Google Introduces Ads to AI Overviews, Expanding AI's Role in Search

Here come the ads in your Google AI Overviews

Google promised advertisers that its AI plans would not bar them from reaching potential customers, and the tech giant has delivered with the addition of advertising to the AI Overviews feature in Google Search. Whether that makes the Gemini AI-written summaries to your search queries more appealing is debatable. AI Overviews means you may not need to click on a link to get an answer to a question and was hyped at Google I/O this year. Companies that rely on Google's search engine to promote their websites were leery of a tool that seemed to make sponsoring results worthless. Google anticipated that reaction and promised ads would be an element of AI Overviews. After months of testing, the ads are rolling out. Essentially, you'll see products mentioned and linked to in the text written by the AI. For now, it's just going to be U.S. mobile users who see the ads, but they will likely expand quickly, assuming the tests have worked out most of the bugs. The idea is to connect how Google traditionally used ads to support itself with the new AI mandate, bringing Gemini to every corner of the company's ecosystem. While you may or may not find the direct suggestions for products useful, it's definitely going to make it more likely that people click on a product and buy it than if there were only the somewhat subtle hyperlinks to the content Gemini used to write the AI Overview. The company said it will only include sponsored links when it's directly relevant, so you shouldn't see any ad spam in the AI Overview. Google demonstrated in the video below how you might look for tips on removing grass stains from clothing. While the AI Overview would normally suggest methods and provide links, the sponsorship of a cleaning product company means you'll also see a list of products you might want to buy for that purpose. The products are marked as being sponsored, much like when you see a bunch of sponsored links at the top of a search result page. "This new ad format was designed to help people discover new brands and make informed purchasing decisions," Google explained in a blog post. "People have been finding the ads within AI Overviews helpful because they can quickly connect with relevant businesses, products, and services to take the next step at the exact moment they need them." Google has been keen to push AI Overviews onto users despite some major problems with how safe the answers were early on and reports that Google was pulling back on its rollout. Still, the feature is now international, and clearly, Google feels comfortable enough with it to trust its AI models with its crucial advertising dollars. Melding its keystone services of search and ads with AI could be a boon to both advertisers and consumers who want a faster route between having a question and getting a product to solve the problem. It's also necessary for Google as it works to match and beat its rivals in both search and AI. Microsoft has been playing with ads in its Copilot AI chatbot, as has Perplexity with its sponsored follow-up questions. And, Amazon has pursued a similar objective from the other direction by making an AI chatbot on its website called Rufus that will also offer sponsored suggestions for purchases.

