Google has announced the expansion of its AI Overviews to India and other countries after rolling it out in the US back in May. The AI overviews are integrated within Google Search and also bring some India-specific features, such as the ability to switch between English and Hindi results with the language toggle button.
Google had a setback with AI overviews in Search where it not only faced backlash from publishers across the globe, but also showed some odd and unfavourable results to users who made unique queries in Google search. Because of that, a report back in June stated that Google had to dial down the visibility of AI overviews search results by a whopping 84 percent.
However, it hasn’t stopped Google from working and refining the feature further. In the latest blog post, Google says that since AI overviews went live in the US, “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, after extensive testing and positive feedback, including in the U.S. and in Search Labs globally, Google is “bringing the helpfulness of AI Overviews to six new countries: India, United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil – along with local language support in each country.”
In India, Google is rolling out AI Overviews in English and Hindi and is also introducing popular India-first features that were well-received during its Search Labs experiment: helping you easily switch between English and Hindi results with the language toggle button, and listen to responses with Text-To-Speech by tapping the ‘Listen’ button.
Google reiterates that through testing in various markets, it has found that people prefer using Search with AI Overviews, and they find their search results more helpful. In fact, as part of the testing, Google saw that Indian users listen to AI Overviews responses more often than other countries.
Google is enhancing the connectivity of AI overviews with the Web, where it’s 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. “As we launch in these new countries, ads appearing above or below AI Overviews will continue to provide valuable options for people to take action and connect with businesses,” said Gogole.
The company adds that it is also currently testing the addition of links to relevant web pages directly within the text of AI Overviews (in addition to the prominent links it already shows), making it even easier for people to click out and visit sites that interest them.