Highlighting search results for various topics is something Google has been doing for quite a while. You usually see the highlighted boxes in the form of a carousel, when searching for movies etc. But amid the fierce and ongoing war against piracy on the Internet, Google is now highlighting search results for torrent sites. First reported by Torrent Freak, if you search for “torrent sites” or “best torrent sites”, Google shows you a carousel of what’s “popular on the web”.
Websites like Rarbg, The Pirate Bay and 1337x feature on the list. Clicking on any of the suggestions will show a search result for that particular suggestion.
The move will be hailed by pirates, but may not go down well with companies like Netflix and Amazon, who have been fighting online piracy for years now. While Google has been showing suggestions on various searches, it has often found trouble in doing so. The company will give you suggestions for news, movies and many other things.
On the other hand, Torrent Freak’s report doesn’t seem to cover all countries. We tried a few searches from India, and Googling “torrent sites” highlights a Wikipedia page comparing torrent sites. Alternatively, searching for “best torrent sites” showed highlighted news stories about torrents. This is in line with a report by The Verge, who reached out to the company. Google told The Verge that it is working on an update right now. So, it’s possible that the feature hasn’t rolled out to everyone yet.