Google rolls out AI Overviews for more complex searches

Google is rolling out its AI Overviews search to U.S.-based users of Google Search in the coming week. This was just one of several significant developments announced by the company at Google I/O yesterday.

What are AI Overviews? AI Overviews give answers to queries using generative AI technology powered by Google Gemini. It provides a few snippets of an answer based on its understanding of queries and the content it found on the topic across the web.

Not in all your searches. AI Overviews are reserved to answer more complex questions where Google feels it can add value beyond the search results, said Hema Budaraju, the company’s senior director of product, Search Generative Experience. If an AI Overview doesn’t add value to what Google Search shows by default, Google will not show an AI Overview. Google would not say what percentage of queries will generate an AI Overview.

Budaraju also said that the link cards within AI Overviews generate a higher click-through rate than traditional web search results. However, Google will not break down impressions and click data for AI Overview links in Google Search Console.

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Here is how it will look in Google Search:

Adjusting Overviews. Google Search Labs will soon offer the ability to adjust AI Overviews to “simplify the language or break it down in more detail,” Liz Reid, the head of Google Search, explained. Clicking on “Simpler” will give users a more basic AI Overview response; clicking on “Break it down” will provide a much more detailed response. This functionality refines search results without requiring multiple searches in the same search session.

AI Overviews were introduced as part of the Search Generative Experience last May 2023. It was opt-in within Google Search Labs until Google tested it on a subset of users in March 2024. AI Overviews will launch in more countries soon and be available to more than a billion users by the end of the year.

A simpler view. If all this seems too confusing, Google is rolling out a new search filter to show only text-based links in the search results. The filter is named “Web.” Clicking it removes images, videos, or other forms of search results; only classic blue links are displayed. Now if you want to remove forums, videos, news, images or other forms of search results you can. You can just filter by text links, and go back to the pre-2007 universal search days.

Other features. The company also announced several other new features including multistep reasoning capabilities, planning capabilities, AI-organized search results, and a new Google Lens ask-with-video feature.

Multistep reasoning capability. Google Search can now provide multistep reasoning using Gemini step-by-step reasoning logic. “Rather than breaking your question into multiple searches, you can ask your most complex questions, with all the nuances and caveats you have in mind, all in one go,” Reid wrote. The example below shows the feature at work for someone searching for a new yoga or pilates studio, that is popular in your community, conveniently located for your daily commute, and that also offers a discount for new members. You can ask Google Search to “find the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston and show details on their intro offers and walking time from Beacon Hill.”

It will be available soon in Search Labs, for English queries in the U.S.

Planning capabilities. This feature gives you the ability to plan what you need directly in Google Search. It will give you choices and the ability to co-create plans with others. For example, a search for “create a three-day meal plan for a group that’s easy to prepare,” gets a starting point with a wide range of recipes from across the web. You can swap out parts of the plan, as you wish and then export them to Google Docs or Gmail. It will be available in Search Labs later this year within the U.S.

AI-organized search results. This will let you use AI to group the search results into specific categories. It is intended to help you brainstorm options for your query. The company says it will provide search results “categorized under unique, AI-generated headlines, featuring a wide range of perspectives and content types.” This functionality will roll out for dining and recipes, followed by movies, music, books, hotels, shopping and more later this year directly in Google Search for U.S. English results. It is not available as a Google Search Labs opt-in feature.

Lens search with video. This lets users ask questions while recording a video; Google will respond based on the questions asked. Here is how this will work when it goes live later this year.

Searching with video will be available soon for Search Labs users in English in the U.S.