Google is testing a new feature that will at least warn users when a search may yield unreliable results, according to reports. The new prompt warns users that the results they are seeing are changing quickly, and reads, in part, "If this topic is new, it can sometimes take time for results to be added by reliable sources".
At present, the tech giant is rolling out this feature in the US, and is only supported in the English language. However, Google has said that it is looking to expand this functionality to other countries over the next few months.
If fully implemented, the new feature would add to Google's recent efforts to inform users about the quality of search results. In February, the company introduced "about this result" panels that bring up a description of the linked website. That will either detail how the site sources information or other information about when it was first indexed.
Google said that Google Search tries to provide the most useful results every time, sometimes, reliable information on some topics is not available online, which is especially true for breaking news or topics that are yet emerging. In such cases, the information that is first published is not necessarily the most reliable.
According to reports, Google confirmed that it started testing the feature about a week ago. Currently, the company says the notice is only showing up in a small percentage of searches, which tend to be about developing trending topics.
Companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook have often struggled to handle the high volume of misinformation, conspiracy theories and unverified news stories that run rampant on the internet.
The new prompt is also part of a larger trend by major tech companies to give people more context about the new information that could turn out to be wrong.
