Ads in Google Search are clearly marked as sponsored.
Speaker not identifiedIn Day 1, 11:00 · Welcome and opening keynotesEvidence transcript
Topic · Serving and ranking
The results page and search features
Google described its results page as an auction in which results of different types compete for space (a metaphor, said at the event), with text results the most common type. Query understanding decides which result types appear: explicit words such as 'pictures' signal the intent, and for ambiguous queries Google uses historical interaction data. A text result has an attribution (site name, favicon, URL), a title link and a snippet, which Google generates from its understanding of the page, and Google can add badges such as a preferred-source badge. Search features are built as the last serving step, after ranking, and most need nothing from the site owner; rich results are the exception that relies on structured data. Images appear among web results because, Google said, people began adding words such as 'pictures' to queries in 2005-2006, which led to universal search in May 2007 (said at the event); those image results come from Google's image index, and video results take thumbnails and attribution from the page or its markup. The site name is an attribution feature that owners can influence with WebSite markup on the home page. This extends Day 2: feature extraction pulls structured data, images and videos from the page during indexing, and snippets are rebuilt from the stored tokens (said at the event). Day 1's second recording added that after ordering the results Google constructs the page by deciding which search features fit the query's intent, that a majority of search features now use AI (said at the event), and that ads in Search are clearly marked as sponsored. Google's site names, introduced on mobile for select languages in October 2022, became available in all languages in September 2023.
Things in this topic 6
Counts are claims that name the thing. All things
What to do
- Indicate your preferred site name with WebSite structured data on the home page.
Day 1: Crawling 3
Said on stage 3
After ordering the results, Google constructs the results page by deciding which search features fit the intent of the query.
Speaker Cherry PrommawinIn Day 1, 11:45 · How Search works and where's AI?Evidence transcript
Google said a majority of its search features now use AI.
Speaker Cherry PrommawinIn Day 1, 11:45 · How Search works and where's AI?Evidence transcript
Day 2: Indexing 1
What Google's documentation says 1
Google's site names were introduced on mobile results for select languages in October 2022, expanded to desktop in March 2023, and on 7 September 2023 became available in all languages where Google Search is available, on mobile and desktop.
Publisher Search Central blog (7 September 2023)Annotates Day 2, 14:30 · Lightning session G: Internationalisation
Day 3: Serving: Ranking, Search Console, and Performance 20
Shown on screen 1
Consistent with docsD3-C321
Google's serving diagram shows the query passing through query understanding and retrieval to the index, then back through ranking and search features to the user, with the Search Features step highlighted (example query 'Where to eat orange').
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence slide photo
Things
- Repeats D3-C001 Day 3: Google's opening slide for serving day showed serving as the third stage after crawling and indexing, and…
Said on stage 17
Google described its search results page as an auction system in which the individual results, of different types, all bid for a place on the page; the auction is a metaphor for result types competing for space, not a reference to ads.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Text results are the most common and most prominent result type on Google's results page, whether they are generated by an LLM or not, or enhanced in some other way, Google's speaker said.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Which kinds of results Google shows for a query is decided by query understanding, which tries to predict the intent behind the query.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Things
- Extends D3-C004 Day 3: Google placed query understanding in the traditional part of Search, the part where answers are looked up in…
When the query itself names the wanted result type, as 'pictures' does in 'orange pictures' (or a query asking for videos or news), Google can read the intent directly from that word.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Google said it shows images on the web results page, not only in image search, because from 2005-2006 it saw people appending words such as 'pictures' or 'images' to their queries, which led to the launch of universal search.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Used byglossary term Universal search
For an ambiguous query such as 'orange', Google uses historical data: it looks at how users reacted to different kinds of results for previous and similar queries and shows the result types users prefer.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Google uses an abstract drawing of the search results page in its documentation so that the illustration does not go out of date as fast as a screenshot.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
A text result on Google's results page is made of parts such as the attribution, the title link, the snippet and the site name.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Things
Google generates the parts of a text result, such as title link and snippet, from its understanding of the underlying web page, even when the site owner provides nothing extra.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Things
Used byrequirement DEV-HTM-03
- Extends D2-C724 Day 2: The snippet shown for a web result is reconstructed from the tokens stored in Google's index: Google knows…
Google can add elements to a text result, such as a 'highly cited' badge or a preferred-source badge.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
- Extends D1-C027 Day 1: Sites that users mark as a preferred source are more visible in Top Stories and are labelled in AI Mode and…
Some search features work the other way round: a feature container holds text results inside it; the speaker could not recall that feature's name and suggested, unsure, linked subscriptions.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Image results shown among web results come from Google's image index and are roughly the same images that Google Images shows for the same query.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Things
- Extends D2-C525 Day 2: An image Google has extracted can appear almost anywhere Google shows results, including Discover, image…
Video results in web search have thumbnails and attribution that come from the page or from its markup.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Google generates search features as the last serving step: it sends the query to the index, gets results back, ranks them and then builds the search features.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript, slide photo
Used byglossary term Search features
Most of Google's search features need nothing extra from the site owner; Google generates them from what it extracted from the page during indexing.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Used byglossary term Search features
- Extends D2-C446 Day 2: The 'gold nuggets' that Google's feature extraction step pulls out of a page's HTML are structured data (such…
Rich results differ from other search features because Google builds them from extra data that site owners provide, usually structured data and usually in JSON-LD format.
