Google is rolling out continuous scrolling on mobile – a feature most people probably didn’t notice they lacked on smartphones, but which could make it easier to dig into more results.
Continuous scrolling, as the name suggests, means that reaching the bottom of the results page just goes on and on instead of requiring a click a “See More” button to view the next page of results. Now, scrolling to the end on a mobile device loads more and more results automatically as you scroll down.
According to Google’s data, most people click through four pages to find the information they’re looking for. Of course, the most relevant links should be at the top, but people like exploring more sources than Google puts up front on mobile devices.
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“While you can often find what you’re looking for in the first few results, sometimes you want to keep looking,” explains Google product manager Niru Anand in a blogpost.
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He says it should help satisfy Google search users who have bigger appetites for curiosity.
“In fact, most people who want additional information tend to browse up to four pages of search results. With this update, people can now seamlessly do this, browsing through many different results, before needing to click the “See more” button,” notes Anand.
The continuous scrolling feature builds on Google’s rework of the look of its mobile search product in January.
The redesign aimed to make text easier to read and supported devices with edge-to-edge screens.
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Google more broadly has been aiming to make search on mobile faster, be it on the mobile versions of the Chrome and Safari browsers, or via its app for iOS and Android.
Google search on mobile devices overtook search on desktop devices in 2015.
