While the algorithm tweaks should impact on general search results, the reporting tools have been designed for Google’s Autocomplete predictions and Featured Snippets which have been problematic in recent months.
Updated algorithms should help to ensure more authoritative pages receive greater prominence, while low-quality content is demoted.
Vice president of engineering at Google Search, Ben Gomes, admits that people have been trying to “game” the system — working against the spirit of the purpose of algorithms — to push poor-quality content and fake news higher up search results.
Google’s Automcomplete and Feature Snippets have both caused controversy recently for surfacing content that has not only been inaccurate, but has upset people.
Google clearly wants to minimize the distress it causes its users, hence the introduction of a new feedback feature. Any reports that are received will be used to improve algorithms further down the line.
