Official: Google Provides Song Lyrics In Search Results, With Links To Google Play

Google has quietly added a special song lyrics box to its search results, for queries that are relevant. The company tells us this began last week, though it just started to be noticed today.

For example, a search on [stairway to heaven lyrics] returns a massive answer box, with much of the lyrics of the song, followed by a link to the Google Play store.

Here is a screenshot:

Google tells us that it has licensed the lyrics. Clicking on the “Full Lyrics” link brings people over to special pages at Google Play, like this:

Google also gave Search Engine Land this statement:

There’s a feeling you get when you turn to a song and you know that the words have two meanings. Well it’s whispered that now if you go search the tune, maybe Google will lead you to reason. Ooh, it makes you wonder…

Glenn Gabe was the first to notice this update, posting it on Google+.

To many of the lyrics web sites that monetize their sites based on traffic from Google, this can be a big concern for them going forward.

In October, Bing started adding full song lyrics to their search results as well.

This is one more example of Google’s Knowledge Graph and Answers box directly impacting those businesses.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.