14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube will introduce a new way of discovering content on the site. Dubbed "Topics", the feature will debut in the TestTube section of the site, the Google Labs equivalent of YouTube. Topics will enable users to explore videos related to their search, but which may not be immediately obvious.
Topics are similar to the tags YouTube already supports, but they are generated algorithmically rather than by the users. This, YouTube says, is a better way of assigning relevant labels to videos.
When the Topics feature is enabled, an Explore bar will be displayed on top of search results. The bar will feature terms related to the search query, based on several data sources like user comments, sites that link to the video as well as tags.
The aim is to make it easier for users to narrow down their searches when they don't know exactly what to look for.
YouTube says that search on the video site poses a different challenge than on a general search engine. On Google users have a pretty good idea of what they're looking for, even if they may not be able to pick the best keywords for that search.
On YouTube though, people may want fun or informative videos or are looking for some music without having a particular artist in mind. This makes search queries on the site a lot vaguer and makes it harder to retrieve relevant results.
Topics is a mixture of Related Searches and Something Different. Clicking on any of the suggestions will initiate a search for that particular query.
Interestingly, Topics suggestions can also be used to refine the initial query. Each has a plus sign next to it which adds the keywords to the existing one and does a new search for all of them.
The feature will be available in testing later today, but it may be a while before it will be rolled out to everyone.