Google Upgrades AI Mode, AI Overviews With Expert Advice and Link Previews

Highlights

• Google Search is also labelling URLs from users’ subscribed publishers
• Expert advice will be curated from online discussions and social media
• Users will also see more links directly within AI responses

Google has been frequently updating its artificial intelligence (AI) tools in Search, namely AI Overviews and AI Mode. After releasing agentic capabilities and new features in the Google app for Windows and Chrome browser, the Mountain View-based tech giant has now introduced five more features focused on usability and ease of access. Users can now check expert advice, easily view their preferred sources, get link previews, and see personalised deep dive suggestions. These new features are now rolling out to users globally.

AI Overviews, AI Mode in Search Get New Features

In a blog post, the tech giant announced and detailed five new features coming to users in the coming days. Most of the features focus on quality-of-life improvements, but the company also increases usability. “These experiences are most helpful when they make it easy for you to connect with authentic voices and explore useful information across the web,” said Hema Budaraju, Vice President, Product Management, Search at Google.

The first new feature allows users to dive deeper into their query via a set of curated suggestions. Now, whenever Gemini answers a question, it will also surface links to unique articles or in-depth analyses to help users learn more about the topic. Google says this turns topic exploration into focused knowledge gathering.

Google is also making it easier to spot your preferred sources in citations. Whenever an AI Mode or AI Overview response contains information from the user's news subscriptions, users will see a specific tick mark and a label to recognise it quickly. This also makes it easier for users to access content from a trusted source.

Expert advice is perhaps the most exciting update coming from Google. So far, AI Overviews and AI Mode would only provide factual information, sourced from different websites. But now, the company is adding opinions and reviews from people who have used a product, visited a location, or have expertise in a specific domain. These are being sourced from public online discussions, social media, and other firsthand sources. The tech giant says this will also contain a creator's name, handle, or community name to help the user decide if they want to read it.

Another new addition is the visibility of more citations across the response. Users can now see the URL icon (link chain) next to bullet points and after shorter paragraphs. The company says the addition of more citations not only makes the response more credible but also lets users switch to the website whenever they wish to.

Finally, Google is also implementing website previews when users hover their cursor on an inline link on either of the AI experiences in Search. This is currently only available on desktop, and lets users see the name of the website and the title of the web page to give the user a better idea of what they are going to click on. The feature also aims to make people feel more confident when they view a helpful website.