Google will profoundly change Internet search with AI Overviews, a new technology based on artificial intelligence which will impact users as well as site publishers and content creators.
Google I/O 2024, Google’s high mass for developers, which has been taking place at the American giant’s headquarters since May 14, will certainly go down in the annals of IT. All the announcements made had artificial intelligence in common. This area seems to have become the cornerstone of almost all of the firm’s services. And among those most impacted by the presence of AI, Google’s most popular tool is at the top of the list: Search, its search engine. If in 25 years of existence Search has undergone many developments, the one that Google has just initiated with AI Overviews will change not only the daily lives of Internet users but also that of website publishers and other content creators.
How does Google AI Overviews work?
Today, when you type a query into the Google search box, Search presents a list of results made up of a wide variety of websites, the famous blue links, spread over several pages, which may provide you with an answer. Added to this are sponsored links, carousels (with highlighted sites), images, videos on YouTube, etc. For example, by entering “quiche Lorraine recipe” in the search field, a multitude of links are displayed to websites that present one or more quiche Lorraine recipes. It’s up to you to click, link after link, to find the recipe that suits you.
With AI Overviews, it is Google’s artificial intelligence, embodied by its in-house model Gemini, which takes control. Its goal: to carry out research for you and present its point of view to you. This is called generative AI, artificial intelligence that itself produces content from one or more sources. Thus, with this same query, AI Overviews, placed prominently on the page and which takes up a good part of it, will display not a list of recipe sites but a recipe, described step by step, with the necessary ingredients as they are found on most sites. To achieve this, he will have drawn his information on HIS ultimate recipe from numerous websites that he will have browsed, taking into account their popularity, the ratings given by visitors and many other criteria according to the firm. The main advantage of AI Overviews for the Internet user is that it saves time by avoiding repeated clicks to open each previously mentioned link. As for the usual list of websites, it is still there but relegated much lower in the results.
But AI Overviews can do much more than that. It allows you to provide a quick result for a very complex query bringing together several concepts thanks to Multi-step reasoning or reasoning in several stages in French. In its demonstration at its conference, Google used this query as an example: “Find the best yoga or Pilates class in Boston, provide details on their welcome offers and travel time from Beacon Hill.”
In the current state of Search, any Internet user would have proceeded in stages with short queries using keywords. First by searching for yoga and Pilates classes then looking at which ones were nearby and finally looking at the welcome offers of each of them by opening the websites one after the other. With AI Overviews, the AI breaks down the query into several keywords then organizes its response according to several priority criteria. This single query leads to a list of results taking into account all these criteria in a single click. Guaranteed time saving.
Another example shown at Google I/O: “Create a three-day easy-to-prepare meal plan for a group.” Here again, after consulting several websites, Gemini will generate several recipes spread over three days.
Additionally, it is possible to interact with the result by asking to swap dishes between days, add vegetarian recipes, etc. And once the program is set? All that remains is to export it to a Google Docs or Sheets document or send it by email with Gmail. The strength of AI Overviews, and therefore of Gemini, is to compile research results, sort and organize them according to the requested criteria in order to present them in the clearest way possible and which best corresponds to the user expectations. Gemini thus analyzes websites, uses the information it needs, sorts it, digests it and spits it out in its own way without asking anyone for their opinion. Enough to annoy many site editors. As for the sources used, AI Overviews can display up to four. But it is very likely that many other sites are used to produce the results… without them being mentioned.
How can AI Overviews impact website publishers and content creators?
Until now, each website publisher is working hard on its SEO with Google to move higher and higher in the search results in order to be the most visible and attract visitors. With AI Overviews, Google appears to be sweeping away this groundwork as websites are placed behind the generative AI results. However, the firm wishes to reassure by indicating that “ links included in AI previews get more clicks than those appeared as a traditional web listing for the same query “. Yes, but the others? They risk seeing their traffic decrease significantly. Furthermore, generative AI would not be involved in the slightest query entered into Google, according to Liz Reid, director of online search at Google questioned by our American colleagues from Wired: ” If you’re looking for Walmart.com (American retail brand – editor’s note), vou really just want to go to Walmart.com. But if you have an extremely personalized question, that’s where we’ll bring that “. In other words, the famous blue links and their ranking will remain in place for the simplest searches.
AI Overviews also raises questions of balance and plurality of information. If Google currently indicates that it is focusing on areas such as cooking, travel, entertainment or sporting activities, we wonder if AI Overviews will also be used for more general information. We can then worry that the algorithms will provide a formatted response for all Internet users formulating the same request. Generative AI could then deliver a summary modeled according to its own vision. Only the most curious will scroll through the results page to access the traditional blue links and form their own opinion by visiting the sites they want.
When will AI Overviews be available?
After a year of work and testing, Google is starting to deploy AI Overviews in the United States for the moment. The firm indicates a deployment in other countries around the world during the year, estimating that it will be able to reach a billion individuals before the end of 2024. Google has been careful not to anticipate the arrival of AI Overviews in Europe or the constraints of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and other copyright regulations could put obstacles in its way.