Google Search: A New Update Makes Shopping, Jobs and Recipes Search Easier

Google is updating the activity cards jobs, recipes and online shopping to help users know where they have left off with searches, especially for these activities. It helps users to quickly resume the searches.

Activity Cards

Activity cards usually contain links to previously visited pages, along with a carousel of queries that leads to those pages. Last year, Google introduced activity cards to help the user quickly return to their previous queries and page visits. Regardless of the type of query, the cards can show up for all types of searches and usually have a similar design which can be seen just under the ‘Your related activity’ tag at the top of the search results page.

Here is an example that shows what a regular activity card looks like.

 

But now, with the latest update, searches for buying products, recipes, or finding a new job are tailored specifically for those categories. This is because, unlike regular activities, these activities are capable of displaying rich media, such as thumbnails of products and food, and also contain more information.

Shopping Cards

Whenever you are shopping online, product reviews are one of the important parts of deciding what to buy, and it is done by doing research on Google Search. Through search, you might check for updates about the product you want to buy and make sure you’re getting a good deal. With the shopping activity card, Google Search will display the products you’ve been researching – even if you weren’t looking for that product on the actual product page or even if the product was featured in an article you were reading. It makes it easier to view and compare all the products a user is interested in and helps to make a decision faster. 

To know more, click on ‘More activity’. It will expand the section to show additional details – such as user reviews, prices, and some related articles – from your search history.

 

Jobs Cards

The job activity cards make your hunt for a new job much easier. That is, when you’re searching for a new job, it isn’t always easy to stay on top of new opportunities, and it can be hard to remember which roles you’ve already seen or applied to. With jobs activity cards, it will display new, relevant job postings that have been published since your last search for a new position – instead of scrolling through old postings.

 

Recipes Cards

To make meal planning easier, the activity card for recipes has been updated. The new recipe cards show more relevant recipes related to a user’s query.

For example, if you search for chicken recipes, Google will display the related recipes you have recently visited and will also provide a thumbnail preview, which makes it easier to find the right dish you want.

 

Adding and deleting items in the activity cards

Whenever you want to mark a page to read or reference later, all you have to do is just touch and hold the link to add items on your activity card. It is also possible to access your collections, including links, images, or saved items, by tapping the menu on the top left of the Search page on the mobile web, or through the bottom bar of the Google app. You can also control what appears in your activity card by deleting the items from your collection.  For that, you need to press the item and tap on delete to remove the item. For turning off the activity cards, tap the 3-dot icon.

This feature is for those who are looking to build new habits, hunting for a job, planning to stick to an exercise regimen, spruce up the wardrobe, or collect new ideas for their home. It will definitely help them along their way and will also make their search history more accessible and useful.