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Google auto-playing video previews in search results carousel on Android

Google is now showing six-second video previews in the search results delivered on Android devices.

Barry Schwartz on August 21, 2017 at 9:33 am

Google announced they have added video previews to the video carousel that shows up in the search results. Currently, this only occurs when you are using the Google app for Android or using Chrome on Android.

When you toggle through the videos in the carousel, it will show you a six-second preview of the video. Here is a GIF of it in action:

Google said this will only be the default behavior when the user is on a Wi-Fi connection. But users can enable video previews on mobile networks or opt-out of this feature entirely by going to the settings menu within the Google app or adjusting settings for Android Chrome.

Not too long ago, Google was caught testing auto-playing videos in their search results. This implementation isn’t as significant a change as people were seeing in that test, but it still adds a lot more interactivity and motion to the search results.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.