6 replies to this topic

[jsp1983]

Has anybody else seen these in the SERPs before? Today was the first time I'd seen them.

I've uploaded part of a screenshot as an example.

It seems that 'history' could be the trigger word for timeline results?

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[Randy]

I've seen it show up a time or two in serps. But like you said on certain searches seem to trigger it. It's part of their Universal Search program.

[jsp1983]

I've seen it show up a time or two in serps. But like you said on certain searches seem to trigger it. It's part of their Universal Search program.

I see... So it's not new, then? Oh dear!

Strange, because I use the word 'history' in a few searches that could have produced a timeline but didn't - I just assumed it was a new feature.

[Randy]

Well, the timeline thing has been around for awhile. It was part of Google Labs for the longest time, so nobody knew it was there if you didn't know to check the Labs stuff.

It's addition to the Universal Search stuff is fairly recent. Has to be since Universal Search itself didn't even start to get rolled out until 2007, and mostly then it was integrating book searches and Froogle/Google Shopping results into the normal searches. I honestly don't remember the first time I saw a timeline show up. But it's not been years ago or anything like that.

FWIW, I'm not sure "history" alone will trigger it. The rest of the words in the phrase would probably have to be relevant to a timeline they've already created.

[Alan Perkins]

the trigger word

I'm not sure it's quite that simple. For example, a search for [kings and queens of england] triggers timeline results. And "timeline" is a good word to throw into a search to force a timeline if one is available, e.g. [constituencies timeline].

[Aaranged]

There's clearly more to the algorithm than trigger keywords. Today (anniversary) of moon landing a query for "Apollo 11" (the hot link from the commemorative logo) brings up a timeline, as does a query for "Apollo 13."

Curious though that I'm seeing this relatively recent forum discussion on this, as timeline results have been appearing in the SERPs since the beginning of 2009. Perhaps another tweak to improve temporal relevancy in Google.

[mal4mac]

Yeah this has been around for ages. Take an invention (I'll call it 'the widget' here, just as an example.) If you search for 'history of the widget' you will almost certainly trigger the timeline for the invention and development of the widget in the first page of the serps. I found this many moons ago when I wondered why I was doing so well for 'history of the widget'. It turned out that I had a page with the earliest date for the invention of the widget so it appeared first in the timeline! You can also click 'Show options...' to get the option to a look at a timeline for a particular search.