Google hasn’t ever fundamentally changed how search works on the web, neither onyour favorite phonesnor on desktop computers. The company sometimes adds facelifts and smaller quality-of-life improvements, though. This is true for the redesigned search chips it’s recently introduced for mobile, which make it easier to jump right into the content you’re looking for, whether it’s images, videos, news, or something else. This same new look is now also coming to Google Search on desktops.
The new search chips sit right below the search bar on both desktops and mobile devices now, as spotted by9to5Google. They replace the old sections you’re familiar with, like Images, Videos, and News. At a glace, the biggest difference to the old sections is the fact that the chips now sit in pill-shaped boxes rather than underlined tabs, though there are also some further enhancements.
The chips are more dynamic, changing their positions depending on what term you’re looking for and whether it’s currently trending or not. In addition to showing the sections, the new search chips also add query suggestions that might augment your current search. If you look for recipes, for example, the chips may suggest appending terms like “healthy,” “vegan,” “fast,” and more. These suggestions are denoted with a plus sign in order to set them apart from the sections.
So far, we’ve seen the desktop and mobile redesigns roll out predominantly in the US, but even then, your mileage may vary. Google likes to roll out changes like these slowly and only on some devices at a time. In any case, the redesign is more widely rolled out on mobile than on desktop, with Google already having announced the redesign as early as December 2022. For some people, the redesign is also available but not fully functional yet, with context-aware search suggestions missing.
