Google has been looking for ways to leverage its AI advancements in Search, with some of these features being received more positively than others. AI Overviews have been a mixed bag, but they’re generally helpful, and the new AI Mode has its use-cases. Now, the company is kicking off an experiment that completely revamps the search results page using AI — for better or worse.
Google announced a new Web Guide experiment in Search Labs, which can be opted into right now if you’re up to it. Once opted in, you’re not immediately forced into the new view — instead, you have to switch to the Web tab after searching in order to see the AI-organized results.
Like a cross between AI Mode and traditional Google Search
The results in Web Guide mode aren’t just a list of links — instead, they’re organized into topics related to your search, helping you drill down and learn more about your query. Google says the new mode uses a custom version of Gemini that applies a “query fan-out” technique to your results that is similar to AI Mode.
The ultimate goal here is to give you results for multiple related searches all on one page, helping to answer your deeper questions in one shot. One example Google provided was an open-ended “how to solo travel in Japan” search where results spanned multiple topics. The company also suggested trying multiple-sentence queries like “My family is spread across multiple time zones. What are the best tools for staying connected and maintaining close relationships despite the distance?”
The new experiment is already live, so you can try it out today if you’re okay with living on the bleeding edge. On Android, this can be done by tapping the labs icon in the top-left corner of the Google app, then scrolling down to the Web Guide option and tapping Turn on.
To start, these AI-optimized results pages will only be shown when you switch to the Web tab, but Google says that over time, it will begin showing the same style of results in other areas of Search, including on the ubiquitous All tab.
