YouTube With Improved Search Engine; Google Tests New Features
Google is preparing new features for YouTube. The popular service will receive various search engine improvements, such as chapter display and automatic video translation.
- Google is working on improving YouTube search;
- New features include the option to preview chapters (i.e. timestamps) from within the search results, automatic translation of videos (titles, descriptions and subtitles) and display of additional information from Google Search.
YouTube remains the undisputed market leader in the video (and de facto music) service market, offering billions of videos on virtually any topic. However, this vastness of videos sometimes makes it hard to find the information we're looking for. Google is aware of this and is working on innovations that will make searching for content on YouTube easier. This is how Neal Mohan, YT's product director, described the plans for the service:
"YouTube’s enormous library of content has always set us apart as a platform. No matter what you’re looking for, there’s a good chance we have it on YouTube. But we know viewers need to easily find the videos they’re looking for, and quickly access the information they need. Our teams have invested significantly in improving that search experience over the years, and in today’s installment of our Innovation Series program we’re excited to share the latest technology to help you find what you’re looking for, from how-tos to DIYs. This complements the work we're doing to raise videos from authoritative sources when people come to YouTube looking for news and health information.
We could already see the effects of the work of these "teams". We owe them, for example, the option to display a fragment of the videos included in the search results. So far it was possible only on PCs, but this function is also going to YouTube's mobile app. The same applies to chapters, i.e. timestamps dividing videos into sections, which will be visible from the search results. This will also enable us to immediately jump to the section we are interested in. Until now, the mobile app allowed only for starting the playback of material suggested on the main page (although without sound and loading description, comments, etc.).
Google has also taken up another issue - language barrier. The company has been testing a system that automatically translates not only subtitles but also titles and descriptions of YouTube videos. At the moment it applies only to materials in English, but the company wants to include items in other languages. The developers are also preparing a function to supplement search results with links and "other formats" from the Google search engine. For now, this option can only be checked on mobile devices in India and Indonesia.
