Google just launched an embeddable "Preferred Sources" button that websites can host to let readers bookmark them as favorites. Sites favorited by users will get boosted visibility across Google Search, Discover, and AI Overviews. Google claims users are twice as likely to click a preferred source, and over 345,000 unique sources have already been picked.
Google just brought text-to-image generation directly into Search AI Overviews to mark Google Images' 25th anniversary. Powered by its latest Nano Banana model, the tool turns text prompts into custom visuals alongside a newly redesigned personalized browse gallery. Both features roll out in English over the coming weeks.
Google just updated AI Mode and AI Overviews to surface firsthand quotes from Reddit, web forums, and social media directly inside AI search summaries. The responses display author handles and community badges under labels like "Expert Advice," saving users from appending "Reddit" to queries just to dodge generic SEO clutter.
Google just rolled out a desktop update for AI Overviews and AI Mode that displays clustered source links in a pop-up when you hover over text. It also introduced more descriptive and prominent link icons across desktop and mobile, aiming to get people to source content faster without cluttering search results.
Google just rolled out the ability to ask follow-up questions directly from AI Overviews, jumping straight into an AI Mode conversation while preserving context. The tech giant also made Gemini 3 the global default model powering these search summaries. Why it matters: Google Search is quickly shedding its static results heritage for a seamless, interactive chat flow.
Penske Media, the publisher behind Rolling Stone and Variety, just sued Google for antitrust abuse over AI Overviews. The lawsuit claims Google forces publishers to feed its AI summaries, directly cannibalizing referral traffic and ad revenue with no opt-out short of leaving search entirely. Google fired back, calling the claims meritless.
ChatGPT referrals to news publishers have surged past 25 million in 2025—up over 25x from under 1 million a year earlier, according to Similarweb. But with organic search traffic plunging from over 2.3 billion visits to under 1.7 billion as Google's AI answers take over, the bump is hardly enough to offset publisher losses.
Google's AI Overviews and new chat-driven search tools are devastating referral traffic for digital publishers, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Users now get quick answers directly from chatbots instead of clicking blue links, sending The New York Times' organic search traffic share down to 36.5% in April. To survive, media outlets are rushing into licensing and revenue-sharing deals with AI giants.
Google just added an AI-powered Maps feature that uses Gemini to recognize locations in your in-app screenshots and save them into a shareable list. The update also introduces global hotel price drop alerts and lets travelers generate custom itineraries directly through Search's AI Overviews.
Google just integrated Gemini 2.0 into AI Overviews in the U.S. to tackle coding and advanced math, while dropping the login requirement and expanding access to teens. The search giant also launched 'AI Mode' in Labs, a deep-reasoning search experience that runs concurrent multi-topic queries and supports conversational follow-ups. Early access is currently rolling out to Google One AI Premium subscribers.
Google just announced its biggest AI Overviews rollout yet, expanding search summaries to more than 100 countries and territories. The move pushes the feature past 1 billion monthly users worldwide, alongside broader multi-language support for English, Japanese, Spanish, and more.
Google just announced it is adding sponsored ads directly inside its AI Overviews search summaries on mobile in the U.S., alongside links to relevant web pages. The company is also rolling out AI-organized search pages powered by custom Gemini models. It shows Google is racing to monetize generative answers before users switch to ChatGPT or Perplexity.
Google just rolled out three helpful updates to AI Overviews to smooth out its rocky search experience. Users can now save specific generated answers to revisit later, tap a "Simpler" button to get concise explanations, and view right-hand website links on desktop. The feature is also expanding to six new countries, including the UK, Japan, and India.
Microsoft just started testing a radical Bing redesign that puts AI-generated answers front and center while banishing traditional blue links to a skinny right sidebar. The new layout turns search into multi-section deep dives with charts and videos. Microsoft claims it maintains publisher clicks, but it's currently limited to a handful of queries.
Google just detailed more than a dozen technical fixes to AI Overviews following viral blunders like suggesting users eat rocks or put glue on pizza. The company blamed data voids, satirical sites, and sarcastic forum posts for the hallucinations, and is now restricting user-generated content and humor from triggering AI answers.
Google's new search feature AI Overviews is going viral for the wrong reasons. The tool instructed a user to add non-toxic glue to pizza sauce to keep cheese sticking, seemingly falling for an 11-year-old Reddit joke. It also mixed up the Tower of London with Big Ben. Google claims these hallucinations are extremely rare queries, but it highlights how messy search summaries can get.
