Google has been playing around with its SERP quite a bit these past few days which is interesting since it means that the search engine giant is trying to optimize this page as much as possible. Video previews have been a big part of this experimentation process, and one recent test that we noticed involved incorporating short videos directly into the SERP so that users could find and view short form video content pertaining to their search query without having to click away, a situation that Google has been trying quite hard to make possible.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that video results have been a part of Google’s SERP for quite a long time not, but it seems that there is a small change that is being played around with right now. This change would involve expandable video previews. The way that this works is that when you drag your mouse over a video that you see in your search results, this would expand the view of this video and you can preview it in a way that would be rather similar to what you might already be used to seeing on YouTube and the like.
Google has been placing a lot of emphasis on videos in its search results because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up driving more traffic to one of its most successful properties namely YouTube. Facebook tends to avoid listing its videos on Google to keep its users within its own ecosystem, and this is something that would benefit YouTube even more if you think about it. This might change things for Facebook too since the traffic that this would bring them would be rather difficult to miss out on without hurting their own brand.
Read next: Google’s Desktop Search Result Pages Might Include Short Form Videos
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that video results have been a part of Google’s SERP for quite a long time not, but it seems that there is a small change that is being played around with right now. This change would involve expandable video previews. The way that this works is that when you drag your mouse over a video that you see in your search results, this would expand the view of this video and you can preview it in a way that would be rather similar to what you might already be used to seeing on YouTube and the like.
A test where YouTube video content is more engaging in Google's search results. Hovering over a video starts the preview on desktop (normal), with the video then becoming larger + including the description (test). Timeline updated: https://t.co/j6IUtkSa1z pic.twitter.com/Plg0OiGUfm
— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) October 13, 2021
Google has been placing a lot of emphasis on videos in its search results because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up driving more traffic to one of its most successful properties namely YouTube. Facebook tends to avoid listing its videos on Google to keep its users within its own ecosystem, and this is something that would benefit YouTube even more if you think about it. This might change things for Facebook too since the traffic that this would bring them would be rather difficult to miss out on without hurting their own brand.
Read next: Google’s Desktop Search Result Pages Might Include Short Form Videos