Google appears to be widely testing a slight visual redesign of mobile Search that tweaks the appearance of results and their cards. Over the past few hours, several users have spotted the change in both the Google app for Android and iOS, as well as on the mobile web.
As noted in a new report from Bloomberg, Google has started removing private medical records from search results. Google added a new line to its policy page to reflect the change, saying that “confidential, personal medical records of private people” will no longer appear in results…
Google loves jumping in on popular trends, and today it’s pushed out one for the latest — fidget spinners. You know, those spinning pieces of plastic that have shown up in dozens of viral videos and the hands of everyone with a few dollars that may as well have been set on fire.
Hunting for a new job is not easy by any means, but it’s finally getting easier with more jobs available and plenty of great online tools to find them. As announced at I/O, Google wants to make job hunting even easier with a new search tool, and it’s going live starting today.
After the Wall Street Journal removed the well-known trick of using Google to access articles behind a paywall, their Search traffic fell by nearly half. While this led to an increase in paying subscribers since February, the publication argues that Google should rank subscription content equally.
Google Search is now better at understanding art and surfacing relevant information. In partnership with the Arts & Culture team, there is a new interactive Knowledge Panel, while Street View in museums is using machine learning to recognize paintings.
Google has long surfaced personalized results from Gmail, Photos, and other services in Search when it is relevant to a query. There is now a new “Personal” tab (via Search Engine Roundtable) on the web and mobile to quickly see these results from your various Google apps.
Google Search on mobile is adding a new view that better surfaces and summarizes events from sites like Eventbrite and Ticketmaster. Available on mobile, users will now be able to filter based on location and other factors.
Google has long had to tackle the attempts of those trying to “game” search with low-quality content, with “fake news” being the modern-day extension of that. Today, the company is announcing “structural changes” to Search that address the “spread of blatantly misleading, low quality, offensive or downright false information.”
Google has announced today that reviews in Google Maps and Search will now be automatically translated to your device’s default language.
Have you ever been looking at images on Google Images, notice something interesting (like an object within a specific photo), and wish you could dive deeper and get to know what exactly that object is?
Well, it looks like the folks over at Mountain View did, and as a result they’re rolling out a new feature, “Similar items”, within Google Image Search on both the mobile web as well as Android‘s Google app…
So this is nifty. Google is constantly adding actionable interfaces to its search results, and the latest addition (via SearchEngineLand) saves you a couple clicks for a common action: suggesting a webpage for Google to index. Now, you can submit a URL to Google directly from search…
Exclusive to Google’s flagship devices, the Pixel Launcher appears to be A/B testing a new layout that ditches the handy weather/date widget for a more conventional search bar.
Over the past few months, the Google app on Android has been testing a ‘Recent’ section to provide a visual interface to browse through previous searches. This feature now appears to be live and widely rolling out to users.
Google Search is getting a minor update that improves its ability to answer technical questions related to programing languages. Aimed at improving computer science-related queries, the search engine is now better at recognizing special characters and delivering contextual results.
With Google Site Search, any website can add a custom search field that is powered by the same tech as Google.com. The company is now reportedly discontinuing the service and directing existing users to a free, but ad-supported alternative.
Google and other search engines have long been accused of making it easy to access pirated content on the web. In the UK, Google has now voluntarily agreed to measures that will demote these sites from the first page of search results and auto-complete predictions.
Following the launch of the Pixel, Google embarked on a massive marketing campaign to promote its first wholly-made device. Encompassing print, TV, and online ads, the latter form of marketing is now under scrutiny. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, ads for Google-made products overwhelmingly took the top spots in Search during the holiday shopping season…
The Google app has been updated with a number of small features as of late, including Notifications for Doodles and the ability to take screenshots using Assistant. As part of the latest beta build, the Android app now allows users to manually set Search region.
Google plays with its apps’ UIs continuously, which is why new and unexpected things pop up almost on a daily basis. This time the focus is on search suggestions, which the company is tweaking in both the Play Store and in its image search engine…
Announced two years ago, Material Design has yet to make its way to the most visited site on the web. There was an A/B test of Google Search back in June, but nothing came of it. The latest iteration seen by a few individuals is subtle, but noticeably different.
From showing flight and hotel listings above competitors in Search to releasing a trip-planning app, Google is making increasing forays into the travel industry. While Google has denied to Bloomberg that it’s becoming an online travel agent, entrenched players are expecting more direct competition.
