Google search now serves up content twice as fast for repeated queries on Android through the use of a new form of tech known as Service Worker.
Google revealed earlier this week that initial searches are effectively cached, so users that enter the same query again later on will be able to bring up websites, articles, blogs and videos in half the time. Google said that this functionality is unique to Chrome on Android.
“Google Search’s mission is to get relevant results to you as quickly as possible,” the company’s Director of Engineering Dion Almaer said. “So they invested in the largest deployment of Service Worker probably out there by being able to extra work on the fly and give you results sometimes twice as fast.”
Service Worker is only live on Android devices, but the two times faster results are not inherent to that platform and could feasibly be added to other browsers in the near future.
Google’s Senior Director of Product Ben Galbraith said that Chrome on Android was “getting the treatment” as it supports Navigation Preload, which is absent on other browsers. This feature is crucial for the latency optimisation that is central to faster repeated searches on Google.
Galbraith added: “If other browsers add the needed capabilities, the Google Search team will expand the repeated search improvement to them as well.”
Navigation Preload is still new tech, having only been added to Chrome for Android in 2017. However, its ability to speed up results may promote other browsers to drive adoption in the near future.
