SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Generative Experience – It’s All New AI Search Engine
Google announced a preview, a labs experiment, of its all-new search engine, it is calling Google Search Generative Experience. This is where Google brings in generative AI into the search interface and makes a search interface designed more for a youthful audience.
I covered this in super detail on Search Engine Land so here I will give a briefer overview of the changes, after having a night to sleep on it, and consuming feedback from the search marketing community.
In short, I was pleasantly surprised by the interface, as I expected the UI to be less generous to content creators, publishers, site owners, and SEOs. But I believe this interface does make efforts to generate clicks from the new search results interface to websites.
Here is a quick first impressions video I recorded for this blog post:
Quick Jump Links To Sections:
How It Looks & Feels
Here is a screenshot from Google that I mocked up to explain the all-new search interface from Google – you can click on the image to enlarge:
Google will generate an answer for some, not all questions, and show this animation of Google working up an answer. Google will show some of the more trusted and high-quality web sites as clickable links, with an image, title and URL, right in the answer box. These sites make up part of the answer and are sites Google has a high degree of trust, enough to show them in this answer box.
You can use the toggle expander button to dive deeper into the answers and/or ask follow-up questions below. Or scroll past it to see the more traditional search result listings.
Here is a GIF of it in action – do notice the products from the Shopping Graph (click to enlarge):
I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised with how Google is showing links to publishers. I don’t think most were thinking Google would be highlighting these publishers and content creators as much as they are here, after seeing the laughable way Google Bard handled citations, or lack thereof.
One note, Google said the colors of the answer box or container plays a role. The color can dynamically change based on the searcher’s specific journey types and the query intent itself, Google told me.
How It Works
Yea, this uses a bunch of AI, LLMs, and machine learning, including many exciting search algorithms to function. This new experience is powered by a variety of large language models, including an advanced version of MUM and PaLM2. This model is different from what Bard uses, it was trained to carry out tasks specific to search, including ways to identify high-quality sites that corroborate the information presented in the output, Google told us.
Yes, it uses Google Search’s core ranking systems for this purpose. Google said this helps them “significantly mitigate: some of the known limitations of LLMs, like hallucination or inaccuracies.
On top of that, Google also deploys its Search Quality Raters to evaluate these results and takes that feedback to improve the models going forward. Google also conducts adversarial testing of these systems to identify areas where the systems aren’t performing as intended, the company told me.
YMYL comes into play to, and if Google does show a response here, Google will add a disclaimer to YMYL categories of responses. Google told us “on health-related queries where we do show a response, the disclaimer emphasizes that people should not rely on the information for medical advice, and they should work with medical professionals for individualized care.”
And Google might not give generative answers when there is a lack of quality or reliable information, such as with “data voids” or “information gaps.” And Google won’t respond to explicit or dangerous topics.
Google applies the same policies it uses for featured snippets and autocomplete, as well as its other Search content policies.
Google rather not respond in a fluid tone because searchers are more likely to trust fluidity, Google told us. “We have found that giving the models leeway to create fluid, human-sounding responses results in a higher likelihood of inaccuracies (see limitations below) in the output. At the same time, when responses are fluid and conversational in nature, we have found that human evaluators are more likely to trust the responses and less likely to catch errors,” Google told us.
On Google Search Console and tracking clicks from the new search experience. Liz Reid from Google told me it is just a labs experiment now and Search Console integration is not planned right now. John Mueller of Google kind of said the same thing on Twitter:
It’s early days, and feedback is very welcome.
— John Mueller (official) — #StaplerLife · #DownWith (@JohnMu) May 10, 2023
Although I do doubt Google will add such a feature because they refused to do so with featured snippets.
But it will have a normal search referral:
AFAIK it has a normal Google search referrer.
— John Mueller (official) — #StaplerLife · #DownWith (@JohnMu) May 10, 2023
Search Ads
Finally, Google will show Google Ads in this new experience, just like it does in the normal Google Search. It will label those ads as “sponsored” with the black sponsored label. Your ads that you run in Google Search will potentially show here too. Right now there is no way to differentiate and say, do not show my ads in the new experience or not. But this is a super early beta, and Bing Chat does the same thing.
“We’ll test and evolve the ads experience as we learn more,” Google told us.
