Google Search On 22: 9 Updates You Need to Know

At Search On 22, on September 28th, Google's annual search event, the company announced several new features across Google Search, Google News, Google Shopping, and its other services. Google is working to create more immersive experiences, blurring the lines between the real world and the digital world. 

After reading this blog, you'll better understand how Google Search is evolving, how new features affect you and your business, and what you need to know to stay on top of the many changes now and going forward.

1. Multisearch is Expanding

Google Multisearch allows you to use your camera's phone to search by an image, powered by Google Lens, and then add a text query on top of the image query. Google will then display visual search results based on both the image and text queries. Multisearch is available globally in English, and Google is expanding it to more than 70 languages over the next few months.

Pro Tip: Here’s how to use Multisearch. Point your Android or iOS smartphone camera at something nearby, take a photo of it, or select an image from your camera or photo library. Once you've captured an image, swipe up on the results to bring up the multi-search function, then tap the “+ Add to your search” button. And in this box, you can add text to your photo query.

Google will launch a new Multisearch feature called “Near Me’ in English in the US later this year. Near Me lets you zoom in on image and text queries by searching for products or anything for that matter with your camera locally. So if you want to find a restaurant with a particular dish, or a store with a specific chair or clothing item, you can do so in an instant.

2. More Visual Information

Google has introduced a new, visually enhanced way of presenting search results for some queries, allowing users to learn more about a wide range of subjects, including travel, people, animals, plants, and more. When you search, you may now see images, short films, tips, things to do, and other relevant information, as well as visual cues to help you focus on the most relevant information.

3. New Google Maps Features

Google is once again reimagining Google Maps, this time with a visual, user-friendly map that lets you experience a location as if you were there, thanks to computer vision and predictive modeling advancements.

With the new “Neighborhood Vibe'' feature, you can select a location and see the most popular spots come to life. Maps users contribute more than 20 million new items every day including photos, descriptions, and videos, resulting in a neighborhood vibe that’s mixed with artificial intelligence (AI). In the near future, Neighborhood Vibe will be available on Android and iOS worldwide.

Pro Tip: The new Neighborhood Vibe feature is primarily focused on local businesses. As a result, local businesses will benefit the most if they have excellent reviews, good engagement, correct information, and good photos. Consequently, local businesses must work on SEO to improve their search ranking to take full advantage of this new feature. 

The new “Immersive View'' feature provides magnificent, three-dimensional views of a location with the weather, traffic, and activity information placed on top. This is a new way to experience the world, 250  landmarks are now live worldwide.

On Android and iOS devices, you'll soon be able to search for destinations using Google Maps by tapping on the camera and seeing what's around you in real life. You can click on any location for more information. Google is rolling out “Search with a Live View” in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo starting soon.

Drivers will soon be able to obtain customized routes based on engine type with the new “Eco-friendly Route” feature. For example, diesel engines operate more efficiently at higher speeds, while hybrid or electric vehicles are more economical at slower speeds. Google will soon allow other developers to utilize this technology via the Google Maps Platform to have a much greater impact.

4. Translating the World

Google processes more than 1 billion translations from one language to another each month, allowing users to quickly browse stores, menus, signs, and other items in another language. Because context is frequently supplied by combining words with backdrop visuals, it’s crucial to include translated images in addition to text when translating text. In collaboration with machine learning technology known as 'Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs),' Google will create translated text and images later this year.

Google is slated to introduce a new method for searching for translated news coverage for both local and international news stories early next year. Through machine translation, Google Search will provide translated headlines for news results in other languages. This will give you 'authoritative reporting from journalists' directly from the country that was affected by that specific news story.

5. New Search Refinements

Google is also providing new search refinements and assisting with autocomplete for search results. With this new function, Google will construct your query as you type it by showing tappable words.

6. Personalized Results

Google is expanding the “About this Result” feature to inform users if searches are personalized in any way.

7. Enhanced Shopping

Will Google supplant Amazon as the go-to destination for online shopping? Google revealed many enhancements to the shopping experience. In a post Search On article Vidhya Srinivasan, Google Vice President and General Manager, Search Ads and Ads on Google experiences, wrote, “Creating a more visual Search is particularly helpful for shopping, and we’re making it even easier for people to shop online, whether they know exactly what they’re looking for or are seeking inspiration on Google. Now when people type the word “shop” followed by whatever they’re looking for, they’ll get a shoppable display of products from retailers and brands as if they’re window shopping online.”

8. Scroll to Explore

When you scroll through Google Search results, the results become less relevant the more you scroll. Because of this, Google has added a new “Scroll to Explore” feature to provide users with inspiration around their query, not something identical to it. Searchers can use this new Explore feature to expand their horizons beyond their original query.

9. Discussions and Forums

Google Search currently provides a “discussions and forums” section for U.S. English results. This is intended to help people locate first-hand experiences from people on the subject in various online discussion forums, including Reddit, but not limited to just one forum platform.

The Bottom Line

Google's search algorithm is one of the world's most complex, with over 200 ranking factors. Websites and pages are affected by these updates in domain and page authority, among many other factors that impact how your business and services are found online. Users will have more engaging search experiences, and businesses can take advantage of the new Google map features by refining their SEO approach.