Google today announced a new tweak to how its search service works for users. The search engine now provides additional information about the websites whose content appears on search results.
Starting today, there"s a new menu icon next to almost all search results that, when clicked or tapped, will show you an information panel containing more details about the website you"re about to visit. These details include a short description of the website sourced from Wikipedia.
In case a site doesn"t have a Wikipedia entry, Google will instead display information about when it first indexed the site and other available data. JK Kearns, Product Manager for Search, wrote in a blog post that the additional information can help you "make a more informed decision about the sites you may want to visit and what results will be most useful for you".
In addition to the site"s information, Google will also show whether your connection to that site is secure. This is indicated by the use of the HTTPS protocol.
To distinguish search results from ads, Google will also display a short line confirming that what you"re seeing is a native search result. Finally, at the bottom of the panel, you"ll see links to your privacy settings and more information about how search works.
The latest changes are available from today in the U.S. It"s live for search in English on the mobile web, desktop, and Google"s app on Android.