The updated Google homepage welcomes you with a “Meet the new Google.com” card. It then prompts you to sign in to customize the homepage according to your liking. Once you have signed in, Google will let you select the topics that you are interested in by tapping the “Make the space yours” widget. You can select one or more from the following options: Air Quality, Cryptocurrency, Stock Market, Your Top Stocks, Events Nearby, Weather, Trending Searches, Top Stories, Sports, and What to Watch. Your selections will enable Google to customize the widgets and only show information relevant to you. You can always edit your selections, adding or removing topics. The company may add more options in the future, as it prepares for a public rollout. The widgets appear horizontally across the bottom of the screen, with the aforementioned “Make the space yours” widget occupying the leftmost spot. The original sighting in February showed widgets in either a square shape or a rectangle. It appears the company was testing various iterations and has seemingly settled on the former. As the new report notes, Google is bending this updated Search experience as “new Google.com”. This is a major shift from the company’s earlier stance that the homepage will remain minimalist. However, the widgets don’t cover much space and may be helpful to users in many ways. So they are a welcome addition.
The new Google Search desktop experience should roll out soon
As said earlier, Google has been testing widgets on the desktop Search homepage since February. It compliments the company’s Google Discover experience, which is a scrollable feed of web articles tailored to your interests. The tech giant has done well to keep things minimalist while adding a new layer of functionality to Search. The ability to see the weather info without having to search for it, or find the best shows to watch without digging into multiple articles certainly adds value. We expect Google to roll out the new Search experience on the desktop to everyone in the coming weeks.