Here is what it looks like:
Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, confirmed this with this tweet:
The Search ads that are displayed in these Search Generative Experiences are part of existing ad campaigns. This is not a new ad format or campaign type.
— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) May 10, 2023
How To Sign Up
Google has opened its waitlist for the Search Generative Experience in Search Labs at labs.google.com/search. You can sign up to join the waitlist today. Click on the Labs icon in the Google app or Chrome desktop to express your interest, Google said.
Google won’t start inviting people to try it for a couple of weeks and those invites will go out in waves.
It will be available first on Chrome desktop and the Google App (Android and iOS) in the U.S. and English-only.
I believe some of the early reaction, without reading the details, were pretty negative but overall, I think when people see the layouts and links, they are surprised in a good way. I think, SEOs and content creators were expecting a lot worse. And honestly, I personally don’t think this is bad at all.
But here are some early reactions:
MY TAKE: It’s like featured snippets on steroids. Source sites appear prominently in the answer. Google wants users to “dig deeper into those sources”. Our challenge is be one of those sources. i.e. We have to keep producing quality, helpful content. 🙂 https://t.co/Vyry1KeiBt https://t.co/FvMGJ1LTUl
— Glenn Murray (@SilverPistol) May 11, 2023
Fair play. @Google has done a good job of this. https://t.co/ccmKXXg1jg
— Andrew Charlton (@bertiecharlton) May 10, 2023
.
And no one is going to take legal action?This is quite literally going to carve great big swathes into peoples traffic, reducing creators/publishers brand trust, and harming revenue.
And I bet @searchliaison will still run away when I ask for figures!#SEO #Magi https://t.co/pZWypYxO50
— Darth Autocrat (Lyndon NA) (@darth_na) May 10, 2023
I’m intrigued to try this out! Visually, it looks better than I expected.
— Chris Ainsworth (@chrisains) May 10, 2023
More zero-click searches! https://t.co/XU1B4lQWWl
— Shyamal Parikh (@Shyamal890) May 10, 2023
Google New AI search experience: “You’ll see an AI-powered snapshot of key information to consider, with links to dig deeper,” 🫡 👇 https://t.co/nxDO7xAjbW pic.twitter.com/n7GvQZDPeL
— Aleyda Solis 🇺🇦 (@aleyda) May 10, 2023
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) May 10, 2023
It’s all well and good Google saying we’ll be compensated, but that’s meaningless. What does it even mean? That we’ll have a bot access the website once so our traffic remains the same? That’s worth exactly $0.00 in money terms.
— Wesley Copeland (@Wesley_Copeland) May 10, 2023
Grow. Your. Email. List. https://t.co/TC38RvtgkN
— Miles Beckler (@milesbeckler) May 10, 2023
So when all the websites die because Google ripped their content off and didn’t give them any clicks, where is this AI going to pull its facts from? https://t.co/4u2YbhDUBH
— Kirk McKeand (@MckKirk) May 10, 2023
https://t.co/6hNsA74wEx pic.twitter.com/V4RDTLkKu9
— Bradley Russell (@1BradleyRussell) May 10, 2023
Looking at this, following are my observations.
Google search may become more confined with information displayed on the google main page, rather than sending the visitor to the relevant website page.
This could be a threat for publishers and also if this happens, google… https://t.co/pKkM1LRkrN
— Abhishek Bhatnagar (@abhishek) May 10, 2023
Plenty of space for ads https://t.co/AKmf6plE3l
— Ben Zipkin (@bzipkin) May 10, 2023
Bing slayer with new generative #AI capabilities in Google search.#GoogleIO https://t.co/go49DARpid pic.twitter.com/rgQ7STFSuN
— Varun Kumar 🎶 (@DigitalVK) May 10, 2023
Google search will soon give an AI generated answer first, along with the ability to dialogue. In testing now.
Websites are still seen. Product recommendations powered by the shopping graph.
Google I/O showed Google Maps integration and much more. https://t.co/3Vp08qmMJH pic.twitter.com/HExuYCY24o
— Dr. Marie Haynes🌱 (@Marie_Haynes) May 10, 2023
No you won’t understand the topic better or more in-depth or gain more understanding you’ll just get a summarized version of information that leaves all that out so it will not make people more informed sadly you jumped on this train. Really sad to see it
— Kristine (@Schachin on Spoutible too) 🇺🇦 (@schachin) May 10, 2023
I agree. Light years better than what they showed originally.
