Google Search is getting a big upgrade that promises to make it easier to get the information you’re searching for at a glance.
Google is currently testing a user interface change whereby when you hover your cursor over search results it will automatically serve up more preview text and, where available, image previews. This means you get more information at a glance without needing to click through to a new tab or webpage.
- The best Chrome extensions to try now
- Best Chromebook deals: Save big for the holidays
- Plus: MacBook M1 destroys Windows on ARM — this is embarrassing
What seems like a small upgrade is arguably quite a powerful one. Given the myriad of search results Google will show even on the most niche topic, sometimes you just want to get a snapshot of what a webpage might contain. But often the short block of text served under the search results doesn't really cut it and you then need to click on that link or open it in a new tab.
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/L4i6kYfEJYDecember 16, 2020
That’s both time consuming and can be resource intensive for your laptop or desktop — the Google Chrome browser is a notorious memory hog when you have a lot of tabs open — especially if the webpage you open has a lot of ads or images. But being able to automatically preview more text and images by simply hovering over a search result will effectively overcome this issue, making the UI tweak a much larger upgrade than it might seem.
Some of us on the Tom’s Guide team have seen the UI upgrade in action, but it hasn't rolled out to everyone yet. People have been posting about how they’ve seen the new preview feature already. On Twitter, Ishan Agarwal showed the new UI doing its thing, noting that while he liked it some could find it annoying.
However, it’s not clear if Google will indeed roll the UI upgrade out to all its Search users. And if it does, the change could take some time to reach everybody.
In the meantime, if you're looking at getting more out of Google’s web browsing capabilities, then check out our best Google Chrome extensions and our picks for the best Chrome apps you can get.
