Google may try to reshape the way we search and expand access to its impressive multi-search capabilities in the future, but perhaps one of its most exciting announcements today is what it calls “discussions” and Forum” function. The idea is simple: Whenever you Google what it thinks might be an open-ended question, it pops up a box filled with results from “a variety of popular forums and online discussions on the web.” An example from its blog post shows Reddit, Quora, and Edmunds results when a user searches for “best car for a large family.” If you want to find really useful results, not a page full of ads and seemingly AI-generated SEO hacking articles, add “reddit” to your search; earlier this year, the Brave browser even basically added this Features are built into its search page. The company actually admitted more or less that it noticed people doing this in its blog posts, saying, “We’ve heard that you want to see more of this in search, so we’ve been exploring new ways to make it Methods are easier to find.”
Gif: Google
The company also stated that the feature was acquired “first-hand Advice, and learn from people who have experience with the things you are interested in.” Personally, glad to hear the reasoning. In many searches, you’re not looking for a definitive answer, but a range of opinions. While I often add “reddit” to my searches, it’s nice to see them on the same page as articles by professional reviewers.
You may always have to scroll a little to find the discussion and forum boxes – Google’s example leaves a blank section where advertising or sponsored results could well exist. But it definitely feels like there’s a way back to some of the lighthearted states of a few years ago, when top results still included pages and forums that weren’t optimized just because they matched exactly what you were looking for. (You know, before these things were replaced by social media and Reddit as the primary source of information, SEO-optimized spam text meant every recipe had to start with a 1,000-word article and backstory.)
Google said it will launch discussions and forums for English-language searches in the U.S. today, and “as we learn what works best for people, It may update it in the future”.
