Google always tries to keep its search page bare of any redundant things, including widgets. There is just a colorful logo of the company and a search bar with two buttons. However, the company may decide to make some changes to this page by adding discover-like cards.
The widgets are not yet widely available, and only a few users have spotted them on search pages. As you can see in the screenshot, there are six widgets available, and each one is related to a specific query. Weather, Trending, What to Watch, Stocks, Local Events, and COVID News are Google’s widgets for the search page.
Users can deactivate these widgets
Google has added a “Hide content” switch for users who don’t want to see these widgets on their search page. This way, you can easily deactivate these contextual widgets. The feature is still under development, and the information it offers is not yet quite relevant and accurate. For example, the Androidpolice author says that the Weather widget has shown Buffalo’s weather clear and sunny, while it was overcast all day. Local Events inform you about everything happening in your surrounding, and the COVID News purpose is quite obvious. The Trending widget shows the most important news of the day. Google might monitor users’ search and offer trending news based on the most frequently searched items. Also, the What to Watch widget has some recommendations for streaming shows and movies. Google is currently offering a Discover feature on Android that has a similar function to these widgets. The Discover shows news, videos, and articles based on your search intents. Google also gave it a new look in Android 12. The idea of adding widgets to the search page seems promising. However, the implementation also matters, and Google needs to make those widgets more user-driven.
