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The following is an excerpt from a dialogue between my language partner and me: YouTube で馬肉とニンニク料理のレポートを観ましたよ。馬肉と言えば、九州、特に熊本県だと思っていましたが、調べてみると、青森県も馬肉生産量で３位に入っていました。

The sentence in question: 馬肉と言えば、九州、特に熊本県だと思っていましたが、調べてみると、青森県も馬肉生産量で３位に入っていました。

My attempt at translation: "Speaking of horsemeat, even though I think that it is kyushu and especially Kumamoto, when you (try to) check it up, Aomori also has entered the 3rd rank in the production of horsemeat."

While the "try out" semantics of て-form +　見る can be applied without a problem here, I don't see what it adds to the sentence. Therefore it feels a little redundant, that's why I wanted to ask wether there is more to it than what the standard translation for this pattern reveals.

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    "If you look on Google..."/"If you try looking on Google...". I think both these phrases are perfectly natural. Sure, you don't need to add 'try', but people don't optimise the way they speak. – user3856370 Jan 13 '18 at 10:58
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    In this use of the word, you would normally write みる in kana. – snailplane♦ Jan 13 '18 at 11:42

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