It appears that YouTube is testing a new format for its search results.
A small proportion of users reported that when they searched for the term “halloween makeup tutorial” they were presented with a segmented search results page.
The page contained 17 results for the actual search term, as well as 4 results for the term “halloween doll makeup tutorial” and 2 results each for the search terms “halloween makeup tutorial for teenagers” and “halloween makeup tutorial scary”.
Only a minority of seemingly random users saw these segmented search results, suggesting that it formed part of a beta test prior to a potential site-wide rollout.
If the segmented search results page were to be rolled out to all users, it would expand the discovery of videos on the site by allowing users to find related videos that they may not otherwise have been able to find.
This could be good news for video marketers on YouTube who may find themselves being discovered by new users searching for related search terms.Â
