Google Search Will Now Admit When It Doesn’t Know an Answer

Whenever you try searching something way too difficult for Google Search to comprehend, it throws a generic “Your search did not match any documents” or shows random results that might seem too irrelevant to your query. This approach might sound cold to a lot of people and Google is finally working to fix that.

Starting today in the U.S, Google will show you a more empathetic message that reads “It looks like there aren’t any great matches for your search” — a far better, less patronising message.

“While you can still go through the results to see for yourself if they’re helpful, the message is a signal that we probably haven’t found what you’re looking for. When possible, the feature will also provide some alternative searches as well as tips on how you could reformulate your query to better find the information you seek.”, says Google in a blog post.

The search results page also links to a help page where you will find common search techniques to refine your search.While you’re at it, do not forget to check out our article on the same here.

Here in India, Google still throws the infamous generic message but that should hopefully change in the coming weeks since this new error message is certainly more humane and would help users know they should rephrase their search keywords without also making it sound as if Google is telling you off for not phrasing your search better.

As Google says, the feature won’t be seen too often since the internet has grown at a rapid phase to have answers to almost every other query that raises in your mind. In the worst-case scenarios, you’ll now at least know there aren’t relevant results after all in a polite way.