Slashdot Mirror


Google Makes Its Search System Slightly More Transparent

Meshach writes "The New York Times has an interesting article about how Google has revealed some of the inner workings of the Google Search service. The main change is that sites that are not in English will be translated then included in the search results. Google said it has also improved the way it recognizes official Web sites, like those published by the government, and will give those sites higher ranking in search results. Google does not usually reveal such details but the article speculates governments have been pushing for more transparancy."

4 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Summary by CmdrPony · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the summary:

    The main change is that sites that are not in English will be translated then included in the search results.

    From the article:

    One of the new changes will affect searches in languages for which there is little Web content available, including Afrikaans, Hindi and Icelandic. Google will now translate relevant Web pages written in English and show those results, too.

    Complete opposite direction. Go Slashdot!

  2. Re:What! by masternerdguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe if your clients actually did their jobs they could have a higher rank. The government gets it done so they deserve more exposure!

    --
    To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
  3. Re:Government Transparency by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, what they said was, "We can see your nipples through your blouse". But Google Translate came out with the "pushing for more transparency" line.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  4. Oh good by Trogre · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Does this mean they'll be bringing the + operator back some time soon? /wishful thinking

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife