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Google Begins Slow Rollout Of Google Bard

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1 year ago

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Google Bard 640

Yesterday, Google began to slowly roll out Google Bard to some initial reporters and also Google opened up a waitlist to users in the US and UK. I personally gained access to Bard after writing most of this article but I did gain access to Bard yesterday at 1pm ET. But you can sign up for the waitlist at bard.google.com (it does not yet work with Google WorkSpace accounts).

Below you will find out more information on how Bard looks, how it works, how the citations/sources work, limitations, early impressions and more. There is a lot here – and it is super early.

My early impressions is that Google is clearly positioning Bard to be very different from Google Search. In addition, Google is also making sure Bard feels and works differently than Bing Chat. Bing Chat, to me, feels way more thought out in terms of the user experience and all the tiny details in how it works with Bing Search. Google is making it super clear right now that Bard is not Search and only putting a “Google It” button in the Bard results so that you are taken out of Bard and into Search.

Bard does not do a lot of what Bing Chat and ChatGPT does but Bard is way faster. Bard has no ads, Bing Chat does have ads. Bard rarely show citations/links, Bing Chat shows citations and links in a much more prominent way. Bard and Bing Chat are just very different, while being similar in purpose.

Bard is Google’s experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA, where Google can answer questions that might not have one right answer. Google said, “Bard is powered by a research large language model (LLM), specifically a lightweight and optimized version of LaMDA, and will be updated with newer, more capable models over time. It’s grounded in Google’s understanding of quality information. You can think of an LLM as a prediction engine. When given a prompt, it generates a response by selecting, one word at a time, from words that are likely to come next. Picking the most probable choice every time wouldn’t lead to very creative responses, so there’s some flexibility factored in. We continue to see that the more people use them, the better LLMs get at predicting what responses might be helpful.” In short, it will get better over time, so don’t be too harsh on Google…

As a reminder, Google said Bard is not Search we have quotes from Google’s Bard lead who said, “It’s an experiment that’s a collaborative AI service that we talked about,” Krawczyk said. “The magic that we’re finding in using the product is really around being this creative companion to helping you be the sparkplug for imagination, explore your curiosity, etc.” But he added, “we can’t stop users from trying to use it like search.”

What Bard Looks Like

Here are some screenshots and videos of Bard from Google:

click for full size

Google Bard2

Google Bard3

Citations/Links to Publishers Are Hard To Come By

It is hard to find sources, citations and links in Google Bard but they do come up if you try hard enough. Gary Illyes from Google did say publishers will get traffic from Bard, maybe that is what he meant when we see the “Google it” button in Bard?

I asked Areej Abuali and Billie Geena – who has access already, and she was unable to find Bard giving any links to any source. But some, including in my tests, were able to see some sources and links. Google Bard also has a “Google it” button…

If you really work hard to get a citation, you kind of do but not link:

And sometimes not:

When I gained access, I asked Bard why exactly it refused to give sources and citations, it said:

I cannot show you the URL of where I came up with this answer because I did not come up with this answer from a specific URL. I am trained on a massive dataset of text and code, including the Google Search index. This allows me to access and process information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results.

Oh wait, maybe you can force a link if you try hard enough and specific enough but this is not good enough:

Just not the best experience:

Here is why Google Bard is less likely to provide citations, “Bard is trained on a massive dataset of text and code, and it can be difficult to determine which sources were used to generate a particular answer.”

Early Impressions

The folks at The Verge played with Bard in a limited way and they said:

In a demo for The Verge, Bard was able to quickly and fluidly answer a number of general queries, offering anodyne advice on how to encourage a child to take up bowling (“take them to a bowling alley”) and recommending a list of popular heist movies (including The Italian Job, The Score, and Heist). Bard generates three responses to each user query, though the variation in their content is minimal, and underneath each reply is a prominent “Google It” button that redirects users to a related Google search.

Bard’s interface is festooned with disclaimers to treat its replies with caution

As with ChatGPT and Bing, there’s also a prominent disclaimer underneath the main text box warning users that “Bard may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Google’s views” — the AI equivalent of “abandon trust, all ye who type here.”

As expected, then, trying to extract factual information from Bard is hit-and-miss. Although the chatbot is connected to Google’s search results, it couldn’t fully answer a query on who gave the day’s White House press briefing (it correctly identified the press secretary as Karine Jean-Pierre but didn’t note that the cast of Ted Lasso was also present). It was also unable to correctly answer a tricky question about the maximum load capacity of a specific washing machine, instead inventing three different but incorrect answers. Repeating the query did retrieve the correct information, but users would be unable to know which was which without checking an authoritative source like the machine’s manual.

Billie Geena gained access to Bard right away, here are some of her tweets:

Areej Abuali said OpenAI’s ChatGPT beats Google Bard in her early tests:

Some more tweets in the wild:

I guess Google is okay with buying links now? 🙂

Local:

But Bard does not always get it right, like Google said:

Can Bard tell you if your content meets EEAT?

Here is a good comparison tweet:

And yes, Bard is a kiss up:

The most important feature:

I am looking forward to testing out Bard and letting you know what I find, until then, we wait. You can read the other coverage on this announcement on Techmeme.