Google brings ads to AI Overviews as it expands AI's role in search

Google will begin to show ads in AI Overviews, the AI-generated summaries it supplies for certain Google Search queries, and will add links to relevant web pages for some of those summaries as well. It's also rolling out AI-organized search results pages in the U.S. this week. The increasing prominence of AI in Google's core search product is an effort to keep users from shifting to alternatives like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Perplexity, which use AI to answer many of the questions traditionally thrown at Google. Perplexity said in May that its worldwide user base had grown to more than 85 million web visits -- a drop in the bucket compared to Google, but impressive considering that Perplexity launched only two years ago. Since its launch this spring, AI Overviews has been the subject of much controversy, going viral for its dubious statements and questionable advice (like adding glue to pizza). A recent report from SE Ranking, an SEO platform, found that AI Overviews cites websites that "aren't entirely reliable or evidence-based," including outdated studies and paid product listings. The chief problem is that AI Overviews has a tough time discerning, occasionally, whether a source of information is fact or fiction, satire or serious. Over the past few months Google has made changes to how AI Overviews works, including limiting answers related to current events and health topics. But the company doesn't claim it's perfect. "We'll invest in AI Overviews and make it even more helpful," Rhiannon Bell, VP of user experience for Google Search, said in a press briefing. "We're doing everything that we can to bring the right content to our users." Regardless, Google says AI Overviews has led to a boost in Google Search engagement, especially among people aged 18 to 24 -- a key demographic for the company. Now, Google is taking steps to make money from the feature by adding ads. Users in the U.S. on mobile will soon see ads in AI Overviews for "relevant queries," like a search for how to get a grass stain out of jeans. The ads, which have a "Sponsored" label, will appear alongside other, non-sponsored content in the AI summaries, and will be drawn from advertisers' existing Google Shopping and Search campaigns. AI Overviews ads have been available to a selection of users for some time, and Google claims internal data shows they've been received well. "People have been finding the ads within AI Overviews helpful because they can quickly connect with relevant businesses, products and services to take the next step at the exact moment they need them," Shashi Thakur, VP of Google Ads, wrote in a blog post shared with TechCrunch. But the ads also clutter AI Overviews' summaries. One format, a carousel of sponsored product results, is embedded directly in AI summaries, positioned in a way that pushes non-sponsored content below the fold. The new design for AI Overviews arriving with the ads adds highlighted links to web pages that might be germane. For example, for the search "Do air filters protect your lungs?," AI Overviews might show a link to a study on air filters from the American Lung Association. The redesign was in testing for several months and is now rolling out in the regions where AI Overviews was already live, including India, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, the U.S. and the U.K. Finally, a separate product, AI-organized Search results pages, debuts in the U.S. on mobile this week. Searches about recipes and meal inspiration -- e.g. "What are some good vegetarian appetizers or dinner ideas that wow?" -- may pull up an AI-aggregated page of content from around the web, including forums, articles and YouTube videos. They won't include AI Overviews' ad formats, however. "A customized Gemini [model] generates a full-page experience with results that are relevant and organized," Bell explained, referring to Google's Gemini family of AI models. "With these AI-organized results pages, we're surfacing more diverse content formats from a more diverse content set." Google says it plans to expand these pages to other categories of searches in the coming months. Publishers may be the collateral damage. One study found that AI Overviews could negatively affect about 25% of publisher traffic due to the de-emphasis of web page links. On the revenue side, an expert cited by The New York Post estimated that AI-generated overviews could lead to more than $2 billion in publisher losses thanks to the resultant decline in ad views. AI-generated search results from Google and rivals don't appear to be cratering big publishers' traffic yet. In their most recent earnings, Ziff Davis and Dotdash Meredith parent IAC characterized the impacts as negligible. But that may change as Google, which commands over 81% of the global search market, expands AI Overviews and AI-organized pages to more users and queries. According to one estimate, AI Overviews were only showing for about 7% of searches in July as Google dialed back the feature to make adjustments. Google says that it continues to take publishers' concerns into account in workshopping its AI search experiences.

Google's AI Overviews Might Be Showing Ads to Some Users

AI Overviews recently began showing cited websites more prominently Google has reportedly begun showing ads on AI Overviews, the company's artificial intelligence (AI) Search experience powered by Gemini. Previously known as Search Generative Experience (SGE), the feature was launched in the US earlier this year. In August, it was expanded to six more countries including India. The tech giant has started displaying relevant ads at the bottom of the interface, according to a report. Currently, the ads are only being shown to some users, but they are likely to be shown on all AI Overviews in the future. The Verge reports that the Mountain View-based tech giant has rolled out advertisements in the AI Overviews. The move is not surprising as the company has been testing ads since May. It appears that the company has decided on the placement and nature of the ads. According to the publication, these ads are based on the searched query. This means if a user searches for the best ballpoint pen, the AI-powered search experience will first show a list of factors to consider while purchasing a ballpoint pen. However, underneath that, users will now see a "sponsored" section where similar pens might appear with a clickable purchase link. However, it appears these ads are not being mindlessly added. Google spokesperson Craig Ewer told The Verge that the ads on AI Overviews will only be visible if a query has a "commercial angle". What this likely means is that an academic question will likely not show any sponsored product. One of the reasons behind the rollout of the ads in AI Overviews is said to be Google's belief that the feature can do an efficient job of connecting relevant businesses, products, and services with those who might need them. However, the ads are currently only being shown to US-based users on smartphones. There's no word from the company on when might these ads will be rolled out in other regions. In August, Google added a URL icon at the end of each paragraph in the summary. These icons prominently display the relevant websites which were cited in the information. Additionally, the particular sentence taken from the source is also highlighted. The tech giant said that it found that particular placement and format to give the maximum traffic to the source website.

