How Google’s Perspectives Carousel Can Elevate Your Brand’s SEO Content Strategy
By Ethan Lazuk
Last updated:
Breaking news! The Perspectives filter has gone away, leaving only the carousel. (More from Barry Schwartz at SEL here.) The carousel is still prominent for many SERPs, but the filter is now a “Forums” filter. I’ve updated this article accordingly. 😉 There’s also a “news” Perspectives carousel, which is different. 🗞️ I’ve added more about that, as well.
The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word “perspectives” is that scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi where Obi Wan says, “From a certain point of view.” 👀
But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today …
We’re talking about the Perspectives carousel (and former filter) in Google Search.
We’ll also touch on a few other Google features called “Perspectives,” like for news.
Before it was shelved, you’d typically see Perspectives as a filter pill (or “topic bubble”) on top of mobile or desktop SERPs.
Here’s an example on desktop for the query “helpful content system Google”:
As you can see, we got a Google Support thread, a YouTube video, and a Reddit page for r/DigitalMarketing.
That was pretty representative of the types of results you’d commonly see in Perspectives — a lot of YouTube and Reddit.
But just like how the helpful content system went away, so too did the Perspectives filter. Today, you’ll see a “Forums” filter, instead:
As you can see, we still got a Google Support thread (relabeled Help) and Reddit (this time r/SEO), as well as Quora and a local SEO forum.
What’s missing are social media and video results (like YouTube). Those are now limited to the carousel.
Google has other features called Perspectives, too. We’ll get into those shortly.
But the Perspectives carousel is what can appear for topics where Google believes searchers can benefit from the “experiences of others,” typically via social media content, videos, and discussion or forum threads.
Perspectives don’t appear for every query. The order the filter used to surface in could also change. (I show some historical examples later, where I got the filter to appear about 75% of the time and in different orders.)
We’ll go into a lot more detail about Perspectives results.
But this isn’t just an introduction.
We’re also making a case for incorporating more Perspectives-eligible content — TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc. — into SEO content strategies.
Perspectives content opens up higher worlds of opportunity for SEO strategies, both in terms of additional content formats and creative topic ideas, but also for increasing brand visibility with target audiences.
Well, I suppose Star Wars still plays a role …
Star Wars is about adventuring to new galaxies. 💫
So often, SEO strategies follow a standard content playbook — service pages, pillar pages, blog posts, location pages, guides, etc.
There’s nothing wrong with those types of content. They serve a purpose.
But in a new, post-HCU world that includes AI Overviews and chatbots, I believe Perspectives offers new adventures for organic visibility with social media, video, and more content types during our target audience’s search journeys on Google.
The downside is that Perspectives likely doesn’t get clicked all that often by users, at least not yet — probably why the filter didn’t last long.
Want to hear something interesting? During a NewzDash webinar, like Yoda would do, Barry Schwartz correctly predicted the Perspectives filter would go away:
John Shehata: “What’s going on with Google Perspectives?”
Barry Schwartz: “There’s boxes within search results that summarize content from elsewhere – not sure how much engagement they get. And there’s a Perspectives filter that shows up sometimes too. This seems like a short-term test feature that will go away so should take advantage of it while we can, like we did with AMP.”
– The Future of News SEO 2024 Webinar
Whoever asked that question must have been a true Jedi. 🧘 🪬 😉
However, if the Perspectives carousel continues to appear in the main results, it could be like an inter-dimensional gateway to increased engagement overall.
Social media content in SERPs is nothing new, and we’re already seeing more instances of TikTok videos appearing in featured snippets and AI Overviews recently. (Say nothing of the rise of Discussions and forums features.)
Through a combination of traditional search results and the social and video content of Perspectives carousels, brands can create more holistic Search presences, where SEOs can help strategize throughout that process. 🤝
Here’s an outline of what we’ll cover in the rest of this article:
- Introduction to Google’s Perspectives carousel and (former) filter
- Adding Perspectives-eligible content to your strategy
- Optimizing content for Perspectives
- Measuring the results
- Examples of Perspectives results in the wild
- Related resources
- The vibes
If you read this post before, you might notice it’s quite different now.
I’ve restructured it to better answer the essentials that I think marketers and businesses need to know about Google Perspectives, including the eligible content types and how to integrate them strategically, how to optimize content for Perspectives, as well as examples of Perspectives content in the wild to help get the creative ideas flowing. 🎨 👩🎨
Let’s begin with an introduction and then dive into the details!
