Google Search Starts Highlighting Results Directly on Webpages

[MacRumors]

Google has added a new content highlighting feature to its search engine that aims to make it easier to find key information on webpages, reports SearchEngineLand (via The Verge).

The feature works with Google's Featured Snippets, which appear at the top of search results. Clicking a snippet takes the user to the source webpage, but now the browser automatically scrolls down the page to the text that appeared in the snippet and highlights it in yellow.

Google says the feature has been available with AMP pages since December 2018, but this is the first time Google has rolled it out for regular HTML content, too.

Web developers don't need to do anything to get content highlighting working on their sites, as it's all managed at Google's end and happens automatically, although our tests backed up The Verge's claim that, currently, it doesn't always work.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1268240786845384704

The search shown in the images at the top of our article worked on desktop in Chrome, but not in Safari or Firefox, for example. They didn't work in the mobile versions of these browsers for us at all.

As noted by SearchEngineLand, the feature could have an impact on the ad market, since visitors may be automatically scrolled down past website ads to the highlighted content. In some instances, sites may need to relocate their ads to align with the new Google feature.

Article Link: Google Search Starts Highlighting Results Directly on Webpages

 

[chris4565]

Not a big fan of this to be honest. What if the automatic detection is wrong? Personally I'm glad it's not working in Safari.

 

[itsmilo]

One more step to world domination by Google. Soon you won’t even have to leave google to do anything on the internet

 

[moabal]

I thought it always did this?

 

[mazz0]

Wait what!? Isn't it one of the fundamentals of web security that code on one site isn't able to effect another? Is Chrome disable XSS restrictions just for Google?

 

[asiga]

This is actually what we considered sci-fi in movies like Terminator: we are being pushed in a direction where technology is more trusted than people. We can see it at autonomous cars and in many other examples (starting with the disturbing "automatic memories" in iOS Photos). And this Google change is in that direction also: Google knows what you are looking for better than you (and if you disagree, you are outside society).

Sorry, but no, this is not why I enjoy technology. I enjoy it when I control and decide (reason why I chose Apple decades ago, and same reason why I'm leaving Apple nowadays).

 

[I7guy]

This is actually what we considered sci-fi in movies like Terminator: we are being pushed in a direction where technology is more trusted than people. We can see it at autonomous cars and in many other examples (starting with the disturbing "automatic memories" in iOS Photos). And this Google change is in that direction also: Google knows what you are looking for better than you (and if you disagree, you are outside society).

Sorry, but no, this is not why I enjoy technology. I enjoy it when I control and decide (reason why I chose Apple decades ago, and same reason why I'm leaving Apple nowadays).

Automatic memories won’t have a blowout and get one killed in a car crash. Important distinction.

I don’t find snippets that useful anyway. But that me.

 

[Stevie jobz 2.0]

Sorry, but no, this is not why I enjoy technology. I enjoy it when I control and decide (reason why I chose Apple decades ago, and same reason why I'm leaving Apple nowadays).

You like to control tech? It's taken 12 years of being told what you can and can't do with your iPhone, default browsers, only downloads available from app store etc.. To realise that your dream of controlling the device in your hand is actually just that. A dream...

Cool story tho...

 

[phajtol]

How does this works regarding the technology? Do they inject their scripts into pages? Is it gonna work in Chrome only so it’s browser-side? So many important questions ...

 

[biziclop]

It works by appending a special # value to the link containing a text fragment, like a search expression. For example try this in chrome:
https://www.macrumors.com/#:~:text=Archives

Links with details:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/f7cdd8

https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/4733392803332096
https://github.com/WICG/scroll-to-text-fragment

One more step to world domination by Google. Soon you won’t even have to leave google to do anything on the internet

What do you think what the actual purpose of AMP links is?

 

[spotlight07]

This could be useful for assistants like Siri and Google. But I think this is one step closer to Google making a collective database of information for profit without respecting or paying the content creators.

 

[Good User Name]

They’ve basically already been doing this just without the highlight

 

[imnotthewalrus]

You like to control tech? It's taken 12 years of being told what you can and can't do with your iPhone, default browsers, only downloads available from app store etc.. To realise that your dream of controlling the device in your hand is actually just that. A dream...

Cool story tho...

