Google is rolling out a fact-checking feature for its search results globally in an effort to combat misinformation and fake news, it has announced.

The tech giant said it's adding "fact-check" labels to some search results.

If you search for a story and something from a credible fact-checking organisation comes up, it will be labelled.

For those stories, it will show a snippet on the claim, who made the claim and the fact check of that particular claim.

Google launched a trial last year enabling publishers to use a the fact-check tag for news stories. This label identified fact-checked articles published by news and fact-checking organisations.

Google said it is now launching the feature globally, however it won't be available for every search result.

However, the feature won't boost the search ranking for fact-checking organisations and articles using the new fact-check label would not be ranked differently in search results.

Google said only publishers that are "algorithmically determined to be an authoritative source of information will qualify for inclusion", but hasn't offered more details on how that determination will be made.

Product Manager Justin Kosslyn and Research Scientist Cong Yu wrote a Google blog, saying: "There may be search result pages where different publishers checked the same claim and reached different conclusions.

"These fact checks are not Google's and are presented so people can make more informed judgements."

They said even though "differing conclusions may be presented, we think it's still helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim" and "have clear information on which sources agree".

They added: "As we make fact checks more visible in Search results, we believe people will have an easier time reviewing and assessing these fact checks, and making their own informed opinions."