An introduction to Google’s Perspectives (filter and carousel)
Google’s Perspectives filter appeared at the top of search results for eligible queries. When triggered, it surfaced content that might benefit the user by showing relevant experiences from others.
The filter has since been retired and replaced by a Forums filter (which has been tested in Google since at least since 2009). However, the carousel is still available.
Google first introduced Perspectives in a blog post on The Keyword in May 2023 called “Learn from others’ experiences with more perspectives on Search.”
It began rolling out to U.S. users for English queries on June 26th, 2023:
At the time, it was only available on mobile devices (Android and iOS). 📱
We later saw the Perspectives filter tested on desktop in October of that year, and it began officially rolling out to desktop in November 2023. 🖥️
Eligible Perspectives content include long- and short-form videos, social media posts, and discussions in forum or Q&A sites. This includes YouTube videos, content from TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, and discussion and forum posts on Reddit, Quora, or niche industry sites.
The most common way I saw Perspectives appear was from the filter:
I’d also noticed cases where the filter was present but wouldn’t trigger any results, or just a few showed up, along with this disclaimer:
While testing my name as a query over time, I observed the Perspectives filter went from showing just a few results to triggering several. Yet, while it showed some content authored by me, most of it was someone else’s content where I’d left a comment or had a suggested video:
What about X (Twitter) appearing in Perspectives? 🐦
While X can appear in Search with its own carousels, particularly for individuals or brands, it doesn’t get included much in these types of Perspectives results.
However, there are other Google features named Perspectives (including where X is prominent)
The most notable is Perspectives for news on Google Search.
John Shehata shared a study in January 2024 of the types of results you’ll see in the news version of Perspectives. Twitter (X) was dominant, along with sub-Reddits, although by how much varied by the topic:
More recently, we saw Instagram content get featured in Perspectives (for news):
It’s interesting that Instagram is Perspectives carousel-eligible content, but now we see it in the news version, as well.
Additionally, I’ve seen Google use the term “perspectives” in other contexts related to Search, like its “About the topic” documentation:
However, what we’re talking about here are Perspectives in the filter (retired) or carousel that appears in normal Google Search results, as announced in that May 2023 blog post.
Google also recently introduced the ability to follow topics, which surfaces related content in your Discover feed.
When you follow a topic and then revisit the search results for it, you’ll find that some results are now personalized to you.
A Perspectives carousel is often among those personalized results:
This is typically how I’ve seen the greatest ratio of Perspectives carousels appear (for followed topics), although they can show up otherwise.
I’ve also seen tests of Perspectives variants, like a “What people are saying” version that seems like an update of a 2022 forums feature:
Something else notable about the Google blog post that introduced Perspectives is that it also announced the “hidden gems” ranking improvements.
At that time, we thought hidden gems would be part of the helpful content system, but we learned in November 2023 that it was part of Google’s core rankings systems.
Incidentally, as of Google’s March 2024 core update, the helpful content system is now part of the core ranking systems, as well.
Between hidden gems and Perspectives, it’s clear Google emphasizes surfacing more content in Search that shows demonstrable experience and different points of view for a topic.
On the news side, I also just saw this “More context” field, which has been tested before in various forms:
It seems like users are responding positively to these changes (the introduction of more content types), at least for Reddit content (judging by how often it’s been appearing). Reddit is heavily featured in Perspectives as well as Discussions and forums.
Later in this article, I’ll mention an example of someone using Reddit for marketing purposes. That’s becoming more popular in some SEO circles, as well.
But ultimately, I think it’s the other types of Perspectives-eligible content — namely from social media — that you’ll want to focus on including in your SEO content strategies, such as TikTok, YouTube and Shorts, and Instagram.
Integrating content for Perspectives into your SEO strategy 💪
As AI Overviews (formerly SGE snapshots) answer more informational intent queries in the SERP, like the sorts of high-volume keywords SEOs used to rely on for blog post topics, Perspectives content (like social media and video) may help fill the void.
While generative AI can summarize a general topic in a way that can make reading a blog post superfluous, AI can’t offer the real world context that a subject matter expert could while discussing a topic, like in a video on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube.
Even better if that video’s content is made in support of a blog post or other website content and informed by the same knowledge of the user’s search intent.
