Google Expands AI-Powered Search to India and five other countries

Google has been on a journey to redefine what a search engine can do to better serve the users’ needs for years- whether it’s about helping in Search with voice or images through Google Lens. 

Using generative AI, Google has been reimagining Search and has been thoughtfully approaching the shift, prioritizing approaches that benefit users, while sending valuable traffic to publishers and supporting a healthy, open web. In an official blog post, Google said, “We’ve been learning from AI experimentation in Search Labs and these experiments guide how we roll out AI features in Search more broadly.” 

Google launched AI Overviews in Search in May, starting with the U.S., in order to help people quickly find information and discover all the web has to offer. Already, 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. 

They have recently revealed that they are expanding AI Overviews to six new countries, including India. 

Expanding AI Overviews 

Since its launch in the U.S., people who use AI Overviews use Search more and are more satisfied with their results. Google noted that People looking for help with complex topics are engaging more and keep coming back for AI Overviews. 

After extensive testing and positive feedback, including in the U.S. and Search Labs globally, Google is rolling out AI Overviews’ helpfulness to six new countries: India, the United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil. Each country will also have local language support. 

In India, AI Overview will be rolled out in English and Hindi. Google is also introducing popular India-first features that were well-received during their Search Labs experiment: helping users 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 further said that AI Overviews in Search are rooted in our core quality and safety systems, which we have been refining for decades to deliver reliable, high-quality information. “We’ll be rolling this expansion out gradually over several weeks, focusing on maintaining Search’s high bar for information quality.” Through the testing in these markets, Google found that people prefer using Search with AI Overviews and find their search results more helpful. “In fact, as part of the testing, we’ve seen that Indian users listen to AI Overviews responses more often than other countries,” Google added. 

Connecting with the web 

Since Google is evolving the Search experience with AI Overviews, they focus on helping people access information and perspectives from diverse sources. With AI Overviews, Google identified that people have been visiting more diverse websites for help with more complex questions. When people click from search result pages with AI Overviews, these clicks are of higher quality for websites, meaning users are more likely to spend more time on the sites they visit. Hence, Google’s continued focus on improving and growing Search also allows it to send more qualified traffic to the web. 

Google 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 they already show), making it even easier for users to click out and visit sites that interest them. 

AI Overviews can open up new search methods that were never possible before. Now, more people worldwide can use Search to ask new kinds of questions, find the information they need even faster, and explore the best the web offers.