Google Search is testing a brand new notes characteristic the place you’ll be able to add your personal notes to the search outcomes and in addition see the notes others have left on that search end result. It is a Search Labs experiment that you must choose into and launched within the US and India on cellular and throughout the Google app.

You may add and examine notes on each Google Search and in Google Uncover.

Should you choose into this Search labs experiment you will note a brand new “add word” icon on search outcomes. If others left notes, you will note the variety of notes for a selected search end result.

Clicking on add word gives you the flexibility so as to add a word that anybody else can see. Whereas clicking to view the notes will allow you to see different notes different searchers left on that search outcomes.

Here’s a screenshot of that add word and notes icon:

Then if you click on to view the notes, you might be taken to a list of those notes, the notes are ranked so as or relevancy and usefulness. Right here is the notes record view:

Right here is the element word view for a single word, you will note within the footer of every word display, there’s a hyperlink to the supply touchdown web page.

Google stated these notes are crawled by its bots in order that it will possibly rank the notes throughout the notes display. Google makes use of a distinct algorithm to rank the perfect notes first. Every word is ranked for a given internet web page primarily based on its relevance to the search and content material on the word.

Google added new search developer documentation and wrote, “Content material is eligible for customers so as to add notes if it is listed by Google, meets our spam insurance policies, and if the subject is eligible to seem with notes, which Google determines by way of alerts just like the search time period, textual content on the internet web page, and different hyperlinks to the web site.” “You need not add any particular tags or structured knowledge to be eligible, however remember that being eligible does not imply the looks is assured,” Google added.

Google additionally stated it makes use of each algorithms and human overview to make sure the notes are smart for the searcher and search end result. Anybody also can report notes that is probably not smart.

Notes don’t affect search rankings; they do not affect how the location ranks or how different websites. The rankings for the notes are particular to the notes themselves however not how the websites rank normally. Google once more wrote in its documentation, “Notes do not have an effect on how your internet web page is ranked.”

Google stated it’s pondering of the way to share these notes with the publishers. Google stated for the reason that notes have been designed to work hand in hand with content material on the internet, Google desires to offer publishers insights into their notes. How Google will do that isn’t decided but, however perhaps in the future we are going to see them built-in with Search Console – if this labs experiment ever goes reside.

Here’s what it seems prefer to create a word:

Here’s a assist doc on how all of this works.

That is completely different from SearchWiki from 2008 however many OG SEOs are most likely getting nostalgic about SearchWiki when studying this.

Here’s a video from Googlers that designate this:

I ought to word that with all these bulletins, the tone has been extra round how Google has misplaced its approach and is including pointless options which can be extra a distraction than helpful. That’s what I’m seeing from the group.

Discussion board dialogue at X.

Replace: Yep, these notes are crawlable and being listed by Google Search:

Appears to be like like notes left by way of the Google Search Labs experiment are indexable in regular search outcomes.

Unsure if it is intentional, however it’s a cool solution to see what notes persons are leaving, in the event you’re . 🙂

cc: @rustybrick @glenngabe @Marie_Haynes pic.twitter.com/YM1nBbWofd

— Ethan Lazuk 🌴 (@EthanLazuk) November 17, 2023

John Mueller from Google responded to this saying, “Sure, they’re regular pages too.”