Why simply create website content for SEO when you could also package that with social posts, videos, influencer viewpoints, UGC (regulated), and other ways to establish a holistic brand presence in organic search results?
I recently wrote about how helpful, people-first content for SEO today requires looking beyond traditional topic ideation and methods of creation based on competitors and keywords, and instead using a collaborative process involving an SEO strategist, content specialist, and subject matter expert.
The result is content that incorporates real expertise or experience, is more original and uniquely valuable, and thus better satisfies a particular audience’s search intent — delivering more value for the time spent consuming it.
Just as that guidance applies to blog posts or other website content, so too can it work for YouTube videos and social media posts eligible for Google Perspectives.
After all, many businesses already manage content for SEO beyond their websites. There’s Google Business Profiles, knowledge panels, and Merchant Center feeds.
By having SEOs be a part of the strategizing for social media and video content marketing, we can increase the likelihood of that content being relevant to audiences during organic search journeys as well as appearing in Perspectives, earning brands more cumulative organic visibility.
How to optimize content for Google Perspectives (carousel)
I haven’t seen anything official from Google about best practices for getting into Perspectives.
That said, we can assume its results are chosen and ranked based on relevance, quality, and authority, similar to normal search results.
Great content for Search generally has the following qualities:
- It’s created with a particular audience in mind to satisfy a search intent along their buyer’s journey better than what’s currently available on Search.
- It provides original facts, insight, or analysis that comes from the creator’s real world expertise or firsthand experience.
- It demonstrates the reliability of the information in a format that’s trustworthy, appealing, and easily engaged with by the audience.
- It transparently speaks to the origins of the content and how it was produced, when relevant.
If that guidance sounds familiar, it’s largely the same criteria Google lays out in its Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content documentation.
If the strategy can work for web content, it’ll likely do so for video or social content intended for Google Perspectives, as well.
Another way to get content into a Perspectives carousel is likely to follow best practices for organic social media marketing.
Kristi Hines at Search Engine Journal gave some tips for optimizing Perspectives content.
To summarize and elaborate on those:
- Publish content to Perspectives-eligible platforms (YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, industry forums).
- Use optimized images or videos likely to encourage user engagement.
- Promote and amplify content to accumulate social signals, like views, likes, or comments.
- Ensure the content has value to an audience’s search intent, similar to best practices with blogs or other traditional SEO web content.
What about paid social media content? 💰
I haven’t seen any ads appear in Perspectives.
However, I was working on a cross-channel campaign for an ecommerce brand when I noticed influencer content from TikTok was appearing in Perspectives filter results related to branded queries.
Working with influencers or even brand ambassadors from within your company can be a great way to highlight real expertise and experience in social or video content that compliments other formats of SEO content from websites.
You also want the content to appear authentic to users, and that’s why posting commercial content in Reddit, for example, is probably not a wise idea. That’s likely to get you called out by the community.
However, even Reddit has its own creative possibilities when done smartly and creatively:
Fundamentally, at the heart of creating great content for Google Perspectives is the same people-first approach that guides helpful content for websites:
- Focus on satisfying your particular audience’s search intent along their buyer’s journey better than what’s currently available.
- Worry less about competitors and instead take inspiration from putting yourself in the user’s shoes.
- Work with subject matter experts to craft truly original and insightful content that solves a particular audience’s need.
We’ve also seen increasing cases of social media content appearing in Search beyond Perspectives.
Whether you’re creating website or Perspectives-eligible content, if you’re putting yourself in the shoes of the audience and relying on real expertise or experience, you’ll produce content that’s relevant and valuable to your audience and more apt to surface in Search.
How can you measure the performance of Perspectives content? 📈
Since Perspectives content strategies involve videos, social media, or forum content, normal SEO keyword research can inform the search intents we create for, but traditional rankings don’t necessarily apply.
Perspectives results are no doubt ranked somehow, but until we learn more, the best approach is likely making sure your content is interesting, high quality, and relevant to the audience based on the topic.
Website traffic isn’t necessarily the goal, either.
You may get referral traffic if someone views your Perspectives content, visits your YouTube account or social profile, and then clicks a link to your website.
That’s a good reminder to make sure your social profiles link to appropriate webpages.
You may see increased navigational search traffic if a user sees your content in Perspectives and then decides to search for you on Google.
The user may also search for the name of a team member or influencer associated with your Perspectives content, which shows the value of personalizing your brand.
