One of the best search tricks for finding things easily on Google Search is about to get a whole lot better. Being able to search with quotes in Google Search has been one of the best ways to find specific phrases or words on a web page or document for years. But now, Google will highlight where the quoted phrase or word appears. This should allow you to see exactly where it appears on the page much more easily.
Searching with quotes in Google Search is much easier
As you can see from the image above, Google now bolds the words or phrases you search for between quotes in Google Search. Image source: Google
Previously, when you searched for a quoted phrase in Google Search, you were greeted with several URLs and snippets of pages that might contain that phrase or word. This made it easier to find exact citations in documents and other materials, or even just to find out where you might have read that phrase the first time. Now, finding quotes on Google Search is about to get better.
The change that Google is making is very simple. The results will continue to show the same as always. However, Google will now provide a more detailed snippet below each URL. The snippet is where Google provides additional context for each URL it shows in Google Search. If you search for “best dog treats,” you’ll see a snippet below each URL that describes what it is.
Google detailed the new change in a blog post this week. Depending on the post, snippets will show you the quoted phrase you searched for in bold. It will also provide context about where that piece of text is on the page. The company included a good example of how citations now look in Google Search, which we’ve included above.
Why did Google change things?
Unfortunately, the new Google Search results for cited searches only seem to work on the desktop site. Image source: Teerasan/Adobe
Well, the old way Google did things was perfectly fine. However, when you searched for quotes in Google Search, it didn’t provide the context of where or how the phrase was used. This made it difficult to identify exactly why that page might be showing up in the results.
However, with the new method, Google has bolded the word. Facilitates the selection of the contextual inclusion of the sentence. Google’s Yonghao Jin says search results didn’t show this previously because the phrase was often included in parts of the page that weren’t considered useful in snippets.
However, Google says that people value seeing where the quote they searched for appears on the page. As such, the company has initiated this new change. Unfortunately, it’s only available on desktop. So if you’re looking for quotes on mobile, you’ll still have to find them on the page yourself.
Google rolled out other changes to Google Search earlier this year, so be sure to check them out as well.