Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Google » Google Now Shows Quotes For Famous People Without Sourcing Them

Google Now Shows Quotes For Famous People Without Sourcing Them

Google now gets in the business of answering queries on famous quotes with a new quotes answer box that doesn't link to the source of the content.

Barry Schwartz on June 16, 2015 at 8:59 am

google-fact-answer-knowledge-ss-1920

Google has added a new direct answer box to the top of the search results that shows quotes from famous people. If you search for a famous person and add “quotes” to the end of the query, it is likely that you will see the box.

Here is an example of how the famous quotes box looks like in the top of the search results on desktop and mobile.

google-quotes-bush-mobile

google-quotes-bush

Google Not Listing Source Of Quotations

It appears that Google is pulling the quotes from across the web but not citing or sourcing the location they found these famous quotes. This would obviously upset webmasters who spent time and money licensing and/or cultivating web sites with these quotes, just to find Google placing a box at the top of the search results with the answer to the searchers query. This would lead to less traffic for these famous quote web sites.

Alex Chitu notes, “it’s worth pointing out that Google doesn’t link to the sources,” adding “quotes are extracted from various web pages and attribution seemed unnecessary for Google.”

Postscript: Getting Quotes Right & Wrong

(The part below is from Search Engine Land founding editor Danny Sullivan, who spent some time testing the service.)

Another issue is that because Google is pulling quotes from across the web, without human review, it might misattribute quotes to the wrong people if publishers themselves have done this.

Some checking found that for Mark Twain, who often has quotes misattributed to him, Google didn’t have any issues. This was the same case with Albert Einstein and many other common misquotations off Wikipedia’s page that we checked. But Google still can get it wrong.

For P.T. Barnum, “There’s a sucker born every minute” is the first of famous quotes listed for him:

pt barnum

The problem here is that no one can prove P.T. Barnum said this. Actually, there’s evidence a competitor said it about him.

For J.P. Morgan, his “If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it” quote is listed:

jp_morgan_quotes_-_Google_Search

As with the Barnum quote, evidence Morgan actually said this is in dispute.

Then there’s Marie Antoinette and her famous “Let them eat cake” quote being listed:

let them eat cake

Again, there’s no solid evidence that she actually said this. That’s the bigger problem with Google not providing sources. It can lead to mistakes, but it also means you don’t get any further context about the quote. Why might people often misattribute a quote? When and where was an accurate quote actually said and why?

For example, consider this quote from Google executive chair Eric Schmidt:

eric schmidt quote

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place,” is the quote. When did Schmidt say this? Where? Why? None of that is sourced, yet all of it is important context for the quote.

By the way, Schmidt said the quote during a 2009 documentary interview with CNBC, when being asked about privacy issues and search history.


New on Search Engine Land

    The latest jobs in search marketing
    3 content marketing strategies to support SEO success
    Google Analytics 4 guide for PPC
    SEO reporting to impress: How to successfully report your SEO process, efforts and result
    9 ways to become an SEO problem-solver

About The Author

Barry Schwartz
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

Related Topics

Google

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The SMX Conference logo.

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

The MarTech Conference logo.

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events
Webinars

Benchmark Your Social Media Performance For a Competitive Edge

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
White Papers

The State of Influencer Pricing

How to Measure Influencer Performance

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.