Also, given the brand awareness, trust, and credibility your Perspectives content can build with your audience, you may also see more conversions from other channels (search ads, paid social, email, etc.) after a user has interacted with your organic content.
We’re expecting generative AI in search results to impact organic traffic and SEO reporting abilities. We’re also seeing more organic surfaces not tied to keyword rankings, like Google Discover or People also view in AI tools (SGE) while browsing.
Before starting a strategy that involves Perspectives-eligible content, SEOs may need to educate their clients or stakeholders about these “higher worlds” of opportunity.
Meanwhile, decision makers need to embrace that today’s SEO strategies go far beyond keyword rankings and organic traffic. SEO should be seen as an all-encompassing marketing channel that supports brand awareness and conversions throughout the funnel.
But here’s perhaps the biggest takeaway …
Effective content for Google’s Perspectives filter or carousel is just great social media or video content.
If you’re already doing organic social media, making videos, or fostering quality UGC, just make sure your SEO strategist is looped in, along with subject matter experts, to focus efforts around a particular audience’s search intent.
That’ll get you most of the way there. 😉
Real world examples of Perspectives content on Google Search 🌏
I’d hypothesize that the Perspectives filter wasn’t getting clicked a lot, hence why it was retired. However, the Perspectives carousel in the main search results can be quite visible.
I believe Google’s Perspectives carousel could drive more users to view social media and video as organic search (or SEO) content, expanding the possibilities for content strategies.
Analyzing Perspectives results can thus open up ideas for how to integrate eligible content types into your SEO content strategy.
The below screenshots are taken from the filter before it was retired. However, the examples are still valuable for highlighting the types of Perspectives-eligible content we should consider.
Let’s look at a few queries to see how often the Perspectives filter showed up and what types of results we saw.
I’ll look at desktop SERPs while logged into my Google account. As for picking the queries, let’s go with the most popular topics per Google Trends for a recent date:
Since these are broad topics, I’ll use long-tail variations with a more focused search intent.
Ok, let’s check out some Perspectives!
Query: “chita rivera legacy”
First off, RIP to Ms. Rivera, and condolences to her family and fans.
For this query, we see Perspectives is the fourth topic pill, just after images, videos, and news.
The top results in the Perspectives filter were TikTok and YouTube videos and a Reddit r/Broadway page.
What’s interesting is three results are one day old (recent news) while one is 2 years old. Kind of reminds me of Discover lately.
Query: “premier league best teams”
Again, Perspectives is the fourth option, after images, news, and “of all time.”
The Perspectives filter shows three YouTube videos (ranging from 3 days to 3 months old) and a Reddit r/PremierLeague page.
I’m not that knowledgeable about soccer (football), but I do know these Perspectives results seem more interesting than a Wikipedia page.
Query: “brown daily herald latest stories”
This is a bit of a navigational query for a news source. Perspectives doesn’t show, but shopping does? (Those results were books, mostly.)
Maybe more people haven’t noticed Perspectives that often because it’s not featured in certain categories of SERPs?
Let’s keep exploring …
Query: “cori bush achievements”
Again, no Perspectives filter here, but shopping appears. (Those results are swag for the congressperson, including shirts, photos, and cups.)
Certainly, the next topic will return some Perspectives …
Query: “warriors basketball highlights 2024”
Bingo. This SERP has some top stories, too, and my search bar changed to orange. Google gonna test.
Perspectives is a bit deeper than the first two, though, in the 6th spot after videos, news, YouTube, images, and “today.”
The results include two YouTube videos (one 5 days old and another from 6 months ago) and two Reddit pages for r/NBASpurs (7 hours ago) and r/freefantasylgueswchat (um, what?) from 2 days ago.
I don’t know about you, but those Perspectives filter results to me seem equally valid or maybe even more interesting than the main SERP.
I’ve got a few more tests in mind, including a topic I follow (to try and trigger a carousel) and then a topic where I’ve seen a carousel appear organically.
But first, let’s try a more commercial and then an informational intent query — iPhones are usually a good topic.
Query: “iphone 13 vs iphone 14 pro”
We’re still orange, and Perspectives appeared fourth, after videos, images, and shopping.
All the results are 4 months or newer, and again, it’s YouTube and Reddit, including r/iphone and r/iPhone13Pro.
