Google is rolling out an update that makes it easier for users to find personalized shopping results, the company announced on Wednesday. The new feature lets users rate different products in order to get style recommendations when shopping for apparel, shoes and accessories. The update comes as Google continues to compete with companies like Amazon and Walmart, which have released AI-powered features to rival Google’s shopping capabilities.
When you search for something like “men’s polo shirts” on Google, you will now see a new section labeled “style recommendations” where you can rate options with a thumbs up or thumbs down. You also can use a Tinder-like swipe gesture to rate the products. If you’re unsure about an item, you can skip it. After you have rated a selection of products, Google will display personalized results for you to parse through.
If you haven’t found what you’re looking for, Google will give you the option to rate more items and see even more results. Google will remember your preferences, so if you ever search for men’s polo shirts again, you will see style recommendations based on what you liked in the past.
If you accidentally give a thumbs up to a product you don’t like or just don’t want to see personalized shopping results altogether, you can manage your preferences by tapping the three-dot menu next to a result and navigating to personalization options in the “About this result” panel.
The new feature is rolling out to all U.S. shoppers using mobile browsers and the Google app. Google did not say when or if it plans to expand the feature to more countries.
The company says people shop on Google more than a billion times a day and see more than 45 billion products in their results. Google revealed that it updates more than two billion listings every hour with the latest information on pricing, in-stock availability and shipping details.
