Google is now testing out a ‘highlight’ button for AI Overviews in Search on desktop with a pop-up asking users to select text to receive an AI explanation. Instead of the normal ‘learn more’ text that appears in it’s place, the highlight functionality allows for a more immersive experience where the user can continue to learn by highlighting text within the snippet. Important to note that while my test window did show the highlight feature for each search that triggered an AIO, some examples had an error notice that appeared.
Google is now testing out a new treatment for the eCommerce full-width rich cards display from last month. There are two variations, one that includes a more full-bodied format and another that highlights the first result more heavily.
Google is now testing a product grid of merchant listings for small businesses on mobile. Instead of highlighting the standard lists for popular products, deals or fast delivery, Google is instead showcasing a section for products sold by small businesses.
Google has started testing the short videos carousel on desktop for the first time since 2021. The test looks similar to the 2021 version, now highlighting the YouTube in-SERP viewing experience and TikTok favicons.
Google is now testing a blue highlight for features on hover that was first covered by SER. The examples within the article have the highlight appearing across standard organic listings and videos, whereas another variation of the test shows the highlight only appearing for PAA.
Google is now testing out displaying a blue highlight for standard organic listings on desktop for the first time. This comes after various bits of test history for this feature, first appearing on mobile and displaying across different features. Here’s what it looks like alongside the featured snippet blue highlight.
Google is now testing out an extension of the knowledge panel section for companies with a rich cards section, similar to what appears for notable people. The section can also appear without a title, highlighting recent social posts and other related content such as videos.
Google is again testing out the blue highlight (instead of bolding) for normal listings. This test last appeared in November of last year, featuring a lighter blue highlight at the time. It is again only appearing on mobile devices.
Google is now testing new mobile search bar variants. Similar to the desktop search bar test from last month, Google is testing out a blue magnifying glass, along with a blue selected item and a grey variant.
Google is testing out a new desktop search bar variation where the selected menu item has blue text and background. This is compared to the standard desktop search bar featuring options by popularity.
In extension of the blue highlight test from September for standard organic listings, Google is now testing out a new lighter variation on mobile. Here’s what this same query looks like with the blue variation.
Google’s blue highlight for featured snippets has now expanded to People Also Ask results. We saw blue highlights for PAA results as a test last month, with the highlight now showing for all users by default.
Google is now testing showing blue highlights alongside bolding within People Also Ask results. We saw Google rollout blue highlighting within featured snippets earlier in the month, with the next logical step for expansion being within PAA. As a note, while the blue highlight can appear alongside featured snippets, it can also appear separately for queries. As a hint to when the test appears, the PAA question font will show differently.
Google has now rolled out blue highlighting of content and larger font within paragraph featured snippets. This test dates back to September of 2022, where the highlight would should in both yellow and blue. On mobile, featured snippets still appear as bold (the previous approach) alongside the blue highlight. This launch looks to apply in most cases of full-width paragraph featured snippets, but the previous approach does appear in some instances too, when appearing within knowledge panels. Also spotted by Krinal Mehta.
The rollout of blue highlighting of content in featured snippets ended up being the story of the month. While Google doesn’t show the highlight in all instances, it is the primary method that Google is now using. Another test I noticed later on in the month was related to this update, with the highlight starting to be shown for PAA results.
Google is now running a test focused on highlighting relevant content in Featured Snippets and PAA results. This test is a replacement of the bolding functionality, which first rolled out in July of 2021. The highlight functionality for web pages dates back to 2019, originally focused on on-site content with scroll-to-text on mobile with AMP. The test shows with either a yellow or blue highlight, often presenting the text in a larger font.
The latest version of Chrome is now showing scroll-to-text fragments in purple by default, instead of the usual yellow highlight. This can appear for some Knowledge Panels, free product listing article snippets, Featured Snippets, and more.