Google’s "Listen Now" Ads In The Pipeline

If you’re one of many searchers in the UK that make the most of Google to identify the origin of a song, you might be interested to hear about this latest search development.

Google have begun testing “Listen Now” ads that show up whenever you search a particular song title or artist. The digital service is provided by Spotify, Rhapsody and Google Play.

This means that whenever you decide to search for an artist on your laptop, smart phone or portable device, you’ll be given a grouped sample of images related to that particular artist followed by the option of streaming some of their work.

The “Listen Now” section appears beneath the image of the artist and above their song list and description, so they make up part of the ever-growing knowledge graph.

A Google representative confirmed the tests and stated that they had begun working on “Listen Now” earlier in the year. The Wall Street Journal said that music services were previously capable of purchasing similar ads, although the display and labelling of “Listen Now” is entirely original.

The spokesperson wrote to SearchEngineWatch, saying they were “happy to help users quickly find legitimate sources for their favourite movies, music and more via Google search”. The spokesperson also stated that ads would be “ranked according to a variety of factors” as always, including relevance and click-rate.

How might this update to Google’s knowledge graph improve music searches? Could it be the start of other digital breakthroughs for the knowledge graph? Have your say in the comments section below.

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