Saying that Google changed the +Search command may not be the best way to describe Google’s actions. Instead of announcing that they were going to be replacing the +search command they quietly pulled the rug out from under its users and completely removed the Boolean + Search Command. Google is now ignoring the + symbol without so much as a blog post to let people know.

Although Google has decided to ignore searches with the + command they have expanded the role of the Quotation Marks to incorporate the + command functionality. After years of performing searches with + commands it will probably take time for some users to get used to the new way of searching.

Old Way: Keyword + Keyword + Keyword

New Way: Keyword “Keyword” “Keyword”

On a Google Help Forum, Kelly an employee from Google offered the following explanation.

“ We’ve made the ways you can tell Google exactly what you want more consistent by expanding the functionality of the quotation mark operator. In addition to using this operator to search for an exact phrase, you can now add quotation marks around a … Read more