Google is now breaking down the ‘key moments’ in videos with a visual timeline as it continues its efforts to help users find content faster and more intuitively in search results.
The new feature, called key moments in video, was spotted for the first time on Tuesday after Google officially launched it following a successful test period.
The timeline appears below the video in search, with a horizontal bar and circular timestamps showing the best parts across the entire run time of a particular clip.
“When you search for things like how-to videos that have multiple steps, or long videos like speeches or a documentary, Search will provide links to key moments within the video, based on timestamps provided by content creators,” Google said in a statement.
The new feature will enable all users to scan content for useful sections, something that Google believes has generally been a problem for video compared to text in articles and blogs, which is inherently more skimmable.
Key moments will also make video content more accessible for screen readers.
Users can access the updated video design in search as long as creators have submitted content with timestamp information and published it on YouTube.
Google is open to integrating the informative format with other platforms and has asked video creators via a form if they would be interested in this happening in the near future.
The impact of the new feature on search rankings is not yet known, so brands will need to test it out to see if it can boost certain metrics.