Google announces it's bringing ads to AI Overviews

How big a fan are you of Google's AI Overviews? They're the little AI-generated boxes that appear after you search for something that aims to answer your queries faster. They had a phase where the AI overviews were hilariously bad, but now they're going through an arguably worse arc: advertisements. Related Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review: So much better than first one, but is that enough? The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is much better than the first Pixel Fold, but I'm not so sure it's better than existing foldables even within US market Google's AI Overview feature will soon get ads In a post on Google's blog The Keyword, the search giant will begin adding ads to the AI Overview box. It seems the company will make it clear when the user is being advertised to, as it will feature a "Sponsored" tag: At Google Marketing Live, we shared a demo of how Search and Shopping ads would appear directly within AI Overviews when relevant to both the query and the response provided. This new ad format was designed to help people discover new brands and make informed purchasing decisions. Ads will continue to feature our industry-leading clear and transparent "Sponsored" label. So, how will these ads work? The example Google gives involves someone searching the term "How do I get a grass stain out of jeans?" AI Overview will pick up on the potential for product placement and begin suggesting solutions, ranging from "using common household products, to commercial products like stain removers." Google claims this move will cut down on the number of clicks and searches a user needs to make to solve an issue, as it pre-emptively provides the user links to purchase the products they're looking for. Right now, it appears the ads won't be dispersed within the overview itself. Instead, it will take its place at the bottom, under a carousel with the "Sponsored" tag over it. In a movie that Google worryingly describes that it's "excited" about, the company says that you'll now find AI Overviews if you're on mobile in the US. It's likely a move by Google to prove that AI advertisements are the future and to recoup some of its expenses around apps like Gemini.

Google Is Stuffing Annoying Ads Into Its Terrible AI Search Feature

Google's notoriously wonky AI Overviews feature -- you know, the one that repeatedly makes up facts and literally tells users to eat rocks -- is about to get a whole lot more annoying. On Thursday, the tech giant announced that its AI-generated search summaries will now begin to show ads above, below, and within them, as a way of demonstrating that the technology is capable of actually making money. It will also serve to assuage concerns that AI chatbots could eat into search ad revenues, which are Google's biggest cash cow. Now, if you search how to get a grass stain out of jeans, as seen in an example in Google's blog post, you'll get an AI summary which contains a carousel of relevant website links, plus a heavy helping of "Sponsored" ads for stain removers. Revolutionary stuff. "People have been finding the ads within AI Overviews helpful because they can quickly connect with relevant businesses, products and services to take the next step at the exact moment they need them," Shashi Thakur, vice president of Google Ads, wrote in the blog post. Perhaps signaling its commitment to weaving its search engine with AI tech most of all, the company is also rolling out a separate product for mobile users called AI-organized Search results pages, which will be full-pages -- right now limited to recipe searches -- that are entirely populated with content curated by an AI. The move is all well and good for the company's investors. But for others, this is just introducing more AI slop that's watering down an increasingly less useful search engine. Like AI chatbots in general, Google's AI Overviews have earned a reputation for being unreliable and making up facts. Notable gaffes include recommending putting glue on pizza and smearing poop on a balloon -- and its bad rep is no doubt heightened by the fact that the AI summaries are forced to the top of a search engine that practically everyone uses. And while this will protect Google's revenue stream, it does little for the websites who are losing clicks because their content is being mediated through an AI model. A Google spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that the company won't share ad money with publishers whose material is cited in the AI overviews. As a small concession, however, Google will start including inline links to those sources. Rhiannon Bell, Google Search's VP of user experience, claims that tests showed that compared to the old design, which relegated links to the bottom of the summaries, this new one sends more traffic to the cited websites, per Bloomberg. In any case, it's looking like Google is in the AI search game for the long haul.

