Google’s latest artificial intelligence project is a new search option. web guide is a new way Google organizes search results based on analysis performed by a special version of its Gemini artificial intelligence tool. The ad’s claim is that AI can help surface the most relevant content, but it could also be a new way for Google to control which sites rank first in search results.
In the graph shared with the blog post announcing this Search Labs experiment, the company showed groups of results for the search query “How to travel alone in Japan?” The Web Guide displayed a few hits at a time under different titles, such as “Complete Travel Guides for Solo Travelers in Japan,” “Personal Experiences and Tips from Solo Travelers,” and “Destination and Safety Recommendations,” with the option to show more for each group. It appears that AI-generated summaries appear at the top of each title, but at least in this example, there are fewer cases of words being copied/pasted entirely from another post.
Web Guide shares some similarities with Google’s AI mode, which integrates artificial intelligence more deeply into the search experience. The presence of AI mode for all US users has already caused excitement among publishers; News/Media Alliance called it a “theft.” The Pew Research Center recently published a report This confirms that using an AI summary at the start of a search resulted in fewer people clicking to read content posted by a source. The group’s survey of 900 adults who shared their browsing history found that of users who did not see an AI summary, 15% clicked a link in search results and 16% ended their browsing session.
According to the contract, only 8% of users who saw an AI summary clicked on a link in the search results and 26% ended their browsing session. And as Google works to improve its accuracy, we must never forget that these AI-written summaries were once what kept us grounded.
It’s too early to say whether Web Guide will encourage more people to visit and support websites other than Google. It is currently only available to registered users in the Browse Web tab, but will appear elsewhere later. With Google already in legal position for anti-competitive behavior in its search business, it will be interesting to see how this latest use of AI plays out.
