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.
Google introduced a feature that lets you to see the popular times of businesses and destinations in Search and Maps last year, and today that feature is getting a really cool addition: the ability to see the relative popularity of a given place in live time. Google also says it is adding the ability to see how long people usually stay at a given location as well as more specific business hours…
Rather than using a wide widget that goes across the entire display, the Google “pill” was introduced with the Pixel phones. The round design on the new widget looks interesting and unique, but the standard Google Search widget didn’t match up. Now, Google appears to be testing a new look for that widget which adopts a similar look (via Android Police)…
Remember when, a day before Google’s massive hardware event, Verizon‘s website leaked the Pixel and included a rather unspecified “Google Magic” feature? Well, that never turned out to be actually anything, unless that was the carrier’s way of referring to the Assistant.
However, that doesn’t mean that some magic hasn’t found its way to Android…
From reminding people about local elections to adding state-by-state voter registration guides, the latest civically minded addition to Google Search directs people to polling places and tells them who’s on the ballot. Both are personally customized to your location and can be accessed on mobile and desktop.
There are a lot of tricks in Google Search. So many in fact, we end up missing a lot of them. Tonight a user on Reddit has pointed out another trick, and it’s pretty awesome…
We know that Google is no stranger to silent (server side switched) testing that mysteriously and unexpectedly hits random users, but while changes to relatively niche apps like Inbox seem understandable, to see the relatively granitic Search app and the Google Now stream — which have remained largely unchanged for quite a while — even just slightly tweaked has us interested and a bit surprised…
From Doodles marking significant occasions to countless Easter Eggs, Google is quite a whimsical company. The latest fun additions add solitaire and tic-tac-toe right into Search on both mobile and desktop. Just try not to get too distracted.