Google Adds Video Instant Previews To Some Results

Google has added a new type of instant previews to the Google search results. The new previews are designed specifically for video results.

The video instant previews show you several frames from a video and may even play the video preview when you mouse over the thumbnail image. I should not, not all video results have instant previews, the video providers have to opt to show these previews.

How Instant Video Previews Work:

(1) Search Google or Google Video search and look for a video result.

(2) Mouse over or click on the magnifying glass preview icon.

(3) A drop down of 4 frames may be displayed on the right side of the icon. Here is a picture:

(4) Place your mouse cursor over the video preview frames and the video selection might begin to play on your screen.

Google’s Daniel M. Russell finds this “REALLY handy when the video results are more diverse, and you can’t really tell them apart except by clicking though to the result.”

Related Stories:

• Google Launches Instant Previews
• Google Makes Mobile Instant Previews Official
• Google’s “Instant Previews” Now On iOS (iPhone/iPad) Browser
• Google Makes Mobile Instant Previews Official
• Google Analytics Data Skewed Because Of Instant Previews
• Google Instant, Meet Yahoo Instant – Er, Yahoo Rich Search Assist

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.