Your Google homepage may look different on desktop soon
Google confirmed with The Verge that it's testing a new personalized Discover feed for Google.com users.
MSPowerUser spotted the change, reporting that a select number of users are seeing a Discover Feed — filled with personalized suggestions based on their activities — on their Google.com homepage.
The Google Discover feed isn't new
The Google Discover feed, as MSPowerUser pointed out, was introduced to mobile phones years ago. You can find it on the home screen of some Android devices (if you scroll to the left) and it's also displayed underneath the search field in Google's mobile app.
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Google Discover populates content based on users' interests, which are assessed from their web and app activity.
However, it looks like Google wants to bring the Discover feed to the Google.com desktop experience. According to a screenshot from MSPowerUser, the desktop version of Google Discover will suggest news recommendations, populate share prices, offer weather forecasts, and showcase sports scores.
This isn't the first time that Google tested a Discover desktop experience. Last August, 9to5Google reported that the search engine giant was experimenting with a Discover-like UI. However, instead of using a feed format, the interface rolled out information in cards stacked horizontally.
It's worth noting that Bing, one of Google's rivals, also has a homepage feed that populates top stories, weather, advertisements, and more.
"Unlike Google, Bing allows its users to customize their homepage and choose whether or not to enable the news feed," MSPowerUser said.
Personally, I like Google.com's current clean and minimalist interface.
Looking at the screenshots, the experimental Discover feeds look too busy for my tastes — and I am not a fan of visual clutter. Plus, I'm prone to getting distracted too easily. I can see myself typing in "Google.com" to input a search query, but getting sidetracked by a news headline or a share price.
Fortunately, the desktop Discover feed is still in testing, but if the search engine giant decides to roll out it out, it would be a significant change. As The Verge points out, "[Google.com] continues to be the world's most visited website."
Topics Apps & Software Google
Kimberly Gedeon, at Mashable since 2023, is a tech explorer who enjoys doing deep dives into the most popular gadgets, from the latest iPhones to the most immersive VR headsets. She's drawn to strange, avant-garde, bizarre tech, whether it's a 3D laptop, a gaming rig that can transform into a briefcase, or smart glasses that can capture video. Her journalism career kicked off about a decade ago at MadameNoire where she covered tech and business before landing as a tech editor at Laptop Mag in 2020.
