Report: Google is testing trending topics in auto-complete search results

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Mashable’s Samantha Murphy Kelly noticed one day when searching on her iPhone on Google that Google is showing trending searches, as opposed to most likely searched on, in the auto-complete drop down.

Typically when you start typing letters into the Google search box, Google will start offering auto-complete suggestions based on what is most popularly searched on as well as your search history. But Samantha Murphy Kelly noticed Google placing trending search results with a little trending icon on the left of the search phrase to show they are trending.

Mashable put together this screen shot, which was taken of this Google experiment:

I personally tried to replicate this on my iOS device, while on Google on Safari, as Samantha Murphy Kelly did, but I am not able to see it.

Google frequently tests different search interfaces, let’s add this one to the archives.