The Google Search engine is testing a new change in its UI (image source: Bloomberg) Google is testing a new feature in its Search user interface (UI), which will show image preview and text previews when one hovers over the link which appears in the search results. The feature appears to have started rolling out to some users, who were able to see the new design when searching on private mode. However, it does not appear to be showing for all search results and topics just yet.
The feature was first spotted by 9to5Google who managed to see image previews when hovering over links after they searched for Galaxy Note 20 Reviews. The new tweak can provide a little more contextual information on the link or the image without the user having to leave the search window. Tipster Ishan Agarwal also posted a video on his Twitter handle showcasing how the new UI looks like in action.
According to the report, the feature displays a larger text preview and in some cases even image previews from an article directly from Google Search when you hover over a link. 9to5Google discovered that when they searched for Google “Stadia,” they only found text previews from sources such as Wikipedia and the Stadia Dev Blog. The UI does look a bit cluttered.
Seems like Google Search is testing a new UI… I like how smooth it is.
It will now show image previews if you hover your mouse over a search result/link.
Cool or rather annoying? It does take a while for this stuff to roll out to everybody though. #Google pic.twitter.com/L4i6kYfEJY
— Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) December 16, 2020
The report on 9to5Google mentioned how they were able to discover the new feature in Chrome’s incognito mode, but the feature disappeared when they tried to trigger the mode again. It remains to be seen whether Google will roll it out publicly to all users soon.