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Google Search rolling out activity cards to quickly return to past queries, page visits

Back in September, Google marked its 20th anniversary by announcing a slew of new features for its flagship Search product. Some features, like Google Lens in Image Search, have already launched. Today, activity cards to aid and better organize lookups are rolling out.

Activity cards are designed around the idea that searching — especially on mobile — is often a disjointed experience due to time constraints or other interruptions. At times, a user might leave open a browser tab in the background intending to return, but just start a new search in the future.

To help “pick up where you left off,” Google designed activity cards to continue a user’s “search journey.” When users perform a similar search, a “Your related activity” card might appear before the list of results. Tapping will show a list of articles you have clicked on in the past as part of a previous query. Below that list, old searches are shown in a carousel that users can tap to reopen.

Users of course have to be logged into their Google account for history to appear, with Google noting how “only you can see these.” Heading to the overflow menu in the top-right corner will allow users to turn off activity cards, and manage other Search settings.

Search’s Collections feature plays a notable role with past page visits nothing whether or not they’ve been saved. Users can quickly hold down on an article to both add to a collection, or delete from activity.

Activity cards are beginning to roll out today on the mobile web and in the Google app. It is currently available in English in the U.S.

That September event also saw the Google Discover rebrand with that feed also now appearing at google.com on the mobile web. Moving forward, Search will add subtopics to provide dynamic organization of results that are unique to the query.


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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com