Google Promotes eSports with Google Search Features & Carousels

Google is now showing teams and match scores as special search features in the search results for some esports teams.

First, they have a new carousel for esports, although it is incorrectly labeled as simply “Sports Teams” rather than the more common “eSports”.  Here is a carousel for both League of Legends and Overwatch.  It also shows for DOTA 2.

This particular search was for a popular League of Legends team, Cloud 9, often called C9.  So the Google search feature includes all their games they played at each tournament.   It is worth noting that Cloud9 also plays other esports, but this is the one that displays.

But it doesn’t seem active for all teams – searching for other teams they played against does not always produce the search feature.  Here is Echo Fox which also shows the feature:

Google also shows the team icon for each time where available, although the grey shield seems to be the default.

For previous tournaments, Google shows the score, as well as a link to YouTube where each match was officially streamed.  There doesn’t seem to be any Twitch.tv links, which might simply be because YouTube was the official source, and Twitch.tv was not.  However, Twitch.tv is owned by Amazon.

Google is also displaying knowledge panels for the teams in the carousel as well.  Some knowledge panels are quite a bit more detailed compared to others, but Google is pulling some of the information from Wikipedia.  For example, here is Team Impulse with a detailed knowledge panel.

Here is another one for Unicorns of Love with even more detail:

A knowledge panel for a DOTA 2 team also includes “People also search for” at the bottom.

But some have much less information:

It does seem selective.  For example, Overwatch League began Wednesday but it does not have any special features when you search for teams participating, other than the carousel.  For example, the Overwatch teams do not have the special scores box, but it might be added as the tournament progresses.  However, teams do have their own knowledge panel.

Dota 2 is the same, although the knowledge panels also show the carousel at the bottom.

eSports is a great addition to the search results as special search features, especially as it is gaining more and more popularity.  It will be interesting to watch this space and features grow, especially when games are live and whether streaming on Twitch will be shown or not.

H/T to Dr. Pete Meyers.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post

Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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