Many words have the same spelling but varied meanings depending on the language and region. The word “football” is a basic example. It refers to a game in which a ball is tossed into the air and carried towards a goal in the United States and Canada, whereas it refers to a game in which a ball is kicked into a goal in the United Kingdom and Australia (also known as ‘soccer’ to Americans).
Recently, we have seen numerous posts about Google showing results that follow the American spelling when people search for a word. For instance, you could see optimization for optimisation.
To understand the spelling ‘mistakes’ we should first learn about Google’s deep learning system that recognizes misspelled words. The technology can run models with over 700 million parameters in less than two milliseconds.
Google’s spelling strategy is based on the following principles:
- Not only the erroneous word but the whole inquiry is being assessed.
- Looking for terms to replace that are relevant to the entire question.
- The google searches are delivered based on the ‘best match.’
Instead of using the old keyboard method, the new algorithm leverages context to determine what a user intended to input.
If you have noticed, Google will return a little note asking you whether you meant ‘optimization’ if you typed, ‘optimisation’. It will also give you an option of what the right word should be. When Google thinks it knows what you’re talking about but isn’t sure, it does this. Because Google utilizes these signals to continue training the AI, how you respond to these notes has a direct influence on the algorithm.
So, the next time you make a spelling mistake when performing a Google search, keep in mind that the inaccuracy is doing more than just aggravating you.