Google not only is testing more list view formats for the top stories section but also testing, for some queries and some searchers, having the first set of web results taken over by news stories.
Shalom Goodman posted a screenshot on Twitter for Alphabet earnings news and I cannot replicate it, and I've tried countless browsers both last night and today.
Here is the test web mobile search results interface where the top stories are taking over the web results and they are in a list view, so they push everything down, as opposed to having them in a carousel:
This is what I see, where the top stories carousel comes below the other search results:
Here it is for the Alphabet news:
(SEO)
— Shalom Goodman (@ShalomGood) July 26, 2022
I’m just noting that I’m seeing lots more of this look for Google’s top stories at the moment.
My guess is that Google is testing out this layout and seeing how searchers respond
Cc the birthday superstar @glenngabe pic.twitter.com/ulC1T5az4I
I suspect news publishers would appreciate this new interface and for many trending news queries it does make sense, I suspect. But maybe not all. I mean, people searching for monkeypox might want level-headed information from an agency or health site and not more attention-grabbing headlines from news publishers? I guess it depends on who is searching. :)
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Another variation:
(SEO)
— Shalom Goodman (@ShalomGood) July 27, 2022
Ok, it’s only getting more wild.
Check out how this SERP looks.
There are 3 news carousels, yet fully separated https://t.co/THetcy9eZc pic.twitter.com/3yfLgksybq
