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Google has started the rollout of a new Google Search feature yesterday for users in the United States. The change adds a three-dots menu to each site listed by Google Search in the results. A click on the menu displays an overlay with website information.
The feature, labeled as Beta by Google, displays an excerpt of the site's article on Wikipedia, if an entry is available. Google is showing "additional context that may be available" for sites without a Wikipedia description. Right now, Google is displaying when the site was first indexed by the company's search engine.
The overlay shows whether the site uses HTTPS, and the full URL. Links to provide Google with feedback, open the privacy settings, a cached copy, and run a search to find out "how search works" are listed as well. Google users may click outside of the overlay area to return to the search results on the page.
Google features, e.g. Jobs or local business listings, a description that describes how Google sources the information is provided.
Why is Google introducing the change?
Google notes that the feature is designed to help search users "make a more informed decision about the sites" that they visit. The added information can give users " context or peace of mind" according to the announcement.
The new three-dots menu adds an option on mobile to look up the full address of a search result without leaving the Google search results page or complicated actions. Mobile space is limited, and it happens that the full URL of a site is not displayed in the mobile results.
The Wikipedia description that Google displays is very short; a link to Wikipedia is provided to read the entire entry on the site. Google does display a widget with information about the top search result when available; this widget includes additional information and it is unclear why Google is not displaying all the information in the new overlay as well.
Google did not reveal plans to roll out the feature to other regions at the time of writing.
Now You: What is your take on the new option?
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
It will take away some page views as most people can find what they want in the 1st paragraph summary that Wikipedia often puts on top and what I think that Google will be displaying.
This sounds like an initial step towards labeling websites based on their political bent. Scary red exclamation mark for right-wing stuff, green fluffy smiley for left-wing stuff.
It’s all about artificially keeping user on the search result page where it can be trapped into looking at entries that beside real sites are also ads and as well as profiling user better via these 3-dotted clicks – these will give false information that user is interested in particular topic and that gives a chance to dump unrelated ads.
@pndy Yes, and those pages also have subminimal messages that brainwash users into corporate slaves who are being sent to the Moon to build secret, underground cities for the lizard people elites who are escaping our flat Earth before the feared Zero Point Catastrophe happens.
It would be great if it shows accurate domain age as well.
But would it prevent people from clicking on fake websites?
It will only allow fake websites, all real websites will be blocked. It will be a Google utopia.
If you do a search and get https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7489871?hl=en#zippy=%2Cthis-isnt-my-site , clicking on the new horizontal ellipsis (3 dots or … ) shows information you may have in fact expected.
I am using Chrome Version 89.0.4389.40 (Official Build) beta (64-bit) in the US.
I should have said 3 vertical dots ⋮ , a vertical ellipsis as Martin indicates.
It’s not a search engine anymore when it makes political and financial decisions that benefit a single party. Google has become another gatekeeper like AOL or Yahoo, or any other number of obsolete biased, deceptive sites.
@Anonymous Yes, Google is part of The Cabal who are brainwashing users into corporate slaves who are being sent to the Moon to build secret, underground cities for the lizard people elites who are escaping our flat Earth before the feared Zero Point Catastrophe happens.
Spoken like a good little zombie.
Google is evil
Linking it to Wikipedia just makes this another censorship tool.
I use Brave browser and Duck Duck Go for searches. Google is better for searches but stupid to use if your search is political, or even sociological. Don’t be told what to think.