Web Guide: Google's new AI organised search results

Google Search has evolved a lot in the last 12-months and there's no sign that the changes will stop anytime soon. In a bid to optimise their search experience as much as possible, Google is continually testing new features. The latest? Google's new AI organised search results feature which they've named Web Guide.

Web Guide is a new Search Labs experiment that Google is trialling in the United States. It uses AI to organise the search results for a query in an intelligent way that should aid the searcher in finding the most relevant content and websites.

Web Guide utilises a custom version of its LLM, Gemini, trained to have a better understanding of search queries and web content. It uses the same query fan out technique as AI Overviews to break down a single query into a range of potential questions that may satisfy the user's query. These factors allow Web Guide to provide results that are grouped in a more helpful way for the searcher. We can see how Web Guide does this below when providing results for the search query 'how can I train my puppy to pee outside'. Web Guide breaks the query down, grouping sites under a series of headings such as guides, potty training schedules and trackers, and video tutorials, giving the user a holistic answer.

This is in contrast to the regular search results which begin with an AI Overview before displaying regular weblinks, ungrouped, in their ranked position for the search term.

To use Google's Web Guide feature, you must be in the US and have Search Labs turned on in your account. Then, once in Search Labs, Web Guide should appear at the top under new experiments. Simply click on the Search in Web Guide button to begin using the feature.

It's too soon yet to fully say what this means for Search Engine Optimisation and how the world will experience the final version of the Search Engine Results Page using this feature. Google suggested this is more than an experiment by stating they will "start to show AI-organised results in other parts of Search, including the 'All' results tab, as we learn where they can be most useful in helping people discover the web". That aside, the new feature certainly places more emphasis on quality content and how pages are structured according to Google's guidelines on helpful content. As we noted in our previous article on How To Rank in AI Overviews, guides are being utilised often by Google in AI Overviews, as are videos, which we also see occurring within the new Web Guide feature.

To learn more about structuring your content for success in the new era of search - take a look at our previous article, full of tips on how to improve your content’s chance of appearing in AIOs.