News archive

10th Aug AI Overviews Google points the judge at an App Store ruling, two weeks before the AI Overviews hearing 4th Aug AI Overviews How Google counts an AI Overviews impression: only once the link is in view 4th Aug AI Mode How Google counts an AI Mode impression: every follow-up is a new query

30th Jul AI Overviews Top Stories sits inside the AI Overview on one in six news searches 29th Jul AI Overviews The two US AI Overviews antitrust suits get a joint hearing date 29th Jul AI Mode Productrise: AI Mode shows 95% fewer product listings than standard search 27th Jul AI Overviews Similarweb puts AI Overviews on 43% of US searches, nearly triple last year 24th Jul AI Overviews Google signs the EU's AI-content transparency code, days before the labelling rules bite 23rd Jul AI Overviews The EU's first DMA fine on Google names AI Overviews and AI Mode 22nd Jul AI Overviews AI Overviews and AI Mode launch in France 22nd Jul AI Mode AI Mode goes live in France 21st Jul AI Overviews Major publishers say blocking Google is now on the table 21st Jul AI Mode Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite starts rolling out in Google Search 17th Jul AI Overviews Top Stories carousel goes live inside AI Overviews 17th Jul AI Overviews Google says AI features send "billions of clicks" to sites every week 16th Jul AI Overviews The EU orders Google to share Search data with rivals, AI chatbots included 16th Jul AI Mode AI Mode connects to Instacart, Canva and YouTube Music 15th Jul AI Overviews Ozone: publisher ad supply fell up to 40% in Q2 as AI search shrank the open web 15th Jul AI Mode Personal Intelligence connects Google Calendar to AI Mode 14th Jul AI Overviews German media regulators put AI Overviews under national media law 14th Jul AI Overviews Common Sense Media rates Google AI search "Unacceptable" for children 14th Jul AI Overviews Image generation comes to AI Overviews 14th Jul AI Mode Common Sense Media rates AI Mode "Unacceptable" for children 1st Jul AI Overviews First randomized experiment puts the click loss at 39.8%, and finds the lost clicks were not lower quality

30th Jun AI Mode Recipe links move to the top of AI Mode responses 29th Jun AI Mode Google commits to bringing AI Mode to France by September 23 26th Jun Google Updates June 2026 spam update finishes rolling out in about 2 days 12th Jun AI Mode Information agents roll out to AI Ultra subscribers 9th Jun AI Overviews SparkToro: 68% of US Google searches now end without a click 8th Jun AI Mode Google: AI Mode will not become the default for Chrome search 3rd Jun AI Overviews UK regulator orders an AI Overviews opt-out for publishers 3rd Jun AI Mode Search Console adds Generative AI reports and an AI opt-out control 2nd Jun Google Updates May 2026 core update completes after a volatile 12-day rollout

28th May AI Overviews Munich court: AI Overviews are Google's own words, and Google answers for them 27th May AI Overviews Preferred sources come to AI Overviews and AI Mode 27th May AI Overviews Merchant Center gets an AI performance report covering AI Overviews 27th May AI Mode Merchant Center gets an AI performance report covering AI Mode 20th May AI Overviews I/O 2026: AI Overviews and AI Mode merge into one experience 19th May AI Mode I/O 2026: AI Mode passes 1 billion monthly users and merges with AI Overviews 6th May AI Overviews Google announces five link improvements for AI Overviews and AI Mode 5th May AI Overviews A musician sues Google for C$1.5m after an AI Overview called him a sex offender 1st May AI Overviews SISTRIX: AI Overviews reuse the same sources for months 1st May AI Mode SISTRIX: AI Mode replaces 56% of its cited sources every week

30th Apr AI Overviews Preferred sources open up to every language Google Search supports 24th Apr AI Overviews Seer: first partial CTR recovery on AI Overview queries 16th Apr AI Mode Clicking a link in AI Mode on Chrome now opens the page beside the answer 14th Apr AI Mode The Google app for desktop leaves Labs with AI Mode built in 10th Apr AI Mode Agentic restaurant booking expands to eight more countries, subscription-free 8th Apr Google Updates March 2026 core update completes; Mueller explains staged rollouts

26th Mar AI Mode Search Live goes global across all AI Mode countries and languages 25th Mar Google Updates March 2026 spam update completes in a record 19.5 hours 20th Mar AI Overviews A US court dismisses a publisher antitrust case, and rules AI Overviews is not a separate product 19th Mar AI Overviews Google tells the CMA it is exploring an AI Overviews opt-out, without saying when 17th Mar AI Overviews Chartbeat: search referrals to small publishers are down 60% in two years 4th Mar AI Mode Canvas graduates from Labs to everyone in the US 1st Mar AI Overviews BrightEdge: AI Overviews now appear on about 48% of tracked queries

