Skip to main content

Filed under:

Google’s Search On fall 2021 event: news and announcements

Share this story

Google is announcing several new updates and features to its core search functions for its Search On fall 2021 event. The new changes to search utilize AI through Google Lens visual searches in new ways; allow for easier window shopping online through local stores, checking what’s in stock at a nearby shop right from a product search; and introduce improvements to tracking wildfires through Google Maps, among other things.

We have all the info on the latest features to come to Google search and will continue to monitor how these new updates take shape. Stay tuned to check out all the coverage of Search On 2021 and Google’s new announcements.

  • Dieter Bohn

    Sep 29, 2021

    Dieter Bohn

    Google search’s next phase: context is king

    Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

    At its Search On event today, Google introduced several new features that, taken together, are its strongest attempts yet to get people to do more than type a few words into a search box. By leveraging its new Multitask Unified Model (MUM) machine learning technology in small ways, the company hopes to kick off a virtuous cycle: it will provide more detail and context-rich answers, and in return it hopes users will ask more detailed and context-rich questions. The end result, the company hopes, will be a richer and deeper search experience.

    Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan oversees search alongside Assistant, ads, and other products. He likes to say — and repeated in an interview this past Sunday — that “search is not a solved problem.” That may be true, but the problems he and his team are trying to solve now have less to do with wrangling the web and more to do with adding context to what they find there. 

    Read Article >
  • Justine Calma

    Sep 29, 2021

    Justine Calma

    Google Maps is making it easier to see wildfires and tree coverage

    Google’s Tree Canopy Lab
    Google’s Tree Canopy Lab
    Image: Google

    Google Maps has new features that should make it easier for users to see wildfires, tree canopy, and locations without formal addresses. It’s all aimed at helping communities be “safer, more sustainable, and discoverable,” according to the company.

    A new wildfire layer on Maps will begin rolling out globally this week, Google announced today. It’ll show most major fires, those prompting evacuations, across the world. Red splotches and pins on the layer will indicate where blazes are and how far they’ve spread. By tapping on any single wildfire, users can see more information, like how many acres have burned, what percentage of the fire has been contained, and links to local emergency resources.

    Read Article >
  • Google expands shopping searches with Lens and in-store inventory checks

    Google’s new search features attempt to make online shopping easier.
    Google’s new search features attempt to make online shopping easier.
    GIF: Google

    Shopping online isn’t always a convenience. If you enjoy window shopping or browsing curated collections at a brick-and-mortar store for inspiration, finding something online you don’t yet know you want or are unaware of is tricky if you start with a text search. Google is announcing new shopping search tools to try to alleviate this, with features that utilize Google Lens for finding products to buy from pictures online, broader search terms to help you browse clothing, and the ability to check in-store inventory from home. It claims the new tools will help shoppers “find what they’re looking for in a more visual way.” This comes after Google allowed all businesses to create listings on Google Shopping for free last year. Now, it wants more window shopping to be done right from Google search.

    Google Lens has been around since 2017, replacing Google Goggles that came before it, with the ability to use a smartphone camera to conduct visual searches based on the identification of objects found in the real world. Those image searches have allowed users to learn more about the things around them, even finding the same or similar item to buy without looking for a label or barcode to scan. Now, Google wants to make it possible to shop for any product you see in an image or video on the web with nothing more than the picture itself. Soon, iOS users will have a new dedicated button in the Google app, allowing a Google Lens search of any image on a page to bring up Google Shopping listings for purchase through a visual match. The feature will also be coming to Chrome on the desktop.

    Read Article >
  • James Vincent

    Sep 29, 2021

    James Vincent

    Google is using AI to help users explore the topics they’re searching for — here’s how

    The Google logo on a colorful, geometric background
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    “Can you get medicine for someone at the pharmacy?”

    It’s a simple enough question for humans to understand, says Pandu Nayak, vice president of search at Google, but such a query represents the cutting-edge of machine comprehension. You and I can see that the questioner is asking if they can fill out a subscription for another person, Nayak tells The Verge. But until recently, if you typed this question into Google, it would direct you to websites explaining how to fill out your prescription. “It missed the subtlety that the prescription was for someone else,” he says.

    Read Article >
  • James Vincent

    Sep 29, 2021

    James Vincent

    Google Lens will soon search for words and images combined

    Google Lens wants to be more useful by pairing visual searches with accompanying text.
    Google Lens wants to be more useful by pairing visual searches with accompanying text.
    Image: Google

    Google is updating its visual search tool Google Lens with new AI-powered language features. The update will let users further narrow searches using text. So, for example, if you snap a photo of a paisley shirt in order to find similar items online using Google Lens, you can add the command “socks with this pattern” to specify the garments you’re looking for.

    Additionally, Google is launching a new “Lens mode” option in its iOS Google app, allowing users to search using any image that appears while searching the web. This will be available “soon,” but it’ll be limited to the US. Google is also launching Google Lens on desktop within the Chrome browser, letting users select any image or video when browsing the web to find visual search results without leaving their tab. This will be available globally “soon.”

    Read Article >