This week, Google is reportedly testing a new feature that could alter the way people search the web. According to UK news provider Blogstorm, the company is experimenting with a new full-page preview to accompany search results. This means consumers can determine whether a website answers their queries before clicking on results, and marketers will need to prepare site content accordingly.
Blogstorm officials who saw the tested layout explain that results feature a magnifying glass and when users hover over a result they are shown a page preview. To help users discern whether sites are worth their clicks, Google highlights a snippet of text from the page that contains information relevant to search terms.
Google hasn't made any official announcement about page preview options in search results, but consumers are increasingly discovering the test layout in their searches. Following Blogstorm's report, The Next Web and FastCompany.com both reported seeing page previews in their results.
The benefits of this feature for users are clear – page previews save them time and help them find the most relevant results. But for businesses, this potential shift in Google's search page design could cost web traffic. To maintain page visits, brands must be sure to carefully plan the content they include on their sites and frequently update information to cater to consumers' queries.