To my eyes, it’s a prettier and slightly more story-focused interface than what they already do with featured snippets and PAA.
The snapshot thing is 3-4 featured snippets mashed together in essay form.
— Matt McGee (@mattmcgee) May 10, 2023
Magi is google snippets but much better.
Organic traffic for websites will nosedive if this works. https://t.co/1WKwXFEf59
— Anant (@ananttah) May 11, 2023
I had the same thought, slept on it last night and am now really excited for it. Yes, some loss, but a lot of room for experts to shine and beat the normal winners. Especially small businesses.
— Adam Riemer (@rollerblader) May 11, 2023
… Eg. you’ll get a list of best bikes for “5 mile commutes with hills” right there without needing to go to a review (affiliate) site; or “the best plan to run a 10K at the end of the summer for beginners” without having to go to the running/fitness site guide. Ouch. pic.twitter.com/rxhNYYRZ4e
— Aleyda Solis 🇺🇦 (@aleyda) May 11, 2023
Here is a quick poll that should update later today with results, so feel free to take it:
Okay, SEO community, how do we feel about how Google is bringing AI into search results? #GoogleIO
— Matt McGee (@mattmcgee) May 10, 2023
Forum discussion at Twitter and WebmasterWorld.
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 18, 2024
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Google Ads notified advertisers that some ad customizers will stop working soon. Google discontinued the limited use video carousel markup. Google Maps has new directions and travel features, plus a bunch of new EV features. Google Notes on Search might not end in May 2024 despite what people suggest. Google Business Profiles asked businesses to register their defibrillators, their AEDs.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
-
Google Notes On Search Won’t Necessarily Go Away In May
There have been some people noticing that the Google Notes On Search labs experiment has an end date of May 2024 and thus they are expecting Notes on Search to be turned off by then. Just because it has that end date listed, it does not mean the labs experiment will end on that date. -
Google Maps Releases New Directions, Travel & EV Features
Google has announced a number of new travel features with Google Maps and Travel around driving alternatives, trains and buses, travel impact mode and then some new EV driving direction features. Google says these features are to give you more “sustainable choices.” -
Google Ads Reminds Advertisers Some Ad Customizers Will Go Away May 31st
On August 31, 2021, Google notified advertisers it would drop support for expanded text ads for responsive search ads. Google is now reminding advertisers that Ad customizers for text ads, expanded text ads and Dynamic Search Ads will stop serving after May 31, 2024. -
Google Drops Video Carousel Markup
Google has discontinued its support for video carousel markup and has thus removed it from its video structured data help documentation. Initially, Google tested video carousel on a limited number of sites and is now saying that it “ultimately found that it wasn’t useful for the ecosystem at scale.” -
Google Business Profiles Register Your Defibrillator (AED)
Google sent out emails a couple of days ago to businesses asking them to register their Automated External Defibrillator (AED) with Google Business Profiles. Google said, “you could save lives” if you do it. -
Google NYC Earthquake Reaction Video
A couple of weeks ago we had an earthquake in the New York region and I finally found a video from the Google NYC office of the reaction of some Googlers while the earthquake happened. These Googlers were recording a video and felt it but were unsure if that was a real earthquake.
