Search engine giant and popular search engine marketing platform, Google, has changed the way in which advanced searches are conducted – preventing the use of the previous “+” operator – according to an article published by Search Engine Watch.
When a search containing the “+” operator is made, a message reading “the + operator has been replaced” is displayed.
Instead Google is now advising users: “To search for an exact word or phrase, use double quotation marks.”
The move has drawn a significant amount of criticism from users in some sections.
Google’s response hasn’t gone down particularly well either. Search Community Manager, Kelly Fee, trying answer a question posted in Google Web Search Help was accused of not answering the question in a full manner.
In a rather diplomatic response to the criticism, Fee responded: “One thing I’d like to add to my original post is that, as with any change we make to our search engine, we put a lot of thought into this modification, but we’re always interested in user feedback.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.