Editing Google Search (section)

==={{visible anchor|Instant search|Instant Search}}===
Instant search was announced in September 2010 as a feature that [[Incremental search|displayed suggested results while the user typed in their search query]], initially only in select countries or to registered users.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 8, 2010 |title=Google Instant Search: The Complete User's Guide |url=https://searchengineland.com/google-instant-complete-users-guide-50136 |access-date=October 5, 2021 |website=Search Engine Land |language=en |quote=Google Instant only works for searchers in the US or who are logged in to a Google account in selected countries outside the US |archive-date=October 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020125043/https://searchengineland.com/google-instant-complete-users-guide-50136 |url-status=live }}</ref> The primary advantage of the new system was its ability to save time, with [[Marissa Mayer]], then-vice president of search products and user experience, proclaiming that the feature would save 2–5 seconds per search, elaborating that "That may not seem like a lot at first, but it adds up. With Google Instant, we estimate that we'll save our users 11 hours with each passing second!"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mayer |first=Marissa |author-link=Marissa Mayer |date=September 8, 2010 |title=Search: now faster than the speed of type |url=https://googleblog.blogspot.no/2010/09/search-now-faster-than-speed-of-type.html |access-date=December 15, 2017 |website=Official Google Blog |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221553/https://googleblog.blogspot.no/2010/09/search-now-faster-than-speed-of-type.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Matt Van Wagner of ''[[Search Engine Land]]'' wrote that "Personally, I kind of like Google Instant and I think it represents a natural evolution in the way search works", and also praised Google's efforts in [[public relations]], writing that "With just a press conference and a few well-placed interviews, Google has parlayed this relatively minor speed improvement into an attention-grabbing front-page news story".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wagner |first=Matt Van |date=September 20, 2010 |title=How Google Saved $100 Million By Launching Google Instant |url=https://searchengineland.com/how-google-saved-100-million-by-launching-google-instant-51270 |access-date=December 15, 2017 |website=[[Search Engine Land]] |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019111500/https://searchengineland.com/how-google-saved-100-million-by-launching-google-instant-51270 |url-status=live }}</ref> The upgrade also became notable for the company switching Google Search's underlying technology from [[HTML]] to [[Ajax (programming)|AJAX]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gomes |first=Ben |date=September 9, 2010 |title=Google Instant, behind the scenes |url=https://googleblog.blogspot.no/2010/09/google-instant-behind-scenes.html |access-date=December 15, 2017 |website=Official Google Blog |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221508/https://googleblog.blogspot.no/2010/09/google-instant-behind-scenes.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Instant Search could be disabled via Google's "preferences" menu for those who didn't want its functionality.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pash |first=Adam |date=September 8, 2010 |title=How to Turn Off Google Instant Search |url=https://lifehacker.com/5633004/how-to-turn-off-google-instant-search |access-date=December 15, 2017 |website=[[Lifehacker]] |publisher=[[Univision Communications]] |archive-date=December 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216034557/https://lifehacker.com/5633004/how-to-turn-off-google-instant-search |url-status=live }}</ref>

The publication ''[[2600: The Hacker Quarterly]]'' compiled a list of words that Google Instant did not show suggested results for, with a Google spokesperson giving the following statement to ''[[Mashable]]'':<ref>{{Cite web |last=Axon |first=Samuel |date=September 28, 2010 |title=Which Words Does Google Instant Blacklist? |url=http://mashable.com/2010/09/28/google-instant-blacklist/ |access-date=December 15, 2017 |website=[[Mashable]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221427/http://mashable.com/2010/09/28/google-instant-blacklist/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|There are several reasons you may not be seeing search queries for a particular topic. Among other things, we apply a narrow set of removal policies for pornography, violence, and hate speech. It's important to note that removing queries from Autocomplete is a hard problem, and not as simple as blacklisting particular terms and phrases.

In search, we get more than one billion searches each day. Because of this, we take an algorithmic approach to removals, and just like our search algorithms, these are imperfect. We will continue to work to improve our approach to removals in Autocomplete, and are listening carefully to feedback from our users.

Our algorithms look not only at specific words, but compound queries based on those words, and across all languages. So, for example, if there's a bad word in Russian, we may remove a compound word including the transliteration of the Russian word into English. We also look at the search results themselves for given queries. So, for example, if the results for a particular query seem pornographic, our algorithms may remove that query from Autocomplete, even if the query itself wouldn't otherwise violate our policies. This system is neither perfect nor instantaneous, and we will continue to work to make it better.}}

''[[PC Magazine]]'' discussed the inconsistency in how some forms of the same topic are allowed; for instance, "lesbian" was blocked, while "gay" was not, and "cocaine" was blocked, while "crack" and "heroin" were not. The report further stated that seemingly normal words were also blocked due to pornographic innuendos, most notably "scat", likely due to having two completely separate contextual meanings, one for music and one for a sexual practice.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Horn |first=Leslie |date=September 29, 2010 |title=Google Instant Blacklist: Which Words Are Blocked? |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369908,00.asp |access-date=December 15, 2017 |magazine=[[PC Magazine]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]]}}</ref>

On July 26, 2017, Google removed Instant results, due to a growing number of searches on mobile devices, where interaction with search, as well as screen sizes, differ significantly from a computer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Barry |date=July 26, 2017 |title=Google has dropped Google Instant Search |url=https://searchengineland.com/google-dropped-google-instant-search-279674 |access-date=December 15, 2017 |website=[[Search Engine Land]] |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221323/https://searchengineland.com/google-dropped-google-instant-search-279674 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Statt |first=Nick |date=July 26, 2017 |title=Google will stop showing search results as you type because it makes no sense on mobile |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/26/16034844/google-kills-off-instant-search-for-mobile-consistency |access-date=December 15, 2017 |website=[[The Verge]] |publisher=[[Vox Media]] |archive-date=December 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221633/https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/26/16034844/google-kills-off-instant-search-for-mobile-consistency |url-status=live }}</ref>