Goolge Notes is an experiment from Google Labs which allows users to leave notes about websites in the search results. It rolled out in November 2023.
Quick Facts:
- Google Notes are not currently displaying on many sites, such as law firms
- Google Notes will not impact rankings
- Google Notes is just an experiment, scheduled to run until May 2024
- Google Notes are only available in the Google Search App
- At this time, there is nothing to do or worry about
What is (or are) Google Notes?
November 15, 2023, Google’s Senior Director of Search, Brad Kellet, announced Google Notes on Google’s blog, The Keyword. The article says “We’ve seen in our research that people are interested in what people like them are saying about a given web page. Notes are designed to work hand-in-hand with existing content on the web, adding a new layer of human insights to your search results. In this new experiment, you can get helpful context about a web page so you can better identify information that might be most useful for you — or you can share your expertise with the world.”
To use Google Notes, follow the instructions on this page: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/13876743.
Users can leave their own notes, or view, like, share and save other user’s notes.
Screenshot:
A “Note” on Perspectives:
Just as Google Search once moved towards a “mobile first” web, today they are moving to a more “people-first” web. Aside from Core Algorithm updates and Helpful Content updates used to improve search results, Google will be working towards bringing users more “perspectives” to the search results.
While it is unclear if Google Notes will become a permanent feature or roll out to desktop users yet, we can rest assured Google will continue it’s perspectives efforts in the future.
An Example Google Note:
While Google Notes are not appearing on most legal searches, they do show up on products. I left a Google Note on one of my favorite tires as an example of what a Note could look like:
