Google's mobile searching just got faster

Quick links and quick views reduce number of clicks it takes to get to the right information

When it comes to mobile searching, speed is the name of the game. It is all about getting the right information to the user as quickly as possible, before they decide its no longer worth waiting, and they try another browser. We've come to expect speed, and we lash out when we don't get it. Or we just try another service.

Knowing that is has to keep making its searches go as quickly as possible in order to stay on top, Google has introduced a couple of new features to make its mobile searching even faster by allowing users to get their information with fewer clicks, it was announced in a blogpost Tuesday.

The first feature are quick links, which will give a user relevant links within a website underneath a search.

The example that Google gave was for a person who searches Rotten Tomatoes to find a list of top movies to see. Instead of having to go into the site, then click nativigate through to click on that link, it will be displayed right on the Google search page.

"Now, there’s a faster way to get to the Rotten Tomatoes page with just the info you need most -- just look for a new quick link for “In Theaters” underneath the main Rotten Tomatoes link when you search on your mobile phone. You’ll see these expandable sitelinks appear for many sites to help you get to a specific section quickly," Hiroshi Mizuno and Alex Fischer, Software Engineers at Google wrote.

Google also added a Quick view feature, in the form of a badge next to the displayed results. This allows users to see a preview of the page without having to click into a new page to see if is what they were looking for.

For example,  Mizuno and Fischer wrote, if you want to see what the poker hands are, you can just click the Quick view button without having to open a new page. 

Right now, Google says that Quick view "is an experimental project" and only works for pages from Wikipedia when a user searchs in English, though Google also says that is working to expand Quick view to additional websites. 

Google search updates

This is not the only update Google has given mobile search recently.

In March, Google released new versions of Chrome for Android and iOS, with an ephasis on speed and simplicity.

Chrome browers for Android were made to be 25% faster due to a new Javascript engine and expanded support for HTML5 features, like CSS Filters, while users of Chrome on the iPhone and iPad were given the ability  to put their search queries into an omnibox. This allows them see their search term, instead of the search query URL.

In addition to the updates searchbar, Google also made it easier for users to view their tab history, just be pressing and holding the back button in oder to access any page that had previously been visited.

Google has also added some new features for desktop searching as well, allowing users to search specifically for GIFs. 

(Image source: https://reinventinggov.org)