Google is rolling out a new search labs experiment feature named Web Guide. Web Guide uses AI to organize the results page, grouping web links into helpful categories with added context and insights, and making it easier to discover new content.
What is Web Guide. Google explained that Web Guide groups web links in helpful ways. It can take pages related to specific aspects of your query and group them in sections.
“Web Guide uses a custom version of Gemini to better understand both a search query and content on the web, creating more powerful search capabilities that better surface web pages you may not have previously discovered,” Google told me.
Web Guide also uses a query fan-out technique, like Google does with AI Mode, concurrently issuing multiple related searches to identify the most relevant results.
What it looks like. Here is a video of how this all works:
The example Google provided was to try it for open-ended searches like “how to solo travel in Japan.” Or try detailed queries in multiple sentences like, “My family is spread across multiple time zones. What are the best tools for staying connected and maintaining close relationships despite the distance?”
Rollout. Web Guide is accessible to opted-in users from the Web tab on Search. Google allows you to switch back to standard Web tab results any time.
Over time, as part of this Labs experiment, Google will also start to show AI-organized 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.
You may be able to turn on this feature in Search Labs over here.
How is it different. In October, Google launched AI organized search results but that was not opt in, not a search labs. This is also not just focused on recipes, meal prep and those topics, but works across all types of content. Also, Web Guide uses a custom version of Gemini to power the categorization. Finally, Google thinks this will help surface more unique and helpful content.
Why we care. These new AI features from Google tend to show a glimpse at where Google is headed. So keep watching for these features and play with them yourself, to see how you and your clients surface in these search results.