Google Adds Personal Gmail Results to Web Searches
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CREDIT: Laptopmag.com |
Several months ago, Google raised eyebrows when it moved most of its online services to a single, unified privacy policy that allowed the company to share information between its various apps and services.
Now we're starting to see the fruits of that change. Google is integrating relevant Gmail results into general Web searches -- and you can sign up to be a guinea pig.
Currently, when you search for, say, "Target," search results include the big-box retailer's website, Google Maps results for nearby locations and various links to the company's apps, social-media accounts and Wikipedia entry.
If you enable Gmail integration with your search results, emails you've received from Target -- such as order receipts and coupons -- would also appear in the right-hand column.
Google's also promising to include your upcoming flights into results for airline information, based from your email confirmations.
This is just another step in the direction of Google's vaunted "Universal Search" initiative. Earlier this year, the company introduced Search Plus Your World, which adds Google+ information to search results.
Perhaps the best example of the Universal Search ideology is the Google Now functionality built into the Android 4.1 mobile operating system, a.k.a. Jelly Bean.
If you want to add your Gmail results to Google, head over to the appropriately named "Gmail in personal search results" page and sign up for the trial.
AllThingsD reports that activation could take a few days, but the buzz we've heard about it on social media indicates that most people are being enrolled in a matter of minutes.
This story was provided by Laptopmag.com, a sister site to SecurityNewsDaily.
