Tell HN: I have a new google.com tab labeled "Forums" – Is everyone seeing this?

[consumer451]

I am in the EU, while signed into my USA Google account, suddenly I have a new tab on google.com labeled: "Forums"

Let's discuss please, this is a huge change, is it not?

Is this an entire tab along the lines of adding something like "reddit" to the query, but not just reddit?

Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/adma1LO

[4684499]

It seems someone discovered this (along with other udm values) back in June https://medium.com/@tanyongsheng0805/every-google-udm-in-the...

[wruza]

Can you post the resulting url here? Someone may try following it.

Please note that a link may(?) encode info you may not want to share, so maybe remove long parts from it. Section selectors are usually short: tbm=isch, tbm=shop, etc.

[consumer451 → wruza]

Here is a google search for Hacker News after I clicked on the "Forums" tab. I was sure to use the same google account that is associated with HN, and little else. I appreciate the heads up on that though. People should know these things. BTW, this was Mullvad into Prague.

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=ccfd9b9fc01db35a&authu...

[wruza → consumer451]

Yes, when I follow it, it now shows the "Forums" section, and it stays there if I switch to e.g. All or Web from there. It's likely encoded somewhere in the long "fbs" parameter, cause it disappears once I remove it.

But you can search forums with just udm=18. E.g. https://google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=18 -- this means you can create a custom "search with >" item for it.

Also,

6 https://www.google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=6 -- "Learn", returns mostly learning resources and references.

8 https://www.google.com/search?q=javascript+near+san+francisc... -- "Jobs", seems to use "<title> near <location>" format.

15 https://www.google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=15 -- "Attractions", seems defunct.

36 https://www.google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=36 -- "Books"

37 https://www.google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=37 -- "Products", strange one

44 https://www.google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=44 -- "Visual matches" ???

48 https://www.google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=48 -- "Exact matches" ???

51 https://www.google.com/search?q=Foo&udm=51 -- "Homework", looks like "Learn"

I guess 44, 48 is probably how image search works.

[blackeyeblitzar]

I didn’t notice it before so I am not sure it is new. But I do see it in the US. Seems like it aggregates sites with primarily user generated content. Reddit, Quora, Stackoverflow, etc

[consumer451 → blackeyeblitzar]

Thanks for the sanity check... but, we would have noticed this previously if it wasn't new, right? This is a major change to google.com, isn't it?

If I am not tripping, then this is a billion dollar SEO change, right?

[esperent]

I've had all kinds of random categories turn up there over the last few months. I'm pretty sure it's just an AI system that can create search categories on the fly.

[consumer451 → esperent]

Do you see a "Forums" tab at this moment? In any case, would you mind sharing a ~geo?

[consumer451]

Link for the lazy: https://imgur.com/a/adma1LO

[getwiththeprog]

Do not have it in google.com.au, just the old All Images Shopping Videos News Web Maps More (Books, Flights, Finance) Tools

Oh well, hopefully soon.

[consumer451 → getwiththeprog]

Thanks for the geo sanity check.