Google has announced new changes in AI Overviews and AI Mode of its Search platform. The purpose of these updates is to make it easier to find and trust the source of answers provided by AI. Now users will get clickable links to relevant websites in the AI’s responses itself. Apart from this, the company is also working on features like prominently displaying official websites and explaining the reasons for choosing a source.
According to Google, with these changes, users will be able to get more information on a topic beyond the short answers given by AI. However, due to AI Overviews, publishers are already concerned about the traffic coming to their websites.
Direct links will be available in AI Overviews and AI Mode
According to Google’s blog post, now links to websites will be given only among the answers in AI Overviews and AI Mode. This will reduce the need for users to search separately or scroll down much to reach the original source of information.
The company is also testing showing a separate section for official websites at the top of the answers in AI Mode. This will help users to access primary sources. Additionally, it will also be explained why a particular website has been chosen as a source and what additional information can be obtained by clicking on that link.
More information will be available from ‘Dive deeper’ section
Google is rolling out larger and more prominent carousels in AI Overviews and AI Mode to more regions and languages. The company is also increasing the facility to show information from users’ favorite sources.
Apart from this, a new ‘Dive deeper’ section has also been added. It will contain links to related sources and websites, with the help of which users can understand a topic in detail beyond the summary provided by AI.
Names of creators and publishers will also be clickable in AI mode
Google has also added the feature of making the names of creators and publishers clickable in the video results of AI Mode. With this, users will be able to get more information about the creator who made the video or the source who published it.
These changes may make it easier to find information and reach its original source on Google Search. Users will get options to read AI-generated summaries, links to related websites and more information in one place.
However, what impact these features will have on website publishers remains to be seen. Some users do not need to open the entire website since answers are available in AI Overviews itself. In such a situation, despite the new changes, questions may remain regarding the traffic coming to the websites.
