Google Rolls Out AI-Organized Search Results, Introduces Ads in AI Overviews

Google Search results will be 'Organized with AI' and AI Overviews get ads

In addition to the latest Lens feature today, Google Search is rolling out "Organized with AI" and ads in AI Overviews. Starting with searches for recipes and meal inspiration on mobile (in the US), Google will use AI to organize the results you see. There will be an "Organized with AI" badge and sparkle icon when you're browsing such a page. Instead of just a list, you'll get groupings of articles, videos, forums, and other content that have "unique, AI-generated headlines." Google cites internal testing that says users find "AI-organized search results pages more helpful." Google is also making official inline URLs in AI Overviews. This is rolling out "globally to all countries where AI Overviews are available" starting today. In our tests, we've seen that this improved experience has driven an increase in traffic to supporting websites compared to the previous design, and people are finding it easier to visit sites that interest them. Meanwhile, Google is bringing ads to AI Overviews after testing for several months. Search and Shopping ads are now appearing for mobile users in the US when they are "relevant to both the query and the answer provided." They will be badged by the usual "Sponsored" label, and can appear above, below or within the response. For example, the AI-generated response for "how do I get a grass stain out of jeans" might end with a "Here are some products to help get grass stains out" carousel. In this case, Google says ads might save someone from having to perform "another search to find the right product."

Ask questions in new ways with AI in Search

This week, we're rolling out search results pages organized with AI in the U.S. -- beginning with recipes and meal inspiration on mobile. You'll now see a full-page experience, with relevant results organized just for you. You can easily explore content and perspectives from across the web including articles, videos, forums and more -- all in one place. In our testing, people have found AI-organized search results pages more helpful. And with AI-organized search results pages, we're bringing people more diverse content formats and sites, creating even more opportunities for content to be discovered. We know that people want to go directly to the source for many of their questions. With AI in Search, we're focused on helping people discover content and perspectives from a wide range of sources across the web. We've been testing a new design for AI Overviews that adds prominent links to supporting webpages directly within the text of an AI Overview. In our tests, we've seen that this improved experience has driven an increase in traffic to supporting websites compared to the previous design, and people are finding it easier to visit sites that interest them. Based on this positive reception, starting today, we're rolling out this experience globally to all countries where AI Overviews are available. In addition, as we shared at Google Marketing Live, we've been carefully testing ads in AI Overviews for relevant queries. We've seen that people are finding ads directly within AI Overviews helpful because they can quickly connect with relevant businesses, products and services to take the next step. Following positive feedback, we're starting to bring ads in AI Overviews to the U.S. for relevant queries, so we can continue to connect people with the products and brands that are helpful to their searches. You can read more in this post. Whether it's searching with text, audio, voice or images, we've always worked to expand the type of questions you can ask on Google. With AI, we're continuing to reimagine how Search can help get you the information you need -- fast -- and we're looking forward to bringing these experiences to more people around the world.

Google is rolling out 'AI-organized' search results

Google Search is going to look a little different, at least for recipe inspo. Credit: Tada Images / Shutterstock First Google gave us AI overviews of search results, now it's using AI to organize those search results. On Thursday, Google announced the rollout of full-page search results organized by AI. Instead of traditional rankings-based search, Google will now organize the results into buckets of subcategories based on your query. The update is only on mobile for now, and starts with recipes and meal inspiration first, but will expand to other categories later on. So if you're looking for vegetarian appetizer ideas (as shown in Google's example), search results will be grouped by deeper queries, like top recipes, easy recipes, and recipes categorized by specific ingredients. The AI in all of this is Google's family of Gemini models. According to a Google spokesperson, Gemini for Google Search doesn't replace Google's traditional ranking and quality systems, but works on top of it, "to deliver high quality results efficiently." On that note, the spokesperson reassured publishers and SEO professionals that they don't have to do anything differently about their SEO strategy, though whether or not they should be worried about their bottom lines in the wake of the update remains to be seen. In a press briefing, VP of user experience Rhiannon Bell shared how the change is designed to make search results more meaningful and valuable to users, compared to a more traditional search experience where users have to sort through large volumes of content to find what they were looking for. "We can start categorizing this content for you in ways that we previously could not have, and not only that, but we can also create a lot more density in terms of content as well," said Bell. "From a user perspective, this is a pretty dramatic shift from where we were before," added Bell. Indeed, in the example, you can see how the new experience differs from the traditional search. The results are broken down into modules of categories suggested by AI, which you can side swipe to see more of. Using AI to organize search results may not sound like such a dramatic shift, but it's significant in the sense that Google is relying even more on its generative AI models for its core business. So Google is investing deeper in AI for its search engine, but that doesn't mean you have to use it if you don't want to. In May, the company introduced a "web" filter that lets users switch back to the traditional search results format without AI features.