Google Search’s new topic filters make it easier to refine results or expand searches

Google announced today that it’s making it easier for users to drill down on a search and explore related topics. Search currently has a few filters to help you refine and separate your search results between videos, news, images or shopping results. Now, the search giant is going to start showing users a scrollable list of related topics alongside its current filters at the top of the search results page.

For example, if you’re searching for dinner ideas, you might see filter topics like “healthy” or “easy” pop up in the new scrollable list. If you tap on one of the filters, it will add it to your search query. You can add or remove topics, which are designated by a + symbol, to quickly zoom in or backtrack on a search.

Topics are dynamic and will change as you tap in order to give you more options and help you explore new areas, Google says. For instance, if you tapped on a “healthy” filter, you may see “vegetarian” or “quick” appear next. Google says the new change will roll out for English users in the U.S. on iOS, Android and the web in the coming days.

“When you conduct a search, our systems automatically display relevant topics for you based on what we understand about how people search and from analyzing content across the web,” Google said in a blog post. “Both topics and filters are shown in the order that our systems automatically determine is most helpful for your specific query. If you don’t see a particular filter you want, you can find more using the “All filters” option, which is available at the end of the row.”

Today’s announcement comes a day after Google introduced a “Continuous Scrolling” experience on desktop so users don’t have to navigate across pages to find relevant search results, expanding a feature the company has offered on mobile for some time.

Google Search’s new topic filters make it easier to refine results or expand searches by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch