How google uses metadata to improve search results

Abstract

This article critically examines four Google search products (Google Advanced Search, Google News Advanced Search, Google Books Advanced Search, and Google Advanced Scholar Search) and shows how each uses metadata to enhance or improve search results. In addition, the article shows how metadata can increase search precision and recall in information discovery systems. From a library perspective, this article analyzes some of the metadata-enabled features of Google's advanced search pages and compares these features to those found in a typical online library catalog. From a serials perspective, Google News Advanced Search demonstrates how Google indexes news websites, sites that are essentially continuing resources. As Google incorporates more and more meta-data functionality into its advanced search pages, they increasingly begin to function more like online library catalogs and less like search pages found in a traditional Internet search engine. The simple search box has many limitations, and like libraries, Google is increasingly creating and offering metadata-enabled search features that improve search precision and recall in its products. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.