Google begins wide rollout of ads in AI overview search results

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is beginning a wide rollout of ads that will be displayed within and alongside the AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some search results -- a move meant to show investors that costly artificial intelligence projects can generate revenue. Some investors have worried that generative AI, the tech that underpins Google's AI summaries, could cannibalize the tech giant's search business, which is still by far its most lucrative unit. The company said in May that it would start testing ads in these search summaries, called AI Overviews, and now it's rolling the feature out to anyone in the US using Google's mobile app. Sponsored panels placed above, below and within the summaries have begun suggesting products related to the search query. At a demonstration for reporters held ahead of the announcement, searching "how do I get a grass stain out of jeans?" yielded AI-generated instructions followed by ads for Tide and OxiClean laundry products. The company will not share ad revenue with publishers whose material is cited in AI Overviews, a company spokesperson said. Google places its AI Overviews, which summarize the contents of search results, at the top of the page for some queries. First introduced in May, they were criticized for displaying inaccurate information and reducing the need to click through to cited websites that would earn ad revenue from visits. The company has been under pressure to prove that it doesn't have an unfair advantage over competitors in the search and advertising technology markets, which could have implications for its progress in AI. The US Justice Department in recent years brought two antitrust cases against the company, with a judge ruling in August that Google illegally monopolized the search business. The DOJ is considering seeking remedies including forcing the search giant to share precious search data with competitors -- which they could use to bolster their own AI tools and services -- and even breaking up the company, Bloomberg has reported. In a separate case, the DOJ leveled similar charges against Google's ad tech unit. That trial wrapped up late last month. In a separate announcement on Thursday, the search giant also said it will start adding inline links to sources used in AI-generated summaries, and initial tests showed these links sent more traffic to websites compared to the old design with links at the bottom, said Rhiannon Bell, Google Search's vice president of user experience, during the media demonstration. In addition, Google will begin sorting search results into scrollable lists of suggestions tailored to the user's query and account history. "AI-organized search results," as the company calls the feature, will initially be limited to suggesting recipes to American users of Google's mobile app. The company also said that Google Lens, the visual search app, will now be able to process video and voice input in addition to photos and text.

Ads Officially Invade Google's AI Overviews in Search

Additionally, ads in AI overviews will also help advertisers make the most out of their products. We are used to Google displaying ads in its search results and even ads popping up on websites all the time. However, Google is taking it a step further to introduce ads into AI Overviews. For those unaware, AI Overviews summarizes the topic of your Google Search query to save you time. To explain how these ads will be displayed in AI Overviews, Google lets us in on an example in its official blog post. Google states that if you have spent a day at a park and now have grass stains on your jeans and do a Google Search on how to get rid of them, you will now find stain removers and other relevant products listed as sponsored products below. From the looks of it, these commercial products will appear based on their ratings and popularity, making them all the more viable to users. As Google notes, Instead of needing another search to find the right product, relevant Shopping ads appear right within the AI Overview, allowing you to quickly and easily find the perfect stain remover (or any product, whatsoever). Moreover, these relevant shopping ads would trigger only for specific search queries that require it. These ads in AI Overviews do not take us by surprise since Google showcased a demo of how Search and Shopping ads would appear within AI Overviews back in May this year during the Marketing Live conference. Google Lens is based on a similar core functionality to help buyers find products easily. Whether you are using Circle to Search or are searching with your camera, Google Lens displays relevant products instantly. On top of that, starting this week, Lens is also getting an upgrade, displaying a more helpful results page. Talking directly to advertisers, Google states, "This presents a unique opportunity for advertisers -- 75% of US consumers get excited when they come across a new product perfectly aligned with their needs. With Shopping ads, you can connect with motivated shoppers at the moment their interest is piqued." At the recent Google for India event, we also got a good look at how we can soon Ask with Videos to get answers in AI Overviews. While ads in Google's AI Overviews are currently limited to US users, they will expand to other regions very soon. It will be interesting to see how AI Overviews embrace these ads further without disrupting user experience. What do you think about Google's ad approach in AI Overviews? Tell us in the comments section below!

