Google Search Team Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions

I'm Ben Gomes.

And I'm Chris Haire.

And we're on the Google Autocomplete team.

And we're about to do the Wired Autocomplete interview.

We get to answer all kinds of questions

from all around the world.

All right, why is Google Autocomplete not working?

When does that happen?

I don't think that ever happens.

Is your internet okay?

Yeah, it's probably your internet, it's not us.

Actually, fun fact, most people

when they start up their machines

to check that their internet's working,

go to Google.com simply because

we're available in so many different regions

as close to 100% in time.

Why is Google Autocomplete weird?

People are weird.

People are really weird. Yes they are.

They ask all kinds of questions and, you know?

You get what you get.

Why is Google Autocomplete racist?

Unfortunately, Autocomplete is based on

what other people are searching for.

Unfortunately, there are people

who have racist views in the world.

We try and get rid of these suggestions the best we can.

If you see them, report them to us.

We do our best to get rid of them.

Please.

Why doesn't Google Autocomplete bad words?

(laughing) We do have people who get

frustrated and type in bad words.

It doesn't really help their search very much.

And so we cannot Autocomplete a bad word

because it's not likely to help you.

Your frustration likely gets in your way.

[Together] Do Google employees ...

Oh this is about us, I suppose.

All right, here we go.

Do Google employees get free food?

Yeah, we do. Oh, you betcha we do.

Yeah we do, it's great.

[Together] Do Google employees get free massages?

One on your birthday.

But otherwise, yeah you have to pay for it.

Do Google employees use Gmail?

Yeah, we do. Oh yeah, we do.

We've been using Gmail forever.

Gmail was an internal product before we gave it

to the outside world.

Yeah.

Do Google employees take naps?

Oh yeah. We are human, we do.

We like people to be able to do

what makes them feel comfortable and productive.

If that means a nap in the afternoon

in order for you to do a better job

in the evening, so be it.

People are very curious about what we do.

Apparently.

Can Google employees read my email?

[Together] Nope, nope, nope, no, no.

Can Google employees see my photos?

[Together] Again, no, no, nope, nope, nope.

Can Google employees bring dogs to work?

Yeah, we can.

We decided at some point we're a dog company.

Can't bring your cat to work,

but you can bring your dog to work.

Can Google employees date each other?

Yeah, they can.

We're humans, too.

There are restrictions on dating within

your management chain, but yeah.

[Together] Can Google employees have tattoos?

Yep, sure.

There's some pretty inked Googlers out there.

All right, does Google search ...

Oh these are all long. These are long ones.

The entire web?

Yes, the entire web that we can see.

All the pages we can find.

All of it that we can see.

Does Google Search use machine learning?

Yes, we do actually.

We do use machine learning in lots of parts

of Google Search.

It's something we call right brain

that uses deep learning to actually learn to

respond to you, give you better results over time.

A great way to think about machine learning

is actually image recognition.

So, Google Image Search.

When you type in blue car,

we certainly haven't had somebody go through

every single image on the internet and say,

that's a blue car, that's a blue car,

that's not a blue car.

You have a couple of examples like that

of blue cars, machine learning takes over,

Bob's your uncle,

we now know what a blue car looks like.

Does Google Search work in China?

So today, in mainland China, Google services are blocked.

Well, Google Search is blocked.

You can see us in Hong Kong, or Google.Taiwan.com.tw.

But in mainland China, Search doesn't work today.

[Together] - Does Google Search listen to my

Oh my gosh, a two liner.

conversations?

No, no, no, we don't. Nope, nope, nope.

People tend to ask the questions that other people ask.

So it can seem magical, but we're not reading your mind.

[Together] Does Google Search prioritize search results?

Google Search does prioritize search results

and it makes use of two things.

It makes use of how important is this page?

And how relevant is it to your query?

We do this all with algorithms,

but we have humans evaluate whether we're doing a good job

every time we make a change.

We make hundreds to a couple of thousands

of these changes a year.

[Together] Does Google search pdfs?

Yeah. Yep.

Definitely, always has.

Does Google search Facebook pages?

Yeah, all of them.

If it's public.

Twitter, Instagram too. Everything that's public.

If we can see it, we'll search it.

Does Google Search use boolean?

I think this query means boolean search,

like the kind you used to find in libraries,

where you have to say A and B or C not D.

You don't have to do that with Google.

You don't have to.

Speak to us like a human.

Can Google search audio?

Yeah we can.

Actually if you go to the Google Assistant,

if there's audio playing in the background

it will ask you what's the song.

You can tap on that, it'll tell you what the song is.

I assume with a Pixel phone it'll tell you that

even on the home screen. It will.

Can Google Search but nothing else?

Is search the only thing Google can do?

No, we can do a bunch of great stuff.

We do a bunch of stuff.

Android and Chrome, Assistance,

Pixel with hardware, and Home, on and on and on.

We just do Search.

Yeah, we just do Search.

We're search nerds, but Google does a lot of stuff.

[Together] Can Google search the deep web?

I think with the deep web, what they're referring to

is bits of content that are disconnected from

much of the web.

If things are disconnected from much of the web,

then we have no way to find it.

Can Google search for a face?

Not exactly. No, not really.

But we have this really cool app that people are using

where we could match your face to a painting.

[Together] Google Arts & Culture.

There you go.

Can Google Search history be tracked?

We remember your questions.

And your queries from before,

but you can delete them and you can edit them

any way you see fit.

I hope this has been informative.

I hope it helps you understand how Google Search

works a little bit better.

And hope the next time you use Autocomplete

or any of the Google Search services,

you remember the amazing people that hopefully

help make your journey amazing.