Google adds 'verbatim' search option

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Just weeks ago, Google eliminated its longtime "+" symbol, used to let the search engine know exactly what you're searching for, replacing the plus sign with quotation marks. That resulted in a rebellion by search mavens, but Google is making amends. The plus sign — competition/confusion with Google+, perhaps? — is not back. But now, "verbatim" search will do the same thing.

SearchEngineLand.com's Danny Sullivan was among the leading voices lamenting the plus-to-quotation marks change.

But Google was not keen on bringing "+" back. Google's Corin Anderson, principal engineer for search, said in a blog posting that users "typed the '+' operator in less than half a percent of all searches, and two thirds of the time, it was used incorrectly."

But because of the outcry, "we’ve received a lot of requests for a more deliberate way to tell Google to search using your exact terms. We’ve been listening," he wrote, and starting now users will be able to do that using verbatim search, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks:

You can find "verbatim" under “More search tools” on the left-hand side of Google's search results, as shown in the screenshot above.

Related stories:

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• Google search results now fresher and warmer
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