Information Update

By Lisa L. Doble, JD, Senior Vice President Mercer Capital

And Even More Things Google

For some time, I have tried to utilize as many search tools and strategies to find information as efficiently as possible. It doesn’t always work that way, but that’s the goal. Admittedly, Google has always been my search tool of first resort. It seemed that their stated mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” made them the most logical primary search tool. However, there have been changes to Google’s search function that you should be aware of that tilt it a bit more toward commerce than information.

First, there is no longer a link to Google’s advanced search feature. However, the feature still exists. Ironically, you can “google it” and find a link. There is just no longer a link that can be accessed from Google’s main search page, which was my usual route. The functionality can still be found at www.google.ca/advanced_search. I’d recommend adding that one to your favorites. Using the advanced search feature of any search tool makes honing your searches so much easier.

Second, Google Scholar is relegated to clicking the second click through now. Google Scholar provides a free means of searching scholarly literature. Access to similar academic materials is often fee based. Remember if you’d like to use this, you can “google it” and it will be the first link retrieved (scholar.google.com). You can also access it by clicking “more” from the Google home page, then “even more”.

Third, with partial thanks to the explosion of social media, beware of personalized search results. One of Google’s recent stated goals is instant and personalized search results. Google’s personal results include those based on your prior search history as well as content shared by friends. Both personalization methods risk skewing “raw” search results. You can turn off the personalization using search settings while logged into your account. You can disable the personalization even when you are not logged into a Google account that uses cookies by disabling customizations at google.com/history/optout. Realize that sometimes personalization of results can save time. I’d recommend being aware of the type of information you seek and what is the best way to find it, using personalization or not.

Google still offers many search options and nifty tools with which to experiment. The expansion of social media has changed the character of “online” from efficient access to significant amounts of information to more social, relationship based interactions. Google’s changes reflect use patterns and aren’t necessarily surprising. Users should be aware of them and how to continue to use Google as a search tool that can get the best information for your particular need.