Google Search Adds Full Coverage Feature to Provide More Context to News Stories

Google Search is getting the Full Coverage feature, the company announced in a blog post on Monday. The feature helps users get a comprehensive picture of a news story from a range of sources, especially for complicated news topics that are marked by continuous updates. The Full Coverage feature debuted on Google News in 2018 and with its launch on Google Search, it becomes easier for people to comprehend complex news stories while searching for information. Full Coverage in Google Search is available on mobiles devices as of now.

While searching for timely topics that are continuously changing, the coronavirus pandemic for example, users will see a carousel of articles at the top of their Search results that highlight the relevant news. They can enter the Full coverage page by scrolling to the end of the Top stories carousel or by tapping on the More news on option that appears right below this carousel. The users will then be taken to a page that gives them various perspectives and angles regarding the development of the news from various publishers.

“With this launch, we're introducing new technology that is able to detect long-running news stories that span many days, like the Super Bowl, to many weeks or months like the COVID-19 pandemic. We then organise the Full Coverage page to help people easily find top news along with additional content like explainers and local coverage that are helpful to understanding these complex stories,” says Google News product manager Itamar Snir in the blog post.

When Full Coverage feature debuted in Google News in 2018, users were able to see top headlines from various sources, videos, local news reports, FAQs, social commentary, and a timeline for stories that have played out over time. Google News had then made use of a set of AI techniques to take a constant flow of information as it comes on the Internet and then analyse it in real time to organise it into storylines.

Full Coverage in Search has been launched on mobile devices, beginning with English in the US. It is expected to roll out to more languages and regions in the coming months.

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