How to better examine your Google search sources

Q: What is the source of information Google provides when I use the ‘About this result’ feature?

A: Now, more than ever, it’s important to know the source of information you find online and Google’s attempt to provide more information about its search results called ‘About this result’ was launched in early 2021.

You can access this feature by clicking on the three small dots just to the right of the URL and just above the title of each result on the page which will result in a small box of information.  BETA means that it’s still in development, but it’s perfectly safe to use, unlike some beta software programs.

Source

The first section will be labeled ‘Source’ and will try to provide a Wikipedia overview of the website itself, not on the specific page in the result.  It’s essentially an overview of the author of the website if it exists somewhere on Wikipedia.com.

It will also clearly point out if the link is to an ad or sponsored link or if it’s an actual search result page.

If it doesn’t have an associated Wikipedia page, Google will provide the approximate month and year that the website was first indexed.  This is a quick way to know if a website was just recently created or has been around for a long time.

Most scam websites are relatively new since they tend to get shut down as they are discovered forcing them to create new ones.

It will also provide the entire URL, so you can fully examine it before ever clicking on it.

Lastly, it gives you a quick confirmation as to whether your connection will be secure (https://) or not with a link to ‘More about this page’ which leads to a page with two different sections: About the source and About the topic.

About The Source

If there was no Wikipedia page for reference, you’ll see a description created by the website itself (In their own words) and other search results about the source if they exist.

Depending upon the subject of the search, you may also get a description from Google’s Knowledge Graph (https://bit.ly/3QwSVFq), which is a database of facts about people, places and things.

These additional search results from third parties can be a very helpful way to evaluate the source when it’s one you aren’t familiar with.

About The Topic

This section will provide additional websites that are also discussing the topic or item that you searched for, so you can get more perspective from a variety of sources.

If it’s a news-related search, you’ll see articles about the topic from a variety of news sources in addition to the one link in your search results.

Not Perfect, But Useful

This feature is far from a perfect way to investigate sources of information, but it does provide some easy-to-use tools for gathering useful information to help us all get a handle on misinformation.

This is all machine-driven, which is why it won’t always be helpful, but it’s certainly a better way to scrutinize information than taking things at face value from a friend’s social media post!