Google Timeline Experiment Seen In Main Search Results

Google’s “timeline view,” which was previously only available as an opt-in experiment in Google Labs, is now being seen on some queries in the main Google.com search results. Todd Mintz tipped us to the query [“book of revelation”], which shows the timeline results pictured above at the bottom of the first page. The timeline can […]

Chat with SearchBot

Google Timeline Results

Google’s “timeline view,” which was previously only available as an opt-in experiment in Google Labs, is now being seen on some queries in the main Google.com search results.

Todd Mintz tipped us to the query [“book of revelation”], which shows the timeline results pictured above at the bottom of the first page. The timeline can also be seen on queries such as [thomas jefferson] and [albert einstein].

Clicking the “More timeline results” in the main search results leads to a page with much more historical data about your query that Google says comes from their News Archive search service:

News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. Users can search for events, people or ideas and see how they have been described over time. In addition to searching for the most relevant articles for their query, users can also see a historical overview of the results by browsing an automatically generated timeline.

Search results include content from a number of sources, including both partner content digitized by Google through our News Archive Partner Program and online archival materials that we’ve crawled. Search results can include content that is freely accessible as well as content that requires a fee. Articles related to a single story within a given time period are grouped together to allow users to see a broad perspective on the topics they are searching.

In each example we’ve seen, the new timeline display shows up in addition to the traditional ten search results, and often appears along with news, image, or book results, too.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

Get the must-read newsletter for search marketers.