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Welcome to the 'Understanding Google search results' video course. In this video, you'll learn how Google displays your search results in different ways depending on what you've searched for. Let's search the topic of budgies. From the Google home page at google.com, click in the search bar in the middle of the screen and type 'budgies'. Then press Enter.
A page of search results will appear. If you're following along, it might look different on your device, but you should see most of the things in this example. At the top, you might see an AI Overview with information about the budgie as a breed and that Americans call them parakeets. You can click show more at the bottom of the AI Overview to expand the panel and see more information. Further down and on the right of the page, there may be a panel with a summary about the bird, as well as some photographs you can click on.
There may also be information, such as lifespan and other statistics about budgies. On the left of the page, Places shows locations and services related to your search, such as pet shops. Below, there may be a 'People also ask' section. This shows some common questions that people ask about budgies. You can click any question to see search results about it. When you click on a 'People also ask' question, Google will add a few more questions to the list. This can be a good way to find out things you haven't thought to ask. Below this, you might see some video results. You can click any of these to watch a video about budgies. Google's video results usually direct you to the YouTube website.
If there's a short ad before the video, you can skip it by clicking the Skip button when it appears in the bottom right. Below videos, you might see some Google search results. You can click any of these to go to that web page and read more. Towards the bottom of the page, the 'People also search for' section shows searches related to your topic or question that other people have done. You can click one to see the results. At the end of the page, you can view more pages of search results by using the Google paginator. It looks like the word Google with many Os. Click on a number or the Next button to open a new page of search results.
If you ask Google for directions to somewhere, you will get useful results that include a map and route planning. To start, clear the previous search by clicking the cross at the right of the search bar. Then type 'fastest route Perth to Broome' and press Enter. This time, the top of the search results page will show the title 'Get there', and a simple map. Click the blue Directions button to go straight to Google Maps. When the Google Maps page appears, the route will already be planned and all the other Google Maps features will be available for you to use.
Click the Back button to return to the previous search. Then click the cross at the right to delete the search term, ready for a new search. If you include the words 'latest news' at the beginning of a search, you will get results that are the most up to date. In the search bar, type 'latest news house prices in New South Wales', and press Enter to see a list of news stories about this topic, as well as information from real estate websites. Depending on the topic, you might see a section titled 'Top stories' or an AI Overview at the top of the search results.
To see more, click the 'More news' button. You can use latest news in front of any search to see some very interesting results. Remember that searching is free and you can do it as many times as you like. Google Search has a feature called Safe Search, which is turned on by default. This helps ensure you don't see offensive content by accident.
You've learned about understanding search results and how different kinds of searches will show different things on the search results page. If you're unsure about any steps, you can rewind the video or click the chapter headings to jump to the start of a chapter. If you're ready to move on, there are many other courses to explore on Be Connected.