Google Begins Testing Custom Filters for Search Engine Based on Domains, Keywords

Reports indicate that these new filters allow users to search for specific types of files such as eBooks, spreadsheets, PDFs, documents, and a plethora of other items. File photo: PK Studio, ShutterStock.com, licensed.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Google has begun testing custom filters for its search engine for results based on domains and keywords. Currently, these new features have been made available only to a certain number of users, which allow them to customize their search results according to certain specific domain types, websites, and keywords in order to find the information they are looking for.

Reports indicate that these new filters allow users to search for specific types of files such as eBooks, spreadsheets, PDFs, documents, and a plethora of other items. In addition, the new Google Search feature can allow users to filter results based on certain domain types; what that means is that if you are only looking for results from specific domains – for example, “.gov,” “.com,” or “.org” – there will be a filter that will allow you to designate that.

Users will even be able to enable filters to refine search results based on specific time parameters, such as past year, month, week, day, and even hour.

Once a specific filter has been set, users have the ability to save it and assign a custom name or tag to it if they wish to refer to it again in future searches. Filter templates can also be edited and saved to user’s Google accounts, where they will have access to it from whatever location they sign in from, be it a mobile device or desktop computer.

Currently, the new search filter is only available to certain users who are aiding in final testing the feature before it is rolled out to a wider audience within the next month or so. For those that the feature is available to, it takes the form of a pop-up window that appears on the Google Search result page that notifies the user of their ability to use the new custom filters.

To help users acclimate to the new feature, Google also provides several examples on how it can be used, such as:

• Discussions: To search for information on platforms like Quora and Reddit
• PDF Only: Shows relevant PDF files in search results
• Past 7 days: Shows search results based on information published on the web within the past week.
• Coding: Shows results from coding websites such as Github and StackOverflow.