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TikTok is testing a new feature that integrates Google Search into its own in-app search results. The test, spotted by app researcher Radu Oncescu, shows a small box midway down TikTok\u2019s search page that invites users to search for the same terms on Google.<\/p>\n
According to TechCrunch, it has reached out to both companies for details on the feature, which currently does not show up in search for all users \u2014 including in our own tests.<\/p>\n
A TikTok spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that the Google Search feature is one of the third-party integrations the app is currently testing in some markets.<\/p>\n
#TikTokSearch now displaying external links to Google Search. @MattNavarra pic.twitter.com\/cAxNufLA3p \u2014 Radu Oncescu (@oncescuradu) September 19, 2023.<\/p>\n
Last week, The Verge reported that TikTok is also experimenting with incorporating Wikipedia entries directly into its search results.<\/p>\n
unveils changes to meet tough new EU rules
As TikTok expands in every direction at once, it is clear the app has ambitions to become a one-stop shop for anything users might want to do online, not just a repository of viral dance moves.<\/p>\n
While only a test for now, the inclusion of Google Search is interesting for a few reasons.<\/p>\n
For one, last year a Google executive who runs the company\u2019s Knowledge & Information division observed that young users who once would have used Google are now turning to TikTok and Instagram to search the internet instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe keep learning, over and over again, that new internet users don\u2019t have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to,\u201d Google Senior Vice President, Prabhakar Raghavan, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our studies, something like almost 40 per cent of young people, when they\u2019re looking for a place for lunch, they don\u2019t go to Google Maps or Search.\u201d<\/p>\n
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