish", in nature.) P.S. Hmm... Backtick could cause unexpected results in the case of someone pasting a single quoted value from Word, or similar. Might not be the common, though, and I never did like Word's "smart quotes", anyway. ;-)

ElbertF 15y ago

I'm not seeing the change yet, will we be able to use "verbatim:hello world" to do an exact search? I don't see myself navigating through the sidebar each time I need to find something specific.

bromley 15y ago
Yes, please, verbatim: or similar would be great, especially for use on a mobile.
JonnieCache 15y ago
This is a good idea, it will allow us to use the string interpolation address bar search functionality we all love in our favourite browsers. In general, nice one google for once again keeping an ear to the ground.

redthrowaway 15y ago

Still waiting on being able to search for punctuation. Being able to search for "$. ruby" or "$_ perl" or "$: << '.' ruby" would be super handy. edit: Just realized "$_ perl" actually does work. It would be nice, however, if we could search for these kinds of terms generally and not just in specific case.

polshaw 15y ago
1000 times this. I have been waiting a decade to be able to search for '1/2' or '6' 3"' or '£3.50' (not necessarily numbers, you get the point i'm sure), and i was dissapointed to find this post wasn't announcing that.
dncrane 15y ago
I launched a search engine that does exactly this just over a week ago, you can see it here: http://symbolhound.com/ http://symbolhound.com/ I freaked out when I saw this headline and thought it meant google had finally decided to implement this feature a week after my launch.
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  That's freaking fantastic. Shame it didn't get much notice on proggit. I'll resubmit it at a busier time and share it on G+ and whatnot. You might want to submit it here yourself, so you can answer any questions people might have and let the community get to know you. Try submitting it with the "Show HN:" heading. Send me an email (in my profile) when you do submit it and I'll be sure to swing by and give it one of the critical first upvotes. Really cool tool; thanks for that.
  - dncrane 15y ago
    Thanks! I do plan to post it on HN, I just want to wait until it's a bit better (right now stackoverflow dominates the results, so I need to adjust the ranking system and index more sites). BTW, I don't see your email in your profile.

goblin89 15y ago

Nice, now search personalization can be turned off! > With the verbatim tool on, we’ll use the literal words you entered without making normal improvements such as <...> personalizing your search by using information such as sites you’ve visited before Personally, I appreciate this more than allowing to search for exact matches. Hopefully ‘filter bubble’ just became less… bubbley. =)

jerrya 15y ago

Can you confirm or discuss more about what this does to the "filter bubble?" In two windows of the same browser, I typed gyros, one immediately offered me an instant search result of gyros Phoenix (where I currrently am), the other window, in verbatim mode offered me gyros, gyroscope, and gyros recipe. (Don't ask me why I tried gyros as my search example.)

Matt_Cutts 15y ago
I believe verbatim mode turns off personalization, and it looks like it turns off localization as part of that. So the query [yoga] shows local places to do yoga for me, but in verbatim mode I don't see that.

wooster 15y ago

Thanks Matt. This helps with at least one of my complaints about the direction Google search has been heading. (Now if you'd just eliminate that godawful slow URL redirector on result links…)

drivebyacct2 15y ago

Why does this query not do what one would expect. halo -"halo 2" -"halo 3" Also, removing "Advanced Search" from the main google.com and from the top of a search results page beats out moving "cached" to the preview page in terms of "stupidest decision Google has ever made".

Matt_Cutts 15y ago
I'll ask about the halo query. In the mean time, it looks like [halo -halo.2 -halo.3] does what you want. Do you see a gear symbol in the top of main google.com and the results page? I think that's where Advanced Search is now.
- drivebyacct2 15y ago
  Thanks for the query recommendation. Curious why the other didn't work, I feel it (or similar ones) have worked as I might expect in the past. >Do you see a gear symbol in the top of main google.com and the results page? I think that's where Advanced Search is now. Seems Android action-bar-esque almost, but yes, thanks.

walropodes 15y ago

Could you guys consider bringing out a case-sensitive search feature sometime?