Most Android users currently search for music in dedicated apps on their smartphones, but Google is looking to change that. By searching for an artist's name using Google, users will be presented with links to the artist's page on installed Android apps in addition to the usual web results.
Tapping on one of the artist links will open the corresponding app. Rather than the home screen, the app will jump directly to the page of the artist that was searched for, allowing users to use Google as a replacement for the app's native search function.
Google's latest operating system, KitKat, introduced a feature called app indexing in October which allows Google to search the contents of installed apps for keywords. App developers must make their apps compatible with the service, but app indexing already works with many popular apps, including Tumblr, Urbanspoon and Pinterest. Google will use app indexing to expand the reach of its search engine to content already available on the user's smartphone.
By incentivizing Android users to search their phones with Google, the company can collect more data about preferences and interests. It can also present targeted ads which encourage users to install a particular app which has information on the subject they're searching for. Making Google search the singular choice for finding information from all smartphone apps, would allow the company to significantly increase ad revenue.
Some developers may even rely on Google's new search function. Rather than coding their own search tools, app creators could simply make their products compatible with app indexing and let Google do the rest of the work for them. However it could work against apps that already have a search function. Whereas a search within the app might show the matching page as well as other related pages, Google will only link to the page the user searches for, limiting the discovery of similar content on the app.
The new search function is currently only available in the U.S. It works with Google Play, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Rdio, TuneIn and YouTube.
"We're working to expand this feature to users worldwide, with their local services like Deezer," says Google in a statement. "We hope all this makes finding and exploring artists and music on Google more fun now that you can listen to the music right away."
