Google announced on the Google Search blog yesterday that they are now even better at handling more complex queries in natural language within the Google Search App and search in general. Specifically, Google said they are better at interpreting and returning relevant results for queries containing superlatives, time based queries and more complicated questions.
A WebmasterWorld administrator said he gave it a try and it was pretty good. He wrote:
I tried it using natural language and it was just fine. It tripped up on a few terms, but I was probably mumbling. Interestingly, I had the radio on in the background and it was listening for music, and found the album with the song that was playing. I'm going to have to be careful about background discussions!
As I covered at Search Engine Land, here are examples:
Superlatives
Google now understands superlatives, such as "tallest," "largest" and so on, as well as ordered items. So you can ask the Google app the following questions:- Who are the tallest Mavericks players?
- What are the largest cities in Texas?
- What are the largest cities in Iowa by area?
Time-Based Queries:
Google is better at understanding the time you mention in your query, for example:- What was the population of Singapore in 1965?
- What songs did Taylor Swift record in 2014?
- What was the Royals roster in 2013?
More Complicated Queries:
Google is also better at understanding more complex combinations. So Google can now respond to questions like:- What are some of Seth Gabel's father-in-law's movies?
- What was the US population when Bernie Sanders was born?
- Who was the US President when the Angels won the World Series?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
