Back in March 2018, Google began testing showing no results, aka zero results, in the Google search results. Google then reverted it after the backlash and then launched it only on mobile for only time/date, conversion or math related queries. Well, now it seems Google may be testing showing it on the desktop results.
Kapil Chadha, who is based in India, shared a screen shot of Google testing showing zero results for a math query on desktop search. Here is that screen shot (click to enlarge the image) he shared on Twitter:
This is exactly the search results interface Google reverted on desktop search.
Google is also testing showing the results on the right side, but I don't think that UI is so new. Here are more screen shots from Kapil:
Google is testing a new layout for showing calculation results. Here are the screenshots for reference. @er_chanda,@rustybrick @Shobhit22_ #search #Google #GoogleUpdate pic.twitter.com/HWBuvfEag6
— Kapil Chadha (@kapilchadha) December 4, 2020
I wonder if this is a bug or if Google is daring to test this again? I personally cannot replicate this in the US, nor can I when I set my settings to India.
Again, this does work on mobile search but should not work on desktop.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: Google told us this was a bug and they are fixing it so it won't happen again. These types of zero results should only show on mobile and not on desktop search results.
