Google continues to transform the way we interact with the web by integrating new artificial intelligence capabilities into its search results and Google Lens. These innovations, already in deployment, promise more fluid, multimodal and organized search, facilitating access to information and products.
What to remember:
- Google search results are now curated by AI, providing a more diverse experience.
- New link formats in AI Overviews make it easier to directly access relevant content.
- Google Lens gains power with video and voice search capabilities.
- Ads integrate into AI Overviews, providing a new way to discover products.
Search results reorganized by AI
For several months, Google has been gradually deploying its new AI search results, first with the SGE then the AI Overviews launched in May 2024. New features have just been announced at the start of the month, introducing more and more intelligence artificial in the search engine.
This innovation, already accessible in the United States on mobile, begins with recipes and culinary inspiration. The objective? Offer a more interactive and richer results page, bringing together various content, such as articles, videos, forum posts, and much more.
Tests conducted by Google (certainly a bit biased) show that these AI results are particularly useful for users, helping them explore multiple perspectives and discover new content formats. This makes it possible to diversify sources of information, thus giving more visibility to a wide range of websites.
This AI approach makes it easier to find diverse content in one place. For example, if you are looking for a vegetarian dish idea, Results will include how-to videos, discussion forum posts, detailed recipes and expert articlesall organized according to your needs and preferences.
New links in AI Overviews
At the same time, Google introduced a new link format in its AI Overviews. These links are now integrated directly into the text of the AI Overviewsthus facilitating access to source websites. This change, tested for several months, is now deployed worldwide in countries where AI Overviews are available.
Google reports that these new links significantly improve the user experience. Not only do they increase traffic to relevant sites, but they also promote higher quality visits. Users would visibly spend more time on the pages visited.
Integrating advertisements into AI Overviews
Google has not neglected advertisers in this wave of updates. Ads now appear in AI Overviews, marked with a “Sponsored” label. After several months of testing, these ads are deployed on mobile in the United States. They allow users to quickly find relevant products and services, while exploring AI-generated results.
This change is part of a desire to make research more fluid and more action-oriented. For example, a product search through an AI Overview includes ads for local or online stores, allowing users to directly purchase what they are looking for. A way to keep Google advertisers satisfied, since they have until now feared losing money by promoting AI previews to the detriment of their products.
Google Lens becomes even more powerful
Google Lens, which performs each month nearly 20 billion visual searchesalso benefits from significant improvements. The feature now allows searching not only with still images, but also with videos. This capacity, initially presented during the Google I/O 2024allows users to record video via Lens and then ask complex questions about moving objects.
Search for moving objects
Let’s say you’re in an aquarium and want to learn more about a school of fish. Using Lens, you can record a video, ask a question out loud, and receive a detailed answer in the form of an AI Overview, accompanied by resources from various websites.
A more intuitive voice search
Google also adds the ability to ask voice questions using Lens. You can now take a photo with your camera, then ask a question out loud to get quick, relevant answers, much like asking a friend for advice. This feature is available globally to Lens users on Android and iOS.
Make shopping easier with Google Lens
One of the most anticipated updates concerns shopping integration in Google Lens. Now, by taking a photo of a product, Lens will provide you with essential information like price, reviews, and purchasing options at different retailers. Thanks to AI and Google’s Shopping Graph, which lists more than 45 billion products, it becomes easier to compare and buy a product in the blink of an eye.
For example, if you see a backpack in a window and want to buy it, all you have to do is take a photo of it with Lens. Google will then show you product details, including which retailers carry it, its different colors and options, and user reviews.
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