What is the new "Result Types" in SharePoint 2013 Search

In SharePoint 2013 Search has an new feature “Hover Panel” which shows you a "Preview" of an Item or document and some Metadata around it. This metadata or what you see in Preview pane can be customized with Result types.

Result Type determine what ‘type’ of result you’re looking at, and the correct hover panel will be shown based on those rules.

You can find Result types in site collection Site Settings under “Search”. For every Result Type Templte admins can specify Result Conditions & Result Actions for a Template.

Result Conditions or Rules - Determine what ‘type’ of result you will be looking at. For example a result condition could be something like

Match these types of content
Microsoft Word

Result Actions - The Correct hover panel that will be shown based on those rules. For example a Result Action for the above rule would be

Display results with this template

Word Item

Read more at SharePoint 2013 – The Concept of “Result Types” in Search