Gmail’s new search tweaks will make sure you’re emailing the right person

Google’s improving Gmail’s search results, which should make it easier to find a specific contact. It’s rolling out “intent matching for names and email addresses,” as well as new “personalized suggestions.”

With intent matching, a machine learning tool Google uses to help you find topics related to your search, Gmail should narrow down your search results and help you find exactly what you’re looking for. When you conduct a search, Gmail will now also display email addresses and first names that match your query before showing matching last names. This should come in handy if you’re used to searching for contacts based on their first name, as these results will now appear at the top. Google previously promoted last names that match your query over matching first names.

Lastly, Gmail’s new personalized suggestions prioritize your search results based on how often you interact with someone. Now, when you conduct a search for someone’s name or email, you’ll see the contacts you correspond with the most over the ones you don’t.

While these are pretty minor tweaks, they’ll likely provide a small productivity boost that should make it easier and faster to find the contact you’re looking for. Google has been working on improvements across all its Workspace apps recently, and that includes a Gmail redesign it started pushing on users in June. It also cleaned up the look of its Calendar invites and launched a new option to help cut down on spammy invites.

Google’s improving Gmail’s search results, which should make it easier to find a specific contact. It’s rolling out “intent matching for names and email addresses,” as well as new “personalized suggestions.”

With intent matching, a machine learning tool Google uses to help you find topics related to your search, Gmail should narrow down your search results and help you find exactly what you’re looking for. When you conduct a search, Gmail will now also display email addresses and first names that match your query before showing matching last names. This should come in handy if you’re used to searching for contacts based on their first name, as these results will now appear at the top. Google previously promoted last names that match your query over matching first names.

Lastly, Gmail’s new personalized suggestions prioritize your search results based on how often you interact with someone. Now, when you conduct a search for someone’s name or email, you’ll see the contacts you correspond with the most over the ones you don’t.

While these are pretty minor tweaks, they’ll likely provide a small productivity boost that should make it easier and faster to find the contact you’re looking for. Google has been working on improvements across all its Workspace apps recently, and that includes a Gmail redesign it started pushing on users in June. It also cleaned up the look of its Calendar invites and launched a new option to help cut down on spammy invites.