Google’s AI overviews are a strategic mistake (opinion)

Google’s AI overviews are intended to provide AI functionality within their search product. Instead, it’s cannibalizing organic search results, taking traffic away from publishers and interrupts the user in their quest for varied results.

There is a solution, but it requires difficult and specific decision-making from Google.

What made Google great

Let’s go back to the late 90s - there’s excitement in the air - a new way to discover information has been invented. 

Just type in phrase into a little box and immediately you can receive relevant results for almost anything, instantly, published from anywhere around the world.

Google was great because people were able to discover the internet. There was magic in discovery.

Results were: 

Accurate.

Available within a few clicks.

Left you in awe of a new website you just found.

What makes Google great is the ability to retrieve relevant information quickly.

AI, like ChatGPT is disrupting all of this because in some cases, the results to specific questions are a bit better and constructed in a logical sequence.

This is especially true when searching for a problem that requires a discussion.

However, there are many types of queries that don’t require an AI response.

AI conversations and results don’t belong in every query

There are many different types of searches within Google.

Not all query types are best served through Google’s current results

I’ve categorised the different types of search queries into 8 different types:

1. Navigational

   A specific website, such as the login page for your Google account or the careers page of a company.

2. Commercial

   Product or price comparisons, brand comparisons, reliability surveys and industry data that supports a commercial decision.

3. Transactional

   Action queries or typing into something Google with the expectation of performing some sort of action (buying, subscribing, getting a quote etc).

4. Local

   When you’re searching for anything that contains the words ‘near me’, opening hours, upcoming events and activities or local businesses.

5. Technical

   Technical help guides, troubleshooting, or code evaluation.

6. Entertainment

   These have been mostly taken up by the likes of TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram reels. However, any search where the user wants to be entertained would be an entertainment type query.

7. Personal

   Specific questions related to personal decisions or a personal medical question.

8. Research

   When you need to do conduct research and investigation on a specific topic.

As you can see, there are many types of queries someone may ask, with a different expectation connected to them. 

If I’m searching for a short fact, I may only want a simple answer. If I’m looking for a local business, I definitely do not want a protracted AI discussion about it. 

However, if I’m doing research or coding I’ll need input from an AI agent in order to actively problem solve.

Google can fix this by separating AI search from regular search.

The solution is simple.

Give the user the choice of the type of search result they want to see

Replace or hide the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ search option with AI search. This would then provide an intelligent AI response instead of the typical search results and now technical, personal & research based queries will be better served.

AI results don’t belong in the regular search results in any event. These are queries which require a back and forth from the user. 

My observation (even if I look at my own search behaviour) is that no one wants to search 5-6 times to get results and browse 10 different websites to get the answer from 1 AI based search query.

Giving users the choice to conduct an AI or a regular search would increase the convenience factor by an exponential factor.

Initial launch of AI overview results was a bit of a miss

Beyond the fumble of the launch of AI overviews … reception of AI results within the normal results have not been great with many users who would prefer to turn off AI overviews.

Again I would argue, the solution is simple. Give users the choice on what type of results they would like to see. To it's roots, that's always been what made Googling something, great.

There’s been no doubt that the growth of the likes of ChatGPT has been phenomenal and it's showing there’s a real need for longer structured discussions and active problem solving.

Google still has the opportunity to provide the user with choice and win back market share in an AI world if they make the hard decisions now. Trying to do that within a single interface just feels ... conflicting.

Google can still keep their traditional search business, advertisers, publishers intact while expanding their presence elsewhere. Part of organising the world’s information is to make it more accessible, and Google is in the prime spot to do so if they begin separating AI based search from regular search.

Of course, I could be completely wrong.

As they say, it's best to debate by testing these ideas, especially when doing large, sweeping updates.