Google has now released featured snippets change that allows users to automatically navigate to relevant text from search automatically. That’s according to widespread reports citing Google’s Danny Sullivan on Twitter, confirming the feature.
As the feature is described, it works with just about any featured snippet that contains a direct answer to a query. One discrepancy here is that it isn’t going to work with lists derived from full articles.
That’s because the new feature works with text that’s been highlighted in a featured snippet at the top of a search page. Now, after clicking the link to a featured page, Google Search automatically navigates the page. It centers the scroll bar on the section with the relevant text. That text appears highlighted too. The goal is to help call attention to it so that users don’t need to scroll through a page and manually search for it.
This featured snippets update is linked to Search, not Chrome
Featured snippets have already been in Google Search for quite some time. In fact, they can be found in just about any search via Google. Namely, those are the paragraphs, lists, and tables that top the page in a card of their own. They appear at the top of the page and typically aim to provide a direct answer to a given question.
For example, users can type in a search for “what is featured snippets” via Google. The top result will be a card with images and a paragraph answering the question. That’s followed by a link to the site that’s providing the answer.
With this update, the biggest difference is that the page automatically redirects to the text shown in the snippets.
Featured snippets also typically appear regardless of what browser is being used. And the new featured snippets tool associated is directly associated with Google Search too. So it should work, if not now than in the near future as more browsers add support, across multiple browsers as well. As of this writing though, it only seems to work properly in Google Chrome.
Effortless and automatic but not replacing previous search tools
Google also indicates that there shouldn’t be any updating of apps or the Chrome browser to make the new featured snippets feature work. Instead, this is a server-side update and it will appear automatically. That means that users simply need to perform a Google search query and then tap the card described above. Then, the page will open, automatically scrolling to the relevant text and highlighting it.
That means that users won’t need to do much to find the text they really want to view on a given page. And it only works with featured snippets rather than just any old search. But Google isn’t getting rid of the old method for searching pages either, so that shouldn’t present too big a problem. Users who need to find text on other pages will still be able to access the “Find” option in the three-dot settings menu.
Conversely, users can still hold down “ctrl” and press the “F” key to access the page search bar.
