Last year, Google announced Search would use page speed and other metrics that better reflect how users experience the web to rank results in 2021. Google today provided more details and a timeline about the upcoming “page experience update.”
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Google celebrated the landing of Perseverance in February with virtual fireworks, and today has a more elaborate Search easter egg for Ingenuity becoming the “first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet.”
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A small tweak to Google.com on desktops now lets you quickly “jump to the search box” with a convenient keyboard shortcut. It’s particularly useful for refining your original query.
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Google is making a tweak to Search on desktop web that sees the results page adopt a more responsive design. Still in testing, it follows the homepage abiding by the same principle.
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The latest beta version of the Google app includes a redesign of the homescreen Discover feed on Android 12 that revamps the header and removes the search bar.
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Google today announced a ranking system update that changes what Search considers a good product review, and in turn what sites end users will see when looking up products.
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During the NCAA Final Four this evening, Google aired its “Get back to what you love” ad and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive for both the emotional impact and how well-crafted it was in encouraging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Over the past week, the eyes of the world have been on the Suez Canal, which has been blocked closed by a single ship, the Ever Given. Now that the Ever Given has been freed from the Suez Canal and the global trade route reopened, Google Search has joined celebrations with a new easter egg.
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Over the past week, Google Discover has made two tweaks to the feed’s design. The first sees Posts on Google get a more prominent Discover layout, while sports carousels have been removed to improve usability.
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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Google has used its wildly popular online tools such as Maps and Search to help curb the spread of misinformation and give people the resources they need to stay safe. Now, Google has posted a new video that reminds users they can use Search to find a nearby COVID vaccine.
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Google has increasingly made Search a resource for students and others wanting to learn about various topics. The latest additions see Google Search surface practice problems, while expanding other capabilities.
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Google’s ever-present Discover feed is testing a minor design tweak that moves the weather from a wide strip down to a chip in the corner.
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Pi Day — March 14 — in 2021 is this Sunday, and Google is celebrating with an easter egg when you open Search’s built-in calculator. It tests how well you know the mathematical constant.
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Google offers a dedicated Finance portal that shows you news in addition to charts and other trend data. That said, most users make do with entering ticker symbols in Search to find the price of stocks, with Google recently revamping the desktop experience.
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The big revamp of Google News in 2018 introduced a “Full Coverage” feature that brings together context and other perspectives for major stories in one feed, and it’s now coming to Search.
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Google Weather in Search for Android was last redesigned in 2019, and the desktop experience is now seeing a handful of tweaks that help modernize the old UI.
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For the past two years, it seemed that Google was on track to replace “Voice Search” on Android with Assistant. That might not be the case anymore as a more modern UI for Google Voice Search is now being tested.
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Google is celebrating the successful landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars with a virtual fireworks show, an augmented reality 3D model, and more.
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Google Search has historically evaluated “all content on a web page to determine if it is relevant to a query.” Back in October, alongside the launch of Hum to Search, Google announced passage ranking, and it’s now starting to roll out.
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While it still hasn’t rolled out widely, Google is actively working on bringing a full dark mode to Google Search on desktop. Thanks to another A/B test, we’ve discovered that Google Search dark mode will also be able to follow the system theme on your desktop.
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Last month, Google revamped Search on Android, iOS, and mobile with a focus on making results easier to read. A similar look has long been in development for the desktop web, with users able to preview it on COVID-19 queries. Google’s desktop redesign is now also available for music-related searches.
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Over the past few years, Google has been working to reduce the need for users to perform follow up queries. Google Search is now streamlining that further with an “About this result” panel that provides direct information about websites before clicking.
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While night modes are pervasive on Android and iOS, they are less common on large screen form factors. Google is now A/B testing a dark mode for Search on desktop web.
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Google today announced several efforts to aid COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the US. CEO Sundar Pichai announced $150 million in ad grants, while various Google products will soon display local information.
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