Inside Search
The official Google Search blog
Time to back away from the cookie jar? Introducing nutrition info in search
May 30, 2013
Figuring out how to make smart choices about some of our favorite foods can often be a cumbersome and daunting process. So we’re hoping we can make those choices a little bit easier: starting today you will be able to quickly and easily find extensive nutrition information for over 1,000 fruits, vegetables, meats and meals in search. From the basics of potatoes and carrots to more complex dishes like burritos and chow mein, you can simply ask, “How much protein is in a banana?” or “How many calories are in an avocado?” and get your answer right away.
You'll hear the answer to your specific question
, see relevant nutrition information under an expansion, and be able to switch to other related foods or serving sizes.
This new nutritional information builds on our work on the Knowledge Graph, which brings together all kinds of information from across the web that wasn't easily accessible. The graph helps us connect things that are related, even in cases when those foods have a completely different sounding name from what you asked. For example, when you ask for “summer squash carbs”, we include “zucchini” as a relevant food in the dropdown, because it is a type of summer squash.
Here are a few examples:
Tempted by some popcorn at the movies? Ask “how many calories are in popcorn” and you’ll get your answer. [Hint: it's 31 calories per cup]
Perplexed by a food label or recipe? Ask “what nutrients are in breadfruit?” or “is there sugar in granadilla?”
Big on a high protein diet? Ask “how many carbs in corn?” or simply search for [corn] and you’ll see detailed nutrition info.
This feature will begin to launch today in English and will be rolling out in the US over the next ten days. Over time we’ll be adding more features, foods, and languages. So tap the microphone, give the feature a spin, and soon explore and discover the ins and outs of over 1,000 of your favorite foods.
Posted by Ilya Mezheritsky, Product Manager
Getting started with structured data
May 30, 2013
When Google understands a website’s content in a structured way, we can present that content more accurately and more attractively in search. For example, our algorithms can enhance search results with “
rich snippets
” when we understand that a page contains an event, recipe, product, review, or similar. We can also feature a page’s data as part of answers in search from the
Knowledge Graph
or in
Google Now
cards, helping you find the right information at just the right time.
Starting today, webmasters have two new tools that make it simpler than ever before to provide the structured content of their web pages. The first is an expansion of
Data Highlighter
to eight types of structured data:
events
,
products
,
local businesses
,
articles
,
software applications
,
movies
,
restaurants
, and
TV episodes
. With Data Highlighter, webmasters don’t even need to change their site’s HTML. Instead, they can just point and click with their mouse to “tag” the key fields on a few sample pages of their site. Google learns the pattern of the fields and applies it to similar pages on the site, so all their information can be understood.
The second tool,
Structured Data Markup Helper
, is for web authors who are ready to take the next step and embed structured data directly within their pages, so their content is available to everyone. As with Data Highlighter, one simply points and clicks on a sample web page to indicate its key data fields. Structured Data Markup Helper then shows exactly what microdata annotations to add to the page’s HTML code. We hope this helps give HTML authors a running start with adding structured data to their sites, in turn making search results more meaningful.
To learn more, please see our post on the
Webmaster Central blog
!
Posted by Justin Boyan, Product Manager
Finding your photos more easily with Google Search
May 23, 2013
Your photos represent some of your most important memories and life events, yet they are increasingly difficult to manage as you build up your photo library, accumulate new devices and make new friends. In many cases, searching for your photos can be challenging because the information you’re looking for is visual.
Starting today, you’ll be able to find your photos more easily and connect with the friends, places and events in your Google+ photos. For example, now you can search for your friend’s wedding photos or pictures from a concert you attended recently. To make computers do the hard work for you, we’ve also begun using computer vision and machine learning to help recognize more general concepts in your photos such as sunsets, food and flowers.
Try it out on Google.com by signing in and searching for [
my photos
] or [my photos from new york last year] or [matt’s photos of food]. You can also try out this feature on
Google+ Photos
.
Update (4:45 p.m. PST): To clarify, s
earching for [my photos] and similar terms is currently available in English on Google.com when you are signed in to your Google+ enabled Google Account.
