Google quietly rolls topic suggestions into desktop search results. If you are sharp, then you would notice a change in the new design of Google for Search. Google just rolled out a new design for its Search out on desktop for English searches in the US in the previous month, and it has since begun to appear in the international change.
Google Rolls Topic Suggestions
Just in case you missed it, you should know that Google has redesigned the top of its search interface on the desktop in a bid to include a list of related “topics” that are designed to help you refine your search. What used to be a row of tabs letting users to filter their search for things such as “News,” “Images,” “Videos,” or “Shopping” is at the moment a row of pill-shaped icons that adds topics to the old filters, which however still get to appear.
Google initially announced the feature for mobile back in December and, as early as the previous month, had made it now available on desktop for every search that is made in English in the US. That very rollout had been gradual and was earlier sighted by 9to5Google. The feature subsequently appears to have begun rolling out internationally ever since, and as of this week, I’m now seeing it for English-language searches that are made in the UK (we have reportedly reached out to Google for an update on the exact status of the international launch).
How the New Update Will Work
From what I can tell from everything so far, clicking on a “topic” basically adds it directly to your search query. So if you get to search for “WWDC 2023,” one of the topics that will be suggested is “Keynote,” which you can then click to change your search to “WWDC 2023 Keynote.” This is the kind of reflexive change many people would already think to make to their search if it initially does not generate the exact results that they are originally after, but it is however a potentially helpful inclusion in the event that you are searching a more unfamiliar topic or a case where you simply want to click rather than type.
The Complete Roll Out Of the New Design
Google reportedly completed the rollout of the new design the very same week that it officially launched Search Generative Experience (SGE) at its I/O developer conference, which is an experimental feature that drops an AI-generated answer to your search query at the top of search results, which is something that is very much similar to Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing. When compared to SGE, the new topic icons are far less of a revolution, really. But even small updates such as these matter a lot when it comes to a search engine that is thought to have a global market share of more than 90 percent.
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