Google will show you answers of some queries instead of search results

Google is experimenting on cutting out search results on queries which have specific answers on mobile devices. Searches which include calculations, unit conversions, and time won’t immediately load the search results. Instead, users would have to click “show all results” to see the links.

Given below are some screenshots of the queries which I tested on my phone:

As you can see, there is a condensed view if you run those queries on your phone. By excluding the search results, the overall response of the app is remarkably quicker. Danny Sullivan, who is the Google Search Liasion, said that people rarely click on the search results when searching for those 3 particular queries, therefore, they are experimenting to exclude the search results to speed up load time.

When I tried running a simple calculation on my Google app, the search results were still appearing which shows Google is still not confident enough in some queries even in these 3 constrained areas. Only when there is a “high confidence” in the widget result, will Google exclude the remaining search results. This is a pretty neat feature however and could make its way to other domains as well where users just need one line answers and don’t have a fast connection.

What are your thoughts regarding this condensed view? Do you think it is suitable and should be implemented on other queries as well? Let us know!