Google trialling feature to see emails posted on search results pages

Search giant Google has unveiled a new feature which allows users to see their email messages in search results pages, searchengineland.com reports.

Whilst only in the "field trial" stage at the moment, Google announced the feature and called on volunteers to sign up and try the service out. If successful, it is thought the addition would be made available on a larger scale to any Google users with a Gmail account.

The setup involves placing the email results in a separate vertical to the typical "organic" ones along the right hand side of the screen. In a bid to protect user confidentiality, the results page will not show content from the body of the email, but instead the sender and subject line.

It is expected that many brands using email marketing will be hoping the field trial is a success and Google chooses to roll the feature out on a larger scale as it would put their messages in front of users more often and in different locations. Furthermore, Google itself announced that part of the reason for the new feature was to allow users a quicker way to find information, with much of what is relevant being in the inbox.

"Sometimes the best answer to your question isn't available on the public web - it may be contained somewhere else, such as in your email," a spokesperson told tech2.in.com.

"We think you shouldn't have to be your own mini-search engine to find the most useful information - it should just work. So we're developing a way to find this information for you that's useful and unobtrusive, and we'd love your feedback. Starting today, we're opening up a limited trial where you can sign up to get information from your Gmail right from the search box."