Though the OP doesn’t need (nor asked) for me to “defend” their comment, a quick glance at their signature showed being a Mac user since 2000. User “control” has changed a bit since then.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Wait what!? Isn't it one of the fundamentals of web security that code on one site isn't able to effect another? Is Chrome disable XSS restrictions just for Google?

No. It actually just generates a custom url that chrome recognizes. For example, in the example given the actual URL from the search is https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/reset-airpods/#:~:text=Press%20and%20hold%20the%20button,indicating%20the%20%E2%80%8CAirPods%E2%80%8C%20have%20reset. instead of https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/reset-airpods. Chrome will then parse the part after #:~:text= and scroll to that location. It's almost like a shortcut to cmd + F. Nothing too sinister. More details here on Github.

 

[jacobweber]

How does this work with their other new feature, ignoring half of your search terms?

 

[szw-mapple fan]

How does this work with their other new feature, ignoring half of your search terms?

It has always done that. If you want an exact match, just put quotes around the search terms.

 

[Stevie jobz 2.0]

Though the OP doesn’t need (nor asked) for me to “defend” their comment, a quick glance at their signature showed being a Mac user since 2000. User “control” has changed a bit since then.

Maybe so, but that doesn't answer the question that for 12 years there's been a device that folk don't control and only use it and access how "the man" wants them to.. What's happened this year to finally make the OP realise he's not in control of his tech..?

 

[velocityg4]

If they want useful features. They need a reference search mode. Where it only searches online forums, technical support articles, professional reviews, &c. It's really annoying trying to find information on a problem or technical info. Only to be presented with shopping results, company product pages, &c. Which have nothing to do with the search.

The closest they have is Google Scholar. But that is more for scientific papers than run of the mill help and how to.

 

[imnotthewalrus]

Maybe so, but that doesn't answer the question that for 12 years there's been a device that folk don't control and only use it and access how "the man" wants them to.. What's happened this year to finally make the OP realise he's not in control of his tech..?

Hard to say, as no specifics were shared, but I imagine it was the “ecosystem’ of the phone and Mac, at least for a while.

 

[TechieGeek]

What do you think what the actual purpose of AMP links is?

Are we going to pretend like AMP didn’t make the web faster?

 

[EmotionalSnow]

Are we going to pretend like AMP didn’t make the web faster?

The only thing it did for me was annoy me.

 

[Jessica Lares]

If it became a web standard, this would be really useful to everyone.

 

[mazz0]

No. It actually just generates a custom url that chrome recognizes. For example, in the example given the actual URL from the search is https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/reset-airpods/#:~:text=Press%20and%20hold%20the%20button,indicating%20the%20%E2%80%8CAirPods%E2%80%8C%20have%20reset. instead of https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/reset-airpods. Chrome will then parse the part after #:~:text= and scroll to that location. It's almost like a shortcut to cmd + F. Nothing too sinister. More details here on Github.

Ah, so it's more a Chrome feature than a Google (Search) feature. Chrome is parsing the URL for that bookmark and responding accordingly - it's basically dynamic bookmark creation, with custom styling. Seems like a nice idea, could make a cool standard.

 

[asiga]

You like to control tech? It's taken 12 years of being told what you can and can't do with your iPhone, default browsers, only downloads available from app store etc.. To realise that your dream of controlling the device in your hand is actually just that. A dream...

Cool story tho...

Precisely, you cannot control iOS. That's the reason why I consider iOS the worst thing that happened to Apple. If you thought that I meant I loved to control iOS (or Android, which is even worse), I didn't express myself accurately.

 

[asiga]

Automatic memories won’t have a blowout and get one killed in a car crash. Important distinction.

No, there's no distinction. First, because computers shouldn't substitute humans when we are talking about decisions that can have death consequences, like driving for example. Second, because arguing that autonomous cars are about saving lives is false (they are about big data business and big data life control).

In conclusion, it's what I said in my post: You can choose a Terminator world. I choose freedom instead. The eerie thing is not only that some sci-fi movies are becoming real, but that they also predicted that it would be people in themselves who would vote technology to substitute them. It's like people are wishing to stop being people, preferring computers to decide if they should die in an accident. Sad... and quite eerie that some movies predicted this would happen.