Google has apparently updated its search algorithm to show less pornographic content and search results for queries around lesbian, teen, school girl, and other related queries. Pandu Nayak from Google told The Next Web "We have taken measures in cases where, when there is a reason for the word to be interpreted in a non-pornographic way, that interpretation is put forward."

This came up around the gay pride month time-frame when a site owner saw his site not showing up for those types of terms and saw more adult-oriented sites being returned instead. “We are aware there are problems like this, in many languages ​​and different researches. We’ve developed algorithms to improve this research, one after the other,” Nayak told Numerama. “We have taken measures in cases where, when there is a reason for the word to be interpreted in a non-pornographic way, that interpretation is put forward.”

The Next Web said "Google's update to its search algorithm is a great step towards inclusivity and representation for lesbians. However, Nayak referenced how terms like “school girl” and “teen” often do bring up pornographic results, but Google’s allegedly cracking down on this too."

Interesting, I wonder how this impacted the web overall & not just adult sites -> Google confirms tweaks to algorithm to show less porn when searching for lesbian, teen, school girl, & similar queries



The article contains quotes from Google's Pandu Nayak https://t.co/WGDN9a1sgW pic.twitter.com/CyijzEAJlE — Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) August 7, 2019

So I suspect this happened sometime around June (see update below, it launched in mid-July), maybe around the June core update or maybe totally unrelated to that update - who knows.

I didn't see complaints about this back in June or July from adult sites complaining in black hat forums, but to be honest, this is an area I do not spend a lot of time following.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

Update: This launched in mid-July: