Google’s Desktop Search Result Pages Might Include Short Form Videos

A number of tech trends come and go, but one of the most pervasive has involved the rise of short form video. Virtually every single platform has started looking into incorporating short form video wherever it can, and the main contributor to the rise of this trend has been TikTok. Platforms such as Facebook have tried to create their own versions of apps that can produce short form videos for users and the like and help them share them, and YouTube has also been focusing on this angle by promoting shorter videos and even experimenting with a separate tab for that kind of content.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google might be implementing short form video outside of YouTube as well in its desktop SERP, as spotted by Brodie Clark. This was experimented with on mobile in 2020 but now it seems that Google is trying to see how it would work in a PC search engine environment too with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The way that this works is that you will see a list of short videos that pertain to your search query in the midst of your webpage results. These videos will come from a wide range of sources including YouTube, Facebook and TikTok. There will obvious concerns about Google prioritizing YouTube videos in its search results which it often does in order to create a positive feedback loop that would generate more traffic to its own properties.

However, the tests that have been seen so far have involved short videos from all the platforms that currently allow users to post them, so such concerns might not turn into a reality. This is a further example of Google’s attempts to make users get the results and content that they need from the SERP itself rather than anywhere else.

H/T: Brodie Clark

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