Google adds private Google+ results to search

Google's latest update will see the search engine rooting around in your private online data as well as the web to bring you one almighty set of search results.

So when you tap a search term into Google - let's say, The Shins - not only will Google bring you back the usual Wikipedia links, official band pages and so on, but also the photos your friend Sandra took at that Shins gig last year and the Google+ post she published about how amazing it was.

You'll have to be signed in to your Google account to see the private results, obviously, and they'll be hidden behind the personal/global button on the top-right of the search page.

Googling Google

It largely relies on you and your circles of friends posting a large amount of stuff to Google+, and titling them in search engine-friendly ways ("awesome things you can do" is not something we'd title a Google+ post, but clearly Google would).

It will also highlight links that your contacts send between each other that are relevant to your search results in its quest to find you the exact result you personally wanted above all others.

"Google search has always been about finding the best results for you," reads Google's blog post announcing the changes.

"Search is pretty amazing at finding that one needle in a haystack of billions of webpages, images, videos, news and much more.

"But clearly, that isn't enough. You should also be able to find your own stuff on the web, the people you know and things they've shared with you, as well as the people you don't know but might want to... all from one search box."

As well as these personal results, Google's latest update also includes highlighting Google+ profiles in search (and in autocomplete) and finding Google+ people and pages that are relevant to your search term.

The search giant will be rolling out the new search features over the coming weeks, and explains it all in a typically Google way in the video below: