Google has added a handy “About this result” menu for the search results. The new menu contains contextual information you can use to check if you’re getting expert opinions from a trusted source, if a job posting is recent, or to confirm that the site you’re about to click on is safe.
Users in the US can now access the new Google Search ‘About this result’ menu on desktop and mobile. It works on all browsers, Android’s built-in Google search and the Google iOS app. However, the information is not immediately visible. You need to click on the three stacked dots icon next to a website name to open the About This Result information card.
Google says most– but not all – search results now have the ‘About these results’ card. For those who do, you will see a brief description of the website taken from Wikipedia. If there is no Wikipedia entry for the page, the description will be taken from one of the Google services, although it won’t be as detailed. You will see at least the first time Google indexed the page. Google also cites all sources for any information displayed on the map.
Checking a website’s ‘About this result’ card can help you stay safer online too. The card will say “Your connection to this site is secure” if it uses HTTPS, which is important to keep your personal information safe while browsing. Being able to check for a secure connection beforehand is useful no matter what you’re looking for, but especially when you’re examining the danger zone past the first page or two results.
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Finally, quick links at the bottom of the map can confuse you to your Google account privacy settings and information about how Google’s web crawler works. Some websites also have a link to quickly look up similar results, or a link to the most recently cached version of the page if you’ve visited it before.
Note that the “About this result” feature is still in beta, so some information may be incomplete and the feature may not always work correctly. There is a link to ‘Send feedback on this information’ to Google if you find any bugs or inaccuracies.