Google introduces ads in AI Overviews for mobile users in US

Google has begun rolling out advertising in AI Overviews, its AI-generated search results, for mobile users in the US. According to the company's blog post, ads will appear within AI Overviews when relevant to the query and the response provided. For instance, if someone searches for how to get a stain out of jeans, the AI Overview will contain the answer and also show them ads for stain removers. The company said that it will explicitly mark these ads as "sponsored." Google said that people who engage with AI overviews are "more satisfied with their search results and find ads appearing above and below the overview helpful." Google first launched AI Overviews in May this year, soon after which users flagged that the overviews contained inaccurate information. For instance, when a user asked Google what to do to make cheese stick to the pizza, it advised the user to use non-toxic glue. The company has since sought to improve these responses, by expanding the size of the AI model involved in the operation. In Google's recent earnings call, the company's CEO Sundar Pichai explained that Google is "focused on matching the right model size to the complexity of the query in order to minimize the impact on costs and latency." During this earnings call, Google's Chief Business Officer Phillip Schindler also mentioned the company's plans to put advertisements inside AI Overviews. Besides introducing ads to AI Overviews, Google has also begun including additional information in Google Lens results. For some context, users can upload/take pictures and search for items using Google Lens. According to Google, nearly 20% of searches using the Google Lens are shopping-related. The company has brought together Lens' functionality with its "advanced AI models and Google's Shopping Graph" to help users find the exact item in a picture. Starting this week, Google will give users information about product searches through lenses such as reviews, price comparisons across retailers and where to buy. As AI tools have become more ubiquitous, tech companies have begun adopting different ways to monetise their AI offerings. While Google has incorporated ads into their AI offering, others like Adobe and Meta are using AI to improve their existing products. During a recent earnings call, Adobe explained that it was using its Firefly models to increase engagement in its products within the Adobe Creative Cloud. It is getting its existing customers to transition to higher-priced plans with this strategy. "We're even seeing this in enterprises where people are moving up to the highest versions of Creative Cloud, which is what we call it, Creative Cloud Enterprise 4, because they get more access to features beyond just generation," David Wadhwani, President of Adobe's Digital Media Business said during the call. Similarly, Meta is improving its AI-based recommendation algorithms, to get better at determining which ads to show and when. "This is enabling us to drive revenue growth and conversions without increasing the number of ads or in some cases even reducing ad load," the company's chief financial officer Susan Li said during a recent earnings call. The company also said that its AI-enabled advertising tools allow advertisers to automate their campaigns and even determine which format to serve ads in.

Google's AI search summaries officially have ads

Google is rolling out ads in AI Overviews, which means you'll now start seeing products in some of the search engine's AI-generated summaries. Let's say you're searching for ways to get a grass stain out of your pants. If you ask Google, its AI-generated response will offer some tips, along with suggestions for products to purchase that could help you remove the stain. The products will appear beneath a "sponsored" header, and Google spokesperson Craig Ewer told The Verge they'll only show up if a question has a "commercial angle." Google has been testing ads in AI Overviews since May but says it's moving forward with a full rollout because it helps people "quickly connect with relevant businesses, products and services to take the next step at the exact moment they need them." For now, ads are only coming to AI Overviews in the US on mobile. Microsoft similarly includes ads in its Copilot chatbot and recently changed how they surface in responses. Google is also making some tweaks to the formatting of AI Overviews. Following a test in August, Google will now display cited webpages more prominently on the right side of the summary, as it found this "has driven an increase in traffic to supporting websites compared to the previous design." It's rolling out AI-organized search pages as well -- a feature that displays a custom results page with relevant information instead of showing just a list of links. This is currently only available on mobile in the US for searches related to recipes and meal ideas.

Google Begins Wide Rollout of Ads in AI Overview Search Results

(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.'s Google is beginning a wide rollout of ads that will be displayed within and alongside the AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some search results -- a move meant to show investors that costly artificial intelligence projects can generate revenue. Some investors have worried that generative AI, the tech that underpins Google's AI summaries, could cannibalize the tech giant's search business, which is still by far its most lucrative unit. The company said in May that it would start testing ads in these search summaries, called AI Overviews, and now it's rolling the feature out to anyone in the US using Google's mobile app. Sponsored panels placed above, below and within the summaries have begun suggesting products related to the search query. At a demonstration for reporters held ahead of the announcement, searching "how do I get a grass stain out of jeans?" yielded AI-generated instructions followed by ads for Tide and OxiClean laundry products. The company will not share ad revenue with publishers whose material is cited in AI Overviews, a company spokesperson said. Google places its AI Overviews, which summarize the contents of search results, at the top of the page for some queries. First introduced in May, they were criticized for displaying inaccurate information and reducing the need to click through to cited websites that would earn ad revenue from visits. The company has been under pressure to prove that it doesn't have an unfair advantage over competitors in the search and advertising technology markets, which could have implications for its progress in AI. The US Justice Department in recent years brought two antitrust cases against the company, with a judge ruling in August that Google illegally monopolized the search business. The DOJ is considering seeking remedies including forcing the search giant to share precious search data with competitors -- which they could use to bolster their own AI tools and services -- and even breaking up the company, Bloomberg has reported. In a separate case, the DOJ leveled similar charges against Google's ad tech unit. That trial wrapped up late last month. In a separate announcement on Thursday, the search giant also said it will start adding inline links to sources used in AI-generated summaries, and initial tests showed these links sent more traffic to websites compared to the old design with links at the bottom, said Rhiannon Bell, Google Search's vice president of user experience, during the media demonstration. In addition, Google will begin sorting search results into scrollable lists of suggestions tailored to the user's query and account history. "AI-organized search results," as the company calls the feature, will initially be limited to suggesting recipes to American users of Google's mobile app. The company also said that Google Lens, the visual search app, will now be able to process video and voice input in addition to photos and text.