This is actually a powerful duo. In the main SERP, we have Apple itself giving us the company’s take, then we have the power of the people in Perspectives to add that “experiential” context.
Query: “why does my iphone screen flicker”
I just made that up, but it feels like an informational query. Let’s find out!
Finally, some SGE action! Oh and look, Perspectives is the nearest it’s been, in position 3, just after videos and “when I touch.”
These Perspectives results are the first to contain forums, as well, including the Apple developer forum and Apple support community discussions (bottom of screenshot).
So the main SERP says “why” the flickering is happening, while Perspectives shows us “how to fix” the issue. Again, a solid combo.
But what about Perspectives carousels in the main SERPs?
I have an article loosely ’bout 10x content, so I follow that query a bit and have seen a Perspectives carousel appear for it on mobile.
Let’s check.
Query: “10x content” (followed topic)
Welp, apparently the follow feature doesn’t work on desktop. Let’s try mobile!
Bummer, it didn’t work. I did get the newer SGE variation that people are talking about (without the carousel).
Update: I later saw the carousel with YouTube and Reddit (per usual) and posted about it on X. Here’s that screenshot:
Now let’s check the desktop Perspectives filter, just for fun.
Here it shows pretty early, just third after images and videos.
I’m pretty familiar with this topic. Aside from showing Rand’s original video first, these Perspectives results aren’t great quality, in my opinion.
Ok, let’s try to end on a high note!
The last SERP I want to try is “vegan burger.” I did that on mobile a while back and got a Perspectives carousel.
Query: “vegan burger”
I’m striking out. No Perspectives carousel on mobile or desktop.
Let’s check the filter anyway. It appears 5th, after shopping, images, “near me,” and recipes.
Hey, our first Instagram result! And also, the usual YouTube and Reddit for r/veganrecipes.
I don’t know about the green patties in that Reddit page’s thumbnail, but if you’re ever visiting Orlando, Plantees and Papi Smash’d Burger both have solid plant-based options.
Summing up our findings
No doubt, looking at 9 queries does not a comprehensive study make. That said, we got the Perspectives filter 7 out of 9 times, for an average of over 75%.
We saw YouTube and Reddit in pretty much all of the Perspectives examples, with TikTok, forum and discussion, and Instagram results tossed in.
If we scrolled lower, we’d likely have found other content types, as well.
The Perspectives carousel wasn’t prominent at all — which seems like a slight change from SERPs I observed in late 2023 — but I do think we can argue the filter does appear “most of the time.”
It’s interesting that we didn’t get it for those two queries.
I’ve definitely seen the Perspectives filter appear for navigational queries or individuals before. I’ve even seen the filter show up when no results were available.
It’s worth keeping an eye on!
Related resources on Google Perspectives 📚
Although Perspectives is a relatively new development (and the filter has since been retired, leaving just the carousel), there have been some news articles and analyses written about it:
- Learn from others’ experiences with more perspectives on Search – Lauren Clark, The Keyword, Google
- Google Perspectives: How This Search Filter Delivers Diverse Viewpoints With Engaging Social Content – Kristi Hines, SEJ
- Google launches perspectives filter in mobile search results – Barry Schwartz, SEL
- Analysis of Google’s Perspectives Filter and Carousel – A New Mobile SERP Feature Aiming To Surface Personal Experiences – Glenn Gabe, G-Squared Interactive
- Google’s Perspectives search menu filter is now live on mobile in the US – Brodie Clark, Brodie Clark Consulting
- Google Search rolling out ‘Perspectives’ filter for more personal and human results – Abner Li, 9to5 Google
- How Google Blends Search, Social, Local, Shopping, AI, And Ads – Kristi Hines, SEJ
- And here’s a news Perspectives article, just for good measure: How to optimize content for Google Perspectives – Dan Taylor, SEL
I’ll also create a video summary of this article, hopefully soon.
Outro ✌️
Incorporating content types for Google’s Perspectives carousel into SEO content strategies will involve some dedication, creativity, and a little trust.
However, I believe the companies and marketers who embrace these higher worlds of opportunity may have a leg up for getting more (and targeted) organic visibility in Google Search in the future, particularly as reliance on AI Overviews grows and people hunger for authentic voices — real perspectives. 😉
I’ll add more information and other insights to this article as I learn them, and make incremental improvements to the content.
Until next time, enjoy the vibes:
Thanks for reading. Happy optimizing! 🙂
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