The pandemic has come with several unusual things, and one of them is that searches about COVID-19 have become the most common and consistently searched queries, exceeding previous Searches.
Many people look up for local information about the virus and what precautionary measures are being taken. Following it, Google has to make adjustments to the Top Stories AMP requirements.
Usually, articles from Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) appear in the mobile Top Stories Carousel. The format, which is marked in the top-right corner with a lightning icon not only speeds up the load time but also in the last few years there have been extensive adoptions in it.
Google announced that both AMP and Non-AMP stories related to Coronavirus queries will now appear in that section. It would help small publications to appear at the top even if they do not have the widespread reach, neither AMP featured features on search queries.
Last month Google also introduced a “Local News” section, added below the Top Stories carousel on Google search. The local news can be from local publishers that cover a specific region and even from the other publishers who may be out of that area but have content about that particular area.
The section is available only for searched related to COVID-19 even without any restriction of AMP featured stories. Publishers do not have to make any particular changes to appear in this section.
Seeing the increasing interest of people in this topic, surpassing the weather and news searches, Google has now placed shortcuts across Assistant, Snapshot, and Discover, so people can easily look for COVID-19 resources.
Read next: Gmail Now Supports Google Meet Video Conferencing
Many people look up for local information about the virus and what precautionary measures are being taken. Following it, Google has to make adjustments to the Top Stories AMP requirements.
Usually, articles from Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) appear in the mobile Top Stories Carousel. The format, which is marked in the top-right corner with a lightning icon not only speeds up the load time but also in the last few years there have been extensive adoptions in it.
Google announced that both AMP and Non-AMP stories related to Coronavirus queries will now appear in that section. It would help small publications to appear at the top even if they do not have the widespread reach, neither AMP featured features on search queries.
Last month Google also introduced a “Local News” section, added below the Top Stories carousel on Google search. The local news can be from local publishers that cover a specific region and even from the other publishers who may be out of that area but have content about that particular area.
Last month, we made a change to help local content surface better within our Top Stories box. In addition, we added a new “Local news” box to show local news content in response to coronavirus-related searches: pic.twitter.com/5gdZ368UdZ— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 4, 2020
The section is available only for searched related to COVID-19 even without any restriction of AMP featured stories. Publishers do not have to make any particular changes to appear in this section.
Seeing the increasing interest of people in this topic, surpassing the weather and news searches, Google has now placed shortcuts across Assistant, Snapshot, and Discover, so people can easily look for COVID-19 resources.
Read next: Gmail Now Supports Google Meet Video Conferencing
