Google showing cards on Chrome’s New Tab Page that remind you about recent searches

Abner Li | Jun 28 2021 - 12:50 pm PT

Back in November, Google announced a suite for new features for Chrome, from performance improvements to tab search and address bar actions. Another, which is seeing a wider launch now, helps “pick up where you left off” by surfacing cards in Chrome’s New Tab Page.

These cards appear at the very bottom of the New Tab Page on Chrome for desktop after the company logo/Doodle, search bar/URL field, and frequently visited sites.

One example is for “Recipe ideas,” with Google listing three links complete with cover images, article name, and the site in question. Suggested search terms are listed underneath that.

You’re seeing this item based on your previous activity using Google services. You can see your data, delete it, and change your settings at myactivity.google.com.

The overflow menu lets you hide these particular recipe ideas or have them not show at all, while there’s a link to “Customize cards” that can also be accessed from “Customize Chrome” FAB at the bottom-right corner. Here you can “Hide all cards” or control which ones appear.

Google started experimenting with this feature last year and explained it as such at the time:

To help you jump back into activities like planning a meal, researching a holiday gift, or winding down with a video, we’ll soon add cards to your new tab page in Chrome. Clicking on them will take you to recently-visited and related content on the web, and save you time in the process

Other cards cover recent product searches (“Continue your search for Office Chairs”), while Google is also looking at one for entertainment. If rolled out to your device, they will appear fairly quickly after you perform a search in particular categories.