Google Search launches redesign with more images, suggestions, and ‘Things to know’

Kyle Bradshaw | Sep 29 2021 - 11:08 am PT

Google Search redesign highlights including Things to Know, Refine this search, and Broaden this search

At Google Search On 2021, the company launched a redesign of the search results page that includes more images, suggested searches, and “Things to know” about a topic.

One of the biggest focuses of the Google Search On event this year is the use of MUM — Multitask Unified Model — technology to better understand and map the world’s data, as well as to better share it with you through search. For Google Search, this takes the form of a redesign, launching today, that makes it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for, not just with text but images as well.

The most noticeable aspect of the redesign is that the Google Search results page will show images for many of your results, alongside the page text. Beyond simply making the search results page more visually appealing, it can sometimes help to know that a page might actually have what you’re looking for.

Previously, images were primarily limited to the uppermost section of the page, as a suggestion to switch to a Google Images search. It should be interesting to see how the added imagery affects the number of results per page.

We’re making it easier than ever to explore new topics with a redesigned Google Search page, whether you’re curious about macaroni penguins 🐧 or the art of acrylic painting 🎨 #SearchOn pic.twitter.com/rkR0ku7ZFV
— Google (@Google) September 29, 2021

Leaning on Google’s MUM smarts, the search results page is gaining a few new tools to help you better learn about a topic. For some searches, you’ll find a new section called “Things to know” that offers some of the most important tidbits about that subject, in a similar format to the “People also ask” section.

Similarly, there will be new options to either refine your search with more specific search phrases related to your topic, or broaden it, to find information about related topics that may be interesting to you. In the given example of “acrylic painting,” you could refine the search to “puddle painting” or broaden it to “famous painters.”

Lastly, when watching a video found via Google Search, you’ll be offered topics and search phrases to learn more. Google’s MUM technology processes the entire video to know what it’s about, both in what’s said and what’s implied.