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Google Search will continue to evolve towards Search Genative Experience. So says Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet/Google, who recently spoke about AI, search and more at the Business, Government & Society Forum 2024 at Stanford University.
The future of information and answers. AI has been transforming Google Search for years. Google is no longer “10 blue links,” Pichai said, adding:
- “When mobile came along, we knew Google Search had to evolve a lot. We call it featured snippets, but for almost 10 years you have been going to Google for many questions and we have used AI to answer them. Internally we call this web answers. … We always answered questions where we could. But we always felt it when people came looking for information. People want answers in certain cases, but they also want the richness and diversity of what is in the world and there has to be a good balance, and I think we have always found that balance quite well.
- “The only thing that’s different for me is that the technology that allows you to respond is developing. We will continue to do that. But this evolution has been going on in the search for a long time.
- “We’ve all been doing this in Google Search for a long time and people like it, people engage with it, people trust it. I see it as a natural progression. With LLMs and AI, I think you have a more powerful tool to do that, and that’s what we’re deploying in Search with Search Generative Experience, and so we’ll continue to evolve it in that direction as well.”
Answering versus searching. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google has traditionally done its best to represent the content of the Internet and provide reliable, high-quality information.
Pichai said the search reviewer guidelines are one way Google represents the point of view of its user base. And we know about it Pandu Nayak’s testimony in the antitrust trial That Information satisfaction (IS) scores. of raters are an important measure for assessing search quality.
But with the advent of Google SGE and AI-generated answers, many brands, SEOs and content creators are concerned that searchers would no longer click on websites – because they were getting the answer directly from SGE. Since introducing different types of web answers, Google has tried to find a balance, Pichai said.
- “There are certain times when you give an answer – “what is the population density of the United States” – yes, it is a question that can be answered. There are times when you want to represent the breadth of opinion on the Internet, and that’s what search does and does well. Just because you say we summarize at the top doesn’t mean we deviate from those principles. The summary can still point out the diversity of opinions out there,” Pichai said
AI improves search. Pichai has long said that AI goes deeper than fire or electricity. What makes Pichai so excited about AI is how it can help improve search results.
- “I feel the weight that people come looking for at very vulnerable moments. … Trust is hard-earned and easy to lose. We have to earn it again and again…
- “It’s hard to get this right consistently across the spectrum of what humanity is looking for, and that’s what excites me about seeking out and providing information and knowledge and what I see as the opportunity. AI is an exciting technology that allows us to do better than before. But it is a technology that we must use carefully and in a responsible manner.”
Why we care. AI has revolutionized Google Search and SEO over the past year – and we expect more big changes in the coming months. It’s always good to understand where Google Search is going, not where it is or was. It also can’t go unsaid that Pichai’s interview rings a bit hollow, especially in light of the many valid criticisms about the quality of search results and SGE responses we’re seeing at the moment.
Dig deeper.
The interview. You can view it here.
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