Google's AI Overviews take one step forward and two steps back

Gemini 1.5 Pro wants to help you explore topics with 'thoughtful conversations' Key Takeaways Google's AI Overviews are now more reliable with links to supporting web pages. Advertisements are now included in search queries under a "sponsored" section. Mixing AI Overviews with sponsored products may lead to unreliable information and exploitation. Gemini has been a revelation for Google, as the company has spent much of 2024 pushing its AI features into every one of its platforms under the sun. The Gemini LLM has been integrated into apps across the Google Workspace, been a part of the Pixel phones' marketing efforts, and found its way into Google Search results. The latter is known as AI Overviews, and we're not its biggest fans. However, Google has made it extremely difficult to ignore, and Google doesn't even care if you're signed in or not. While it is far from the most reliable way to find information through searching on the web, these overviews have now become more reliable with a recent change. Related ARTICLE: Google's AI Overviews go global in latest update New features and new regions included Google's AI Overviews are simple in execution. When users search for anything on Google, they're given an AI-powered overview of their search results at the top of the page, typically in bulleted form. They're not always very accurate and have historically been even less reliable than Wikipedia for anything research-related. Taking a page out of Wikipedia's book, however, Google announced today that AI Overviews will now come with prominent links to direct web pages that the overview crawls through for its information. This makes the information more reliable, and according to Google, this change increased web traffic to the supporting sites. Adpocalypse in AI Overviews (Source: Google) Back in May, AI Overviews hit the mainstream, with Google citing that users who interacted with it also visited a wider range of websites and engaged more with content. Not even a week later, Google announced that advertisements were coming for search queries under the "sponsored" subsection. After months of testing, Google announced today that it was rolling this out on a wide scale in the US. Google's rationale is that it has "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." We're not in love with that idea. As always, advertisers will try to creep into every facet of our existence, and it's impossible to live in the modern age without seeing the latest product from the biggest brands. While everything comes at a cost, mixing AI Overviews with sponsored products for people who need questions to be answered sounds like a recipe for failure. AI Overviews aren't all that factual to begin with, and while new AI tools for Search are constantly being tested, there seems to be no moral line that companies are unwilling to cross for a buck.

Google Begins Wide Rollout of Ads in AI Overview Search Results

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is beginning a wide rollout of ads that will be displayed within and alongside the AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some search results -- a move meant to show investors that costly artificial intelligence projects can generate revenue. Some investors have worried that generative AI, the tech that underpins Google's AI summaries, could cannibalize the tech giant's search business, which is still by far its most lucrative unit. The company said in May that it would start testing ads in these search summaries, called AI Overviews, and now it's rolling the feature out to anyone in the US using Google's mobile app.

