Google announced several big changes to its search engine in 2019, which have affected the results and the users alike. In 2018 alone, Google made more than 3,200 tweaks to its algorithm, including regular updates and features aimed at keeping the search results relevant. Here are the top 3 Google Search features:
Pick Up Where You Left Off
Google kicked off 2019 with the addition of a new feature called activity cards, which helped mobile users pick up their search from where they left off.
For instance, say you searched for “web design Australia” (whilst being logged into your Google account). In the middle of your search, you have an urgent search to carry out, and you forgot all about your original search query.
The next time you return to the browser, you will see an activity card at the top of the SERPs. This way, you get easy access to continue with your previous search.
This change was aimed at making search history easily accessible and useful, helping users to follow what interests them, keep up with tasks, build new habits, and keep useful information handy.
Navigate the Search Even More Safely and Easily
Google would like to show different types of content to its users, including answer boxes, featured snippets, and knowledge panels.
Simply put, Google’s search result pages don’t look anywhere close to how we know them. The modern search results are far more personalised, providing information from an array of sources in a variety of formats including visual content, video content, and text.
New Way to Find Information with Google Discover
What started as Google Feed has now become Google Discover, a tool that’s aimed at providing relevant content to users even when they are – get this – NOT searching.
More than 800m users rely on this product to keep up with things.
Google Discover works smoothly by displaying content based on preferences, user behaviour, and search history. The tool will recommend content that relevant to your previous searches or interests such as TV shows, sports, brands, celebrities, travel, flights, and weather among many other things.
This tool is poised to have huge ramifications on how the user interacts with the web and search. With users being able to personalise their search and pick what interests them, Google Search as we know it may lose its relevance.
In that light, businesses may no longer compete to be in the top 10 positions of the SERP. Rather, they’ll want to be in the top 3 spots because that’s the number of results you can see on a mobile device.
Conclusion
Take a long, hard look at your website and do an in-depth audit to look for ways to improve your site for search. Furthermore, look for who is searching for you to find out what they’re after. Next, assess user experience by analysing user behaviour.
With search behaviour changing, the search engines are bound to change as well, and so should your website. For more Tips and Tricks, please check out, The Lab.
