YouTube app experiment adds Google Search results to YouTube searches
Do you use Google's YouTube application on your device (if available) to browse YouTube and watch videos? If you do, you may have noticed the insertion of Google Search results when you run searches on YouTube.
A Reddit user was the first to spot the change. A search for "open beer with knife" returned four YouTube videos for the query and placed a Google Search result (Result from the web) below that.
The web search result, courtesy of Google Search, is the first organic search result for the query when the search is made on Google Search. The item on YouTube is an exact replica of the item on Google Search; it includes the page title, site name, publication date, and the meta description. The result includes a link to run a "full" search for the search term on Google Search.
The YouTube application on my Google Pixel 3a device did not include Google Search results when I ran search queries regardless of sign-in status.
It is possible that the injection of Google Search results on YouTube search results pages is an experiment that is controlled remotely. Another possibility is that it is being rolled out gradually to monitor user reactions.
Feedback on Reddit is negative for the most part; users dislike the injection of Google Search results for several reasons including that they expect only video search results on a video site, that the inclusion is not all that helpful as a search is just a tap away on most devices, and that Google's motivation may have been fueled by its own interests rather than what is best for the user.
Closing Words
I dislike the inclusion of Google Search results on YouTube, especially in the way it is done right now since it is injected in the "middle" rather than placed at the end.
My expectation is to get video results when I run searches on YouTube, and that is regardless of whether I use the YouTube application, a browser, or YouTube app on a smart TV or elsewhere. The injection of search results breaks my expectation and search flow.
It is Google's app on the other hand and it is their decision; some users may find the inclusion useful, others may switch to using YouTube in a browser instead if the results are not injected there as well at one point in the future.
Now You: What is your take on this? Useful or not?
I’m using the YouTube Vanced app, because it removes the ads and as a back up I use NewPipe, my browser is Kiwi with Nano AdBlocker, Nano Defender and Poper Blocker so wherever I go whatever I do, there are no ads, it’s so nice to have a clean browsing experience on a phone.
Some people don’t even know they can block ads on their phones and are totally OK with it.
@The Equestrian
Apart from the extensions you already have, I’d also consider HTTPS Everywhere, Decentraleyes (or its more active fork, LocalCDN) and possibly Cookie AutoDelete – all for privacy reasons. But yeah, even though there is still room for improvement, you are pretty golden already.
Why use Google, YouTube, Facebook, etc.? Thinking individuals stay away from such data harvesting “services”
Since long time , YouTube is also considered as one amongst many Search Engines , So incorporating Google search contents on YouTube is long overdue
YouTube app that nobody should be using adds Google spam to YouTube searches.
Honestly, I see little to no reason why anyone would want to use the official youtube app anyway. Just root your phone and remove it completely if possible if not just rollback any updates and disable it then install a third party Youtube app that you’ll find is vastly superior in almost every single aspect.
I use YouTube Vanced.
Here’s a good article on YouTube rigging its search in favor of big corporations and against its users:
YouTube CEO: Users don’t like “authoritative†mainstream media channels but we boost them anyway
https://reclaimthenet.org/susan-wojcicki-unpopular-mainstream/
My “expectation†not “exceptionâ€
Horrid. Search is already broken with nonsense like “related to your search” and they are never related to my search! Two pages of nonsense to skip in order to reach back to more relevant results.
Each passing day, google becomes a little bit more evil. But it’s ok, because it’s convinient for users.
@Peter
Which big IT company that has any kind of access to their user‘s data isn‘t evil?
Yes, but which big IT companies stalk you across the entire internet, your devices, your GPS, your shopping, your medical records, your legal records, basically everything they can get their tentacles on!
There is a major difference between Google and most IT companies. Google isn’t even an “IT” company, it is involved in just about every industry these days, including military contracting and helping China oppress its people. Google has taken the #1 spot from Microsoft as the most evil US technology company. If the US government wasn’t so interested in Google’s stolen data and Wall Street wasn’t so interested in Google/Alphabet stock Google would have been sued and broken up!
@No Thanks, CIA
If we are talking about the worst offender, aside from the usual suggestions Google and Microsoft, I think Facebook and Amazon deserve a closer look, too.
So you think any big company that has “any kind of access to their user‘s data” is evil?
Hmm, that looks like a very extreme assertion, but then I take it that you’re an extremist of some sort, where everything tends to be simplified with an overbearing judgment?
Yet perhaps that wasn’t an assertion, and just an earnest question, such as with my questions.
Regardless, I guess such authoritative tactics come in handy if you want to promote some viral narrative to the dopey masses.
@Yawn
You seem to be quite the expert… With “big” I meant companies the size of Google, Amazon etc. And yes, Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, eBay… They’ve all had their fair share of unethical tactics and breaches of privacy. I don’t know any single company of that size which acts ethically, sorry to disappoint you. And no, sadly that’s not oversimplified or exaggerated… Again, they’ve all had their fair share so far.
@Iron Heart
Not that I disagree with your premise, rather, I’m not a fan of fallacy, which you often use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy
@Yawn
Show me a company of that size which acts ethically, and then we’ll talk. Before that? No dice.