Alright its 31 July and month is done – I hope you had an amazing month. I have add all the tests which I observed in this month. Let me know if you have any question about these tests – comments are open at bottom of this page or reach out to me on X or LinkedIn.
Also I have created a Web Story as well – which shows all of these tests as easy to digest slides which can be scrolled through.
And for next month August I plan to do same – post tests on X in real time and summarise everything as a blog post on my site.
Google is now testing showing recent social media posts as “Latest posts from ……” carousel in Search Results.
I’m noticing that Google is showing posts from X, Instagram, Threads and recent YouTube videos in this “Latest posts from ……” carousel.
Haven’t seen LinkedIn posts in this carousel yet (if I do notice I will report 🙂)
Also when in Search Results Google is showing this new carousel it’s not showing the usual Twitter carousel.
And for some queries it’s showing recent articles in the carousel as well – like in the recording below 👇 for Jason Barnard name as a query – it’s showing his recent articles on different sites in this new carousel as well.
Google is testing showing AI Overviews summaries for Youtube videos – I noticed this today while using Google Search and have shared a screenshot + video recording of this over at my Twitter account.
For any Youtube video showing up in usual search results – if little expanding icon on top right corner of thumbnail is clicked then video is expanded (this doesn’t to Youtube)
And just below that there is a summary of video and on top of which it says “AI Overviews are experimental”.
Also another important is that I noticed this while using Google Search in Australia where officially AI Overviews are not available.
Interesting I think that just like UK Google might be testing showing AI Overviews in Australia for some features.
Google is testing showing posts from X (Twitter) in Discover feeds – this one is quite interesting because until now Discover feed just showed content from different publication sites and Youtube videos.
Now Google is expanding to social content as well and more important fact is that they might be planning on showing Reddit content in the feed as well – I noticed that Google is conducting a study in which they are testing showing content of social apps in the Discover feeds of Android users.
Reddit and Google’s partnership was announced on 22 Feb this year and since then its visiblity in Search Results has grown a lot and SEO professionals like Lily Ray and her team have documented this in one of their article in May if your interested in knowing more about this. I would recommend checking their article.
Google has been testing showing 2 answers for some people also ask questions in Search Results and on first of July while doing some analysis for one of my publisher client – I noticed that there is a pattern in answers which are being shown.
For each question the two answers which Google is showing are sort of different perspectives showing possible answers for a given question.
Google has been focused on showing different perspectives for some queries since March last year – first they announced it as a carousel in Search Results and then later during Google IO 2023 they introduced it as a filter bubble on top of results ➡️ clicking which opens up a new tab showing content from social media platforms, forums, blogs, and other user-generated content sources then VP of Search at Google – Liz Reid said “We’re finding that often our users, particularly some of our younger users, want to hear from other people. They don’t just want to hear from institutions or big brands. So how do we make that easy for people to access?“
Now she is Head of Search at Google – this change in management was announced on 18th March also there was some other roles re positioning in Google’s Search teams – you can read about it in this article.
Also If your interested in knowing more about Google’s Perspective filter and carousel I would recommend reading this article by SEO professional Glen Gabe – He has covered lot of insights in this and have provided an amazing break down of how this feature evolved over time.
Coming back to test – I think that now in July 2024 Google testing showing 2 answers for some people also ask questions is an extension of same – showing different perspectives to users because that’s what people want.
Mostly people (Google users) come from different backgrounds and they expect same from Google as well. Let’s see how this test now evolve but if it became a new search feature then it would be great for sites as well – getting additional visibility in Search Results.
Google testing showing date before URL in Search Results – right now its usually shown before start of meta description but now they’re testing showing it before URL.
It being next to URL might be useful for users who are interested in reading pages which are recently published or updated.
Google testing a grey search bar – I have mixed feelings about this one. Not sure if its something that would actually be helpful for Search users or not.
Google testing showing bold product price in Search Results – I think that this is useful for users and Google should consider rolling it out to all users. This is really useful and seeing product price clearly will be helpful for users to make a decision whether its something that is the right price for them.
Google is testing a new UI for “from sources across the web” in the test its showing as image and title below it and clicking on any lead to new search results page with that title as query. While in the current UI clicking on any open a list of sites and users can click on any according to their choice.
Google is testing removing the “More Results” for answers in People Also Ask – rather it’s just showing the URL of page where the answer is getting picked from.
Screen recording of this in tweet below
Google is testing showing 3 answers for some features in Search Results
For “From sources across the web” Google is testing showing a new interface listing URLs and users can swipe left & right – I would recommend checking the screen recording below to know more about this new test.
Google seems to be testing different UI for Store Rating Panel – there is minor difference. Please have a look at screenshot which I have shared in the tweet below.
Google is testing showing light background color for some words in meta description.
Do note that it’s not like what it’s nowadays where Google makes some words in meta description bold based upon words in query rather here it seems to be highlighting possible answers.
I shared a screenshot of this in the tweet – please check below.
Google is testing showing first people also ask snippet open by default + when a user clicks on a question – first question in new set of loaded questions also open by default.
I posted screen recording of this as a tweet
August Feature tests – August Google Search Feature Tests
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