YouTube for Android tests integrating Google results w/ video search

Ben Schoon | May 25 2020 - 7:03 am PT

YouTube is constantly testing out new features and tweaks for its mobile apps, and now there’s another one going around. Spotted by some folks over on Reddit (via XDA), YouTube for Android is testing bringing Google search results into video search.

Searching for a video on YouTube is usually very simple and just shows search results for the video itself, and maybe an information panel for a particular topic or sensitive subject. Looking for “COVID-19,” for example, shows a Google-powered information panel at the top of the page with links to the CDC. Searching for a channel name, too, will show different results with a special view for the channel’s videos, playlists, and other related results too.

With this new feature, though, YouTube is adding something else to search results — related results from the web pulled from Google. In the test spotted on Reddit, the user had searched “open beer with knife.” Mixed in alongside other video search results, YouTube shows Google search results for that same query. Specifically, it shows a snippet from a Lifehacker article about the same topic.

This latest test doesn’t seem to be very widespread, so it’s probably just another A/B test to gather insights from users. If it does roll out more widely, we’ll let you know.