Google launches AI search in over 100 countries
Google announced, in a post on its official blog , the expansion of its AI Overviews feature within its search engine to more than 100 countries and regions. With this expansion in regions, the company estimates reaching more than one billion monthly users, who will be able to access AI Overviews in several languages, including Arabic, English, Spanish, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, and Portuguese.
Remember, this feature, which initially launched in May in the US and expanded to other countries in August, provides an automated summary that appears at the top of the results page, providing a quick view of the information you’re looking for. It pulls traditional search results with titles, links, and snippets down the page.
AI Overviews uses Gemini AI to generate these previews in searches and is able to process what users are searching for in different contexts. According to Google, the tool has been received positively and provides quick answers on a variety of topics, from meal planning to vacation planning. Additionally, they have incorporated changes to improve the user experience, such as links directly in the generated text that will increase traffic to the source websites.
Since October, users have also been able to access direct links within AI Overviews text, resulting in increased engagement and traffic to third-party sites. This has been particularly convenient for publishers and content creators looking to increase their sites’ visibility in Google search results.
However, let’s remember that the implementation of this tool was not without controversy. After some initial cases of incorrect answers, Google implemented updated safety mechanisms and quality filters to prevent inaccurate recommendations. For example, one such incident involved an incorrect suggestion about using glue on pizza .