Google brings ads to its AI Overviews, Lens search tools - SiliconANGLE

Google LLC will enable brands to display ads in AI Overviews, the natural language explainers that its search engine generates in response to some queries. The change is part of a broader product update that the Alphabet Inc. detailed this morning. Google is refreshing not only AI Overviews but also Lens, an intelligence tool that helps users identify objects in images. A number of other search features are receiving enhancements as well. Introduced last year, Google's AI Overviews capability answers some search queries with a natural language explanation that appears above regular search results. Depending on the question, the response can be up to several paragraphs long. The text appears alongside citations to the websites from which AI Overviews sourced the information. As part of today's update, Google is redesigning the AI Overviews interface panel to display citations more prominently. "In our tests, we've seen that this improved experience has driven an increase in traffic to supporting websites," Liz Reid, the head of Google Search, detailed in a blog post. For mobile users in the U.S., AI Overviews can now display ads below the AI-generated text and citations. Those ads appear "when relevant to both the query and the response provided," Shashi Thakur, the vice president and general manager of Google Ads, explained in a separate post. If a user searches for information on how to debug Python scripts, AI Overviews might point out that some development tools can automate certain aspects of the task. Companies that develop coding assistants, meanwhile, could advertise their software below the AI-generated answer. Google today detailed an AI Overviews ad format that displays multiple promotions in a scrollable carousel. The other search tool for which the company is rolling out an interface refresh is Lens. It's a suite of computer vision features in Google's mobile app that can automatically recognize objects in images. Lens also lends itself to a number of related tasks, such as translating street signs. About 20% of Lens searches are shopping-related, Thakur detailed today. When users come across a product they wish to buy, they can photograph it and have Lens automatically find offers from e-commerce stores. Google is enhancing the search results that Lens displays in response to shopping-related queries. According to the company, a revamped results page will display reviews about the product depicted in a photo along with pricing information and a list of stores that carry it. Later this year, the page will also start displaying ads. "You can show ads in these experiences with your existing AI-powered Search ads, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns," Thakur wrote. "There's no additional action required." Online shopping is not the only focus of the Lens refresh. Google is adding support for voice commands to let alow users refine the information that the tool surfaces about a photo by asking questions. Additionally, Lens can now generate explanations about objects in videos. The AI Overviews and Lens updates will be joined by a number of other product enhancements. Google is equipping Circle to Search, a search tool available on Android devices, with a feature that can help users identify songs. In parallel, the company is rolling out a new type of search results page that contains content aggregated by AI. The page format will initially appear in response to certain cooking-related queries.

Google expands AI search, incorporates ads into Overviews | Digital Trends

Google announced on Thursday that it is "taking another big leap forward" with an expansive round of AI-empowered updates for Google Search and AI Overview. Earlier in the year, Google incorporated generative AI technology into its existing Lens app, which allows users to identify objects within a photograph and search the web for more information on them, so that the app will return an AI Overview based on what it sees rather than a list of potentially relevant websites. At the I/O conference in May, Google promised to expand that capability to video clips. Recommended Videos With Thursday's update, "you can use Lens to search by taking a video, and asking questions about the moving objects that you see," Google's announcement reads. The company suggests that the app could be used to, for example, provide personalized information about specific fish at an aquarium simply by taking a video and asking your question. Whether this works on more complex subjects like analyzing your favorite NFL team's previous play or fast-moving objects like identifying makes and models of cars in traffic, remains to be seen. If you want to try the feature for yourself, it's available globally (though only in English) through the iOS and Android Google App. Navigate to the Search Lab and enroll in the "AI Overviews and more" experiment to get access. You won't necessarily have to type out your question either. Lens now supports voice questions, which allows you to simply speak your query as you take a picture (or capture a video clip) rather than fumbling across your touchscreen in a dimly lit room. Your Lens-based shopping experience is also being updated. In addition to the links to visually similar products from retailers that Lens already provides, it will begin displaying "dramatically more helpful results," per the announcement. Those include reviews of the specific product you're looking at, price comparisons from across the web, and information on where to buy the item. Circle to Search can now find music for you, as counter-intuitive as that may seem. Basically, if you scroll past a music video on social media that you want more information on, you can now swipe a circle atop it and Lens will search the web for more information about the track, saving you the trouble of having to remember the name of the band. The search results page itself is also undergoing renovations. Google has begun using AI to organize its search results, which the company claims "helps you easily explore content and perspectives from across the web including articles, videos, forums and more." What's more, Google has begun incorporating paid ads into its AI Overviews on mobile devices. Finally, Google is working on a new design for its AI Overview feature to display "prominent links" directly within the overview text that point back to the supporting webpage. The company says that doing so has driven additional traffic to the websites it scrapes for AI content and made it easier for people to visit sites of interest. Google will begin rolling out the new Overview design globally starting today.