Posted by Matthew Kulick, Product Manager
A multi-screen and conversational search experience
May 15, 2013
Search has always been about giving you the best answers quickly, regardless of what device you use. At
Google I/O
today, we gave an update on where we are in building the search engine of the future--a search engine that can answer your questions, have a conversation with you, and even give you useful things without you ever having to ask.
A conversation with search -- across your devices
People communicate with each other by conversation, not by typing keywords -- and we’ve been hard at work to make Google understand and answer your questions more like people do. Already, you can tap a mic, talk to Google in a more natural way and get responses spoken back to you on Android, iPhone, and iPad devices.
Today, we previewed what this conversational experience will look like in Chrome on your desktops and laptops. Soon, you’ll be able to just say, hands-free, “OK Google, will it be sunny in Santa Cruz this weekend?” and get a spoken answer. Then, you’ll be able to continue the conversation and just follow up with “how far is it from here?” if you care about the drive or “how about Monterey?” if you want to check weather somewhere else, and get Google to tell you the answer.
Better answers - Improvements to the Knowledge Graph
We announced the Knowledge Graph -- our map of real-world people, places and things -- less than a year ago and since then have been adding more depth. We’ve also expanded it to make search more intelligent in other languages. And starting today, you’ll get richer answers from the Knowledge Graph if you speak Polish, Turkish, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese.
You’ll also get smarter answers to questions like “what’s the population of Canada?” Not only will Google answer that question, but you also get an answer to the next few follow-up questions people often ask. In a single card, you’ll see how Canada’s population changed over time -- and a comparison with California and Australia.
Google Now: a new take on reminders, and new cards
Google Now is about providing you with just the right information at just the right time. With the new reminders in Now, not only can you save things to remember later, but you can actually pick a time or place to trigger those reminders, so they pop up at just the right time. Because a note to buy milk, paper towels and food for the dog, is a lot more helpful when you’re actually at the grocery store. Or if you’re about to miss the last train home, Google Now can remind you that you better leave. And if you’re interested in an upcoming book or there’s a new album you’re excited to listen to, Google Now will shoot you a reminder when it comes out, and even provide a recommendation. And the best part is, you can create some of these reminders with just your voice.
With just the tap of a mic or flick of a finger, millions of people across the world can easily tap into the entire world’s knowledge and find what they need to make their lives better, or just have their day run a little smoother. That’s why we’re so excited about the new search experience we’re building at Google and it will change how we experience life.
Posted by
Amit Singhal
, Senior Vice President
More than 70 of the world’s languages in the blink of an eye
May 8, 2013
If you took a quick snapshot of content available on the web, you might think that everyone around the world spoke English, Chinese, French or Spanish. But in fact, millions of people around the world speak an incredible array of languages that currently have a small presence across the web.
Google Translate
helps bridge the divide between the content available online and people’s ability to access that information. Starting today, you can translate another five languages using Google, which combined are spoken by more than 183 million people around the globe:
Bosnian
is an official language in Bosnia and Herzegovina that’s also spoken in regions of neighboring countries and by diaspora communities around the world.
Cebuano
is one of the languages spoken in the Philippines, predominantly in the middle (Visayas) and southern (Mindanao) regions of the nation.
You can hear the
Hmong
language spoken in many countries across the world, including China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and throughout the United States.
Javanese
is the second most-spoken language in Indonesia (behind Indonesian), with 83 million native speakers.
Marathi
is spoken in India and has 73 million native speakers. Google Translate already supports several other Indian languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
With the exception of Bosnian, these new languages are “alpha,” meaning while the quality isn’t perfect, we will continue to test and improve them over time.
You can access Translate on the web at
https://translate.google.com
, on your
Android
or
iOS device
, or via Chrome and in Gmail. We are excited to reach the 70+ language milestone, and we look forward to continuing to add more languages.
Bosnian
: Google Prevodilac sada podržava više od 70 jezika!
Cebuano
:
Google sa Translate misuporta na karon sa kapin sa 70 ka mga!
Hmong
:
Google Translate nim no txhawb nqa tshaj li 70 hom lus!
Javanese
: Google Translate saiki ndhukung luwih saka 70 basa!
Marathi
:
Google भाषांतर आता 70 पेक्षा जास्त भाषांचे समर्थन करते!
Posted by Sveta Kelman, Program Manager, Google Translate
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