New ways to connect to the web with AI Overviews

In May, we launched AI Overviews in Search to help people quickly find information and explore all the web has to offer. Already, people are asking longer questions, diving deeper into complex subjects and uncovering new perspectives — which means more opportunities for people to discover content from publishers, businesses and creators.

Now, we’re sharing a few updates around our ongoing work to connect people to the richness of the web, introducing helpful updates for AI Overviews in Search Labs – and bringing AI Overviews to six new countries.

Connecting with the web

As we evolve the Search experience with AI Overviews, we remain focused on helping people access information and perspectives from a diverse range of sources. With AI Overviews, we’re seeing that people have been visiting a greater diversity of websites for help with more complex questions. And when people click from search result pages with AI Overviews, these clicks are higher quality for websites — meaning users are more likely to spend more time on the sites they visit.

Now, we’re introducing more ways to check out relevant websites while you search, with a new right-hand link display for AI Overviews on desktop – also accessible on mobile by tapping the site icons on the upper right. These updates are starting to roll out globally today for AI Overviews in all launched countries, as well as for Search Labs users in more than 120 countries and territories.

We're also currently testing the addition of links to relevant web pages directly within the text of AI Overviews (in addition to the prominent links we already show), making it even easier for people to click out and visit sites that interest them.

This experiment has shown early, positive results: Showing links to supporting web pages directly within AI Overviews is driving higher traffic to publisher sites. We’ll continue testing different ways of presenting information that’s most helpful for people, while prioritizing approaches that drive traffic to relevant websites.

And as always, ads appearing above or below AI Overviews will continue to provide valuable options for people to take action and connect with businesses.

Launching new capabilities for AI Overviews in Search Labs

If you want to try out the latest AI capabilities and new ideas we're working on, you can head to Search Labs and opt into the “AI Overviews and more” experiment – featuring two updates we’re sharing today.

First is the ability to “save” a specific AI Overview for future reference, and get back to the helpful info and links you found on your initial search, like “what are some interesting science projects I can do with my 12 year old son.” Just tap the new “save” button underneath your AI Overview, and when you conduct the same search again, you’ll get the same AI Overview in your results. This makes it even easier to access, and click out to the content you were interested in. You can also see your saved AI Overviews by tapping on your profile icon from Search and navigating to your Interests page.

This capability is available for English queries in the U.S. – just make sure you’ve enrolled in the “AI Overviews and more” experiment in Search Labs.

Second, you’ll now see an option on some AI Overviews to simplify the language with a single tap, which we previewed earlier this year. This can be helpful if you’re new to a topic and want an easier way to digest the information. This is available if you’re enrolled in the “AI Overviews and more” experiment in Search Labs, for English queries in the U.S.

Expanding AI Overviews to more places around the world

We extensively test how people respond to updates to Search. Since launching in the U.S., we've found people who use AI Overviews use Search more and are more satisfied with their results. People who are looking for help with complex topics are engaging more and keep coming back for AI Overviews. Additionally, we see even higher engagement from younger users, aged 18-24, when they use Search with AI Overviews.

After extensive testing and positive feedback, including in the U.S. and in Search Labs globally, we’re bringing the helpfulness of AI Overviews to six new countries: United Kingdom, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil – along with local language support in each country.

AI Overviews in Search are rooted in our core quality and safety systems, which we have been refining for decades to deliver reliable and high-quality information. We’ll be rolling this expansion out gradually over the course of several weeks, with a focus on maintaining Search's high bar for information quality. Through our testing in these markets, we’ve found that people prefer using Search with AI Overviews, and they find their search results more helpful.

AI Overviews can open up new ways to search that were never possible before. Now, more people around the world can use Search to ask new kinds of questions, find the information they need even faster, and explore the best the web has to offer. As we continue to gather feedback and refine the experience, we look forward to bringing this to even more people around the world.