“The magic behind rich results is usually structured data. Emphasis on "usually".”
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Used byglossary terms Rich results, Search features
- Extends D2-C521 Day 2: Structured data makes pages eligible to appear as rich results, Google's structured data talk said in its…
Google described the site name as an attribution feature rather than a rich result, and said site owners can influence which site name Google shows for their site in search results.
Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are bornEvidence transcript
Things
Used byrequirement DEV-SDA-15glossary term Site name
What Google's documentation says 2
Google's Visual Elements gallery describes a text result as based on the page's textual content, with attribution, title link and snippet; attribution can include the site name, favicon and visible URL, and a rich result typically relies on structured data.
Publisher Google Search CentralAnnotates Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are born
Google's site name documentation says site names are generated automatically from a site's home page and references to it on the web, and that a site can indicate its preferred name with WebSite structured data on its home page.
Publisher Google Search CentralAnnotates Day 3, 13:25 · How Search results are born
Things
Used byrequirement DEV-SDA-15glossary term Site name
Across days and sessions 7
- Stage D3-C304 Day 3 · How Search results are born
Which kinds of results Google shows for a query is decided by query understanding, which tries to predict the intent behind the query.
extendsStage D3-C004 Day 3 · Making sense of users' queriesGoogle placed query understanding in the traditional part of Search, the part where answers are looked up in an index and then presented and ranked.
- Stage D3-C316 Day 3 · How Search results are born
Google generates the parts of a text result, such as title link and snippet, from its understanding of the underlying web page, even when the site owner provides nothing extra.
extendsStage D2-C724 Day 2 · How does the index look like?The snippet shown for a web result is reconstructed from the tokens stored in Google's index: Google knows the position of each token in the document and rebuilds the snippet from those positions.
- Stage D3-C317 Day 3 · How Search results are born
Google can add elements to a text result, such as a 'highly cited' badge or a preferred-source badge.
extendsD1-C027 Day 1 · What's new in the world of SearchSites that users mark as a preferred source are more visible in Top Stories and are labelled in AI Mode and AI Overviews.
- Stage D3-C319 Day 3 · How Search results are born
Image results shown among web results come from Google's image index and are roughly the same images that Google Images shows for the same query.
extendsStage D2-C525 Day 2 · Using images to your advantage and Engaging Search users with videosAn image Google has extracted can appear almost anywhere Google shows results, including Discover, image search, web search and AI features, so its potential reach is immense.
- Stage D3-C323 Day 3 · How Search results are born
Most of Google's search features need nothing extra from the site owner; Google generates them from what it extracted from the page during indexing.
extendsStage D2-C446 Day 2 · Finding the gold nuggets: structured data, media, and more!The 'gold nuggets' that Google's feature extraction step pulls out of a page's HTML are structured data (such as JSON-LD), images and videos.
- Stage D3-C324 Day 3 · How Search results are born
Rich results differ from other search features because Google builds them from extra data that site owners provide, usually structured data and usually in JSON-LD format.
extendsStage D2-C521 Day 2 · What is Structured Data and why we need it on the internet.Structured data makes pages eligible to appear as rich results, Google's structured data talk said in its recap.
- D3-C321 Day 3 · How Search results are born
Google's serving diagram shows the query passing through query understanding and retrieval to the index, then back through ranking and search features to the user, with the Search Features step highlighted (example query 'Where to eat orange').
repeatsD3-C001 Day 3 · Welcome to serving and ranking day!Google's opening slide for serving day showed serving as the third stage after crawling and indexing, and drew Google's serving infrastructure as query understanding and retrieval leading into the index, then ranking and search features leading back to the user, for the example query 'Where to eat jamon'.
Built on these claims 2
Developer requirements 2
State the preferred site name with WebSite markup on the home page
Rests on 2 claims, 2 of them in this topic
Give every indexable page a unique, descriptive title element in the server HTML
Rests on 7 claims, 1 of them in this topic
Sources 11
- How ads work on Google Search
- In-depth guide to how Google Search works
- Site names on Google Search now available for all languages
- Visual Elements gallery of Google Search
- Automatically generating and ranking results
- Influencing your title links in search results
- Control your snippets in search results
- Help your readers find your site through preferred sources in Google Search
- Video SEO best practices
- Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search
- Provide a site name to Google Search