We’ve all been in this situation before: we’ll take to Google with a question in mind, but instead of writing it out properly, we’ll use a bit of shorthand that makes the question ambiguous. The result, more often than not, is that Google will deliver an answer that doesn’t get at the heart of what we want to know.
Were Google’s search engine a human, it might, using context, be able to parse out the intent behind our search query. Alas, the company’s search engine doesn’t have human-like intelligence — at least not yet — but in the meantime, Google is rolling out a new Search feature called multifaceted featured snippets.
Simply put, Google will provide multiple answers to ambiguously phrased questions, attempting to account for the most common interpretations of search queries like “garden needs full sun” or “tooth pain after a filling”.
In the latter case, the search engine will provide answers to “why does my tooth still hurt after a filling?” and “how long should a tooth hurt after a filling?” all on one page.
Google says it’s starting with these “multi-intent” queries, which have several different intentions or purposes associated with them, before working its way to other so-called nuanced queries.
Like with its previous search feature additions, Google is gradually rolling out multifaceted featured snippets to users.
Source: Google
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