Forum discussion at Twitter and WebmasterWorld.



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Google Search App Stopped Working For A Few Hours Last Night

Published

19 hours ago

on

September 16, 2024

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Broken Google Phone

The Google Search App stopped working last night for a few hours. Google was quick to fix it in the middle of the night but by then, hundreds, if not, thousands of complaints flooded the support forums and social media.

This impacted a “large number of users searching on the Google app on Android,” Google confirmed. When they loaded the Google Search App or any of its widgets, a message would pop up that says “Google keeps stopping.”

Here is one of many screenshots I saw in the Google Search Support forums:

Google Search App Stopped Working

The issue started at about midnight last night and lasted for a few hours until it was resolved.

You can see the non stop complaints in the Google Search Support forums about the issue if you scroll down to that time frame. There is also this massive Reddit thread with complaints.

9to5Google was the only other site reporting on this issue, as far as I can tell.

Google wrote:

There’s an ongoing issue with serving in Google Search that’s affecting a large number of users searching on the Google app on Android. We’re working on identifying the root cause. Next update will be within 12 hours.

That was given a timestamp at 2:07 AM ET but I believe the issue started a couple of hours prior.

Google said the issue was fully resolved at 4:11 AM ET.

If you noticed a dip in your Android traffic from Google between that time, this may be why.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help and Reddit.

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Google Ranking Volatility, Apple Intelligence, Navboost, Ads, Bing & Local

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2 days ago

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September 15, 2024

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Google Ranking Volatility, Apple Intelligence, Navboost, Ads, Bing & Local


For the original iTunes version, click here.

Well over a week after the Google August 2024 core update finished, we still have a ton of volatility. Apple Visual Intelligence was demoed at the Apple event this week, it is neat. I covered a bunch of statements on Navboost over the years from Googlers and others. Google replaced the cache link with a link to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Google added a spam warning to the Indexing API documentation. A new report shows that about half of the links in the AI Overviews are from the top traditional search results. Google is showing AI Overviews for commercial shopping queries again. Google is testing a new interface for AI Overviews. Google said Exif data is not used for rankings. Google Search now supports a new ineligible region property. Bing may use ProductGroup markup in the future. Bing also treats 308 redirects like 301 redirects. Google Ads is sunsetting eCPC in March 2025. Google Ads is testing a new ad label design. Google Ads introduced confidential matching for privacy reasons. Google is emailing LSA advertisers about verification requirements. There has been an increase in complaints from advertisers about fraud in the Google Ads Search Partner Network. Google Business Profiles emails about broken appointment links. Google Maps shows business photos in reviews. Bing is testing Facebook and Yelp icons in the reviews in the local pack. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Sponsored by Similarweb, the all-in-one- strategic SEO software. Get clarity of the SEO landscape through competitor analysis, keyword research, rank tracking, SERP insights and more. With industry-leading traffic and keyword data, based on real user journeys, Similarweb gives SEO professionals the whole picture so they can strategize smartly and drive sustainable business growth.

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Please do subscribe on YouTube or subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don’t forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

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Daily Search Forum Recap: September 13, 2024

Published

3 days ago

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September 14, 2024

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Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.


Google Ads is launching confidential matching, a new privacy-centric ad feature. Google is testing a new AI Overview interface. Advertisers are complaining about fraud on the Search partner network. Google is testing for reference boxes in search. Google is testing search results without breadcrumbs. Plus, I posted my weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:


  • Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Ranking Volatility, Apple Intelligence, Navboost, Ads, Bing & Local


    Well over a week after the Google August 2024 core update finished, we still have a ton of volatility. Apple Visual Intelligence was demoed at the Apple event this week…


  • Google Ads Introduces Confidential Matching


    Google Ads announced what it calls “confidential matching.” Confidential matching is a “way to securely connect your first-party data for our measurement and audience solutions,” Google said. And it will be used on Google Ads in numerous areas.



  • Google Tests AI Overview With Small “More” Link


    Google is testing removing the large “show more” button and replacing it with a small “more” link at the bottom of the AI Overview snippet. Also, the AI Overview header and Gemini logo at the top left is being removed, or at least being tested being removed.


  • Complaints On Google Ads Search Partners Network Fraud


    I am seeing a spike in complaints from the PPC community around there being an increase in fraudulent traffic from the Google Ads Search Partner network. Many have seen an unusual spike in fraud from that network in the past week, say some advertisers.


  • Google Testing For Reference Search Box


    Google is testing a new search box named “for reference” which is placed under a set of search results and contains more news articles related to the query. This seems similar to some other features Google has tested over the years.


  • Google Tests Search Result Snippets Without Breadcrumbs


    Google is testing showing search results snippets without the breadcrumbs in the URL section of the snippet. Google has tested removing URLs and breadcrumbs completely before, but now Google is testing removing just the breadcrumb and leaving the URL.


  • Hummus Party At Google Dublin


    Here is some sort of event where there are a bunch of Googlers eating hummus, and other dips, with pita bread, at the Google office in Dublin, Ireland.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:


Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.



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