For customers in the US, on desktop
Being one of the leading search engines around, Google can deliver a Search experience that is comprehensive and accurate, so you find what you’re looking for quickly. Although its Search and Image Search utilities are pretty rich, we can’t say the same for shopping-related searches, which only yield a handful of e-commerce listings before continuing with mundane Search results linking to product pages. The company is now trying a more visual approach to its e-commerce Search results on desktop, and you’ll be able to use it soon.
When you query Google for a product using a phrase like “shop coffee maker” in the US, you won’t be limited to a handful of product listings followed by general Search results anymore. Google is also adding support for filtering results by type, brand, retailer, what’s nearby, and what’s on sale. The Shopping tab on the Search results page packs a bunch of search filters on the left-hand side, but many of these features are making their way to the All tab for results in the US.
When you click on a product among the results, you’ll see a new image search results-style panel on the right with links to various retailers selling the product, a section for buyer reviews, and larger image previews. This way, you won’t need to abandon your product search to read up on an item. Similar features are already available for shopping-related searches on mobile platforms.
Like Google’s Search results, shopping results and filters also update dynamically. To complete the purchase, you can click on the link to the retailer’s website and proceed there. If you want to save something for later, you can get started using Google’s built-in shopping list feature. Google doesn’t say, but we hope this new shopping experience rolls out to other markets sooner than later.