Other Great Search Threads:
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 17, 2024
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
The Google March core update still is causing volatility and it is deepening. Google may make changes to the crawl stats report in Search Console. Google Search Console now shows unused ownership tokens. Google Maps will drop the review drafts. Google Add added generative AI for image generate for Demand Gen campaigns. Google Search is testing more sitelinks designs.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
-
Deepening Google Core Ranking Volatility Hits Yesterday & Today
I know we just reported on more volatility this Monday, possibly related to the Google March 2024 core update, but we are seeing even more volatility over the past 24 hours related to this update. This volatility shows deepening movement for those who were hit, which is incredibly sad in many cases. -
Google Search Console Adds Unused Ownership Tokens
Google Search Console has a new security feature under user and permission management to help you manage your unused ownership tokens. Basically, it helps you manage who has permissions to your Search Console profiles and who should not, maybe some legacy verifications. -
Google: Should We Explain The Crawl Stats Report in Search Console
Martin Splitt from Google posted a one-line question asking, “Should we do something to explain the crawl stats report in GSC?” This was posted on Mastodon, which has a small audience, but the responses were pretty good. -
New Google Ads AI Generated Image Tool For Demand Gen Campaigns
Google Ads announced that Demand Gen campaigns are getting generative AI tools to create image assets. This is rolling out to advertisers around the world in English with more languages to come later this year, Google said. -
Google Tests Horizontal Lines For Sitelinks & People Also Ask
Google Search is testing horizontal lines under the sitelinks and the people also ask elements in the search results. This is a long horizontal line that goes across the while search result snippet. -
Google Maps No Longer Will Support Draft Reviews
Google Maps will soon stop supporting drafting reviews for local business listings and Google Business Profiles. Google said that starting July 16, 2024, review drafts will no longer be supported. -
Doogler In Google Play Area
Some of you love photos of dogs, so here is another one of a Doogler, a Google dog, in a play area, at the Google office. This was shared by the Life at Google Twitter account.
Other Great Search Threads:
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 16, 2024
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Google will fight the site reputation abuse spam both algorithmically and with manual actions. Google is testing thumbs-up and down in product carousels. Google Ads similar product carousel is being tested. Google Search updated its image documentation. Google AdSense has a new ad format named ad intents.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
-
Google Will Fight Site Reputation Abuse Spam Both With Manual Actions & Algorithms
Google’s new spam algorithm update also introduced new spam policies including the upcoming site reputation abuse policy that won’t go into effect until May 2024. Google has confirmed it will fight site reputation abuse spam using both manual actions (humans) and algorithms (machines). -
Google Search Tests Thumbs Up/Down Buttons In Product Grid Results
Google launched the style recommendations with thumbs up and down buttons not long ago after testing it in January. Now Google is showing this thumbs up and down buttons in the product grid search results, so Google can see what you like or dislike and then show you more products that you do like. -
Google Ads “Similar Product” Carousel
Google has a similar products section and carousel for Google Ads sponsored listings. We have seen similar products and similar shopping related results from the organic / free listings but now I am seeing examples of a search ad carousel for “similar products.” -
Clarification: Google Search Supports Images Referenced From src Attribute
Google has clarified in its image search help documentation that images are only extracted from the src attribute of img tags in Google Search. This is not new, but Google decided to update its documentation based on some questions it received about the topic. -
Google AdSense New Ad Intents Formats – Links & Anchors In Content
Google AdSense announced a new auto ads format named “Ad intents.” Ad intents places links and anchors showing organic search results with ads into existing text and pages on your site related to your content. Yea, it takes your content, and hyperlinks it to the Google search results. -
3-Wheel Tricycle At Google
Google’s Ann Arbor office has this 3-wheel tricycle that some Googlers have used over the years to get around the office. This one looks like the hot pink Huffy brand. I spotted this recently on Instagram but the photo is from 2016.
Other Great Search Threads:
- I don’t have an update to share at this time, but you should continue to use classic GMC for rules and supplemental feed support. Here’s how to switch back if needed, AdsLiaison on X
- In this case, I’ve been introducing a new metric; “likelihood to get search traffic” to see what we should add to XML sitemaps. Some pages might do incredibly well on other metrics, but simply, Joost de Valk on X
- It does have a title, and it loads a HTML page – so this seems normal. The JavaScript doesn’t seem to be loading well, so if you’re the site owner, I’d suggest reading ou, John Mueller on X
- News! Google Ads removed in some accounts the possibility to hover over a daily budget to edit it. You need to hover now and then click on “Edit budget”. Why changing things to less user-friendly ones, Thomas Eccel on X
- The time has come! Registration for the Zürich Product Experts Summit has now opened for eligible PEs in Europe. Virtual registration will follow in May. Check your inboxes and the KB for more details., Google’s Product Experts Program on X
- When I want to add positive search terms as exact match, I first add them quickly as broad, then bulk switch them over to exact match. lately I’ve been getting this error and the only way I can switch the keywords is by using Ads Editor., Greg on X
- Yeah, quantity says nothing about quality and even less about user value or business value. Sometimes the solution to a “crawl budget problem” is not to make the server faster & search engines, John Mueller on X
- Which the best method to link to the alternative language of a website, WebmasterWorld
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
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