27th Feb Google Updates First-ever Discover core update completes (US English only) 25th Feb AI Overviews SISTRIX: AI Overviews cost the German market 265 million clicks a month 18th Feb AI Mode AI Mode adds 53 languages, its largest single expansion 16th Feb AI Overviews Google calls an AI Overviews opt-out a "huge engineering project", and licenses the FT 10th Feb AI Overviews European Publishers Council files antitrust complaint over AI Overviews 4th Feb AI Overviews Ahrefs: AI Overviews now cut top-result CTR by 58% 4th Feb AI Mode Alphabet Q4: AI Mode queries per user have doubled since launch

27th Jan AI Overviews Gemini 3 becomes the default AI Overviews model worldwide 27th Jan AI Mode AI Overviews now hand off into AI Mode conversations 22nd Jan AI Mode Personal Intelligence connects Gmail and Photos to AI Mode 12th Jan AI Overviews Google restricts health queries in AI Overviews after Guardian probe

29th Dec Google Updates December 2025 core update wraps up the year 19th Dec AI Overviews AI Overview ads quietly expand to 11 more countries 17th Dec AI Mode Gemini 3 Flash becomes the default AI Mode model worldwide 15th Dec AI Overviews Semrush: AIO prevalence peaked at 24.61% in July, settled near 16% 15th Dec AI Overviews Ahrefs: AI Overviews and AI Mode agree on the answer and disagree on the sources 15th Dec AI Mode Ahrefs: AI Mode cites more, and it barely cites what AI Overviews cites 9th Dec AI Overviews European Commission opens Article 102 investigation into Google's AI search features 4th Dec AI Overviews Publishers take their AI Overviews evidence to the US Department of Justice 1st Dec AI Mode Gemini 3 Pro in AI Mode expands to nearly 120 countries

18th Nov AI Overviews Gemini 3 launches and comes to Search on day one 18th Nov AI Mode Gemini 3 comes to AI Mode on launch day, a first for Search 5th Nov AI Mode AI Mode gets an official button on Chrome's mobile new-tab page

29th Oct AI Mode Alphabet Q3: AI Mode passes 75 million daily active users 10th Oct AI Overviews UK CMA gives Google strategic market status, AI Overviews included 8th Oct AI Mode AI Mode tops 200 countries and territories in its biggest expansion

30th Sep AI Mode Search and Shopping ads start rolling out in US AI Mode 24th Sep AI Mode Search Live reaches general availability in the US 18th Sep AI Mode AI Mode comes to the Chrome desktop omnibox 12th Sep AI Overviews Penske Media sues Google over AI Overviews 8th Sep AI Mode AI Mode gets its first non-English languages

21st Aug AI Mode AI Mode expands to 180+ new countries and territories in English 6th Aug AI Overviews Liz Reid says total organic clicks from Search are relatively stable

30th Jul AI Overviews Authoritas: UK news publishers lose 47.5% of desktop clicks to AI Overviews 28th Jul AI Mode AI Mode launches in the United Kingdom 23rd Jul AI Overviews AI Overviews pass 2 billion monthly users 22nd Jul AI Overviews Pew: users click a result on 8% of visits with an AI summary vs 15% without 16th Jul AI Mode Gemini 2.5 Pro and Deep Search arrive for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers 8th Jul AI Mode AI Mode becomes generally available in India

30th Jun AI Overviews Independent Publishers Alliance files the first EU complaint over AI Overviews 16th Jun AI Mode AI Mode traffic starts counting in Search Console, with no separate filter

20th May AI Overviews I/O 2025: AI Overviews pass 1.5 billion monthly users in 200+ countries 20th May AI Mode I/O 2025: AI Mode rolls out to everyone in the US

21st Apr AI Overviews Amsive: AI Overviews cut average CTR by 15.49%, branded queries gain 18.68% 17th Apr AI Overviews Ahrefs: an AI Overview means a 34.5% lower CTR for the top result

5th Mar AI Overviews AI Overviews upgraded to Gemini 2.0 and opened to teens and signed-out users 5th Mar AI Mode AI Mode debuts as a Search Labs experiment

24th Feb AI Overviews Chegg becomes the first company to sue Google over AI Overviews traffic loss

28th Oct AI Overviews AI Overviews expand to more than 100 countries and 1 billion monthly users 3rd Oct AI Overviews Ads go live inside AI Overviews on US mobile

15th Aug AI Overviews AI Overviews go international: UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil

30th May AI Overviews "About last week": Google responds to AI Overviews' viral quality failures 14th May AI Overviews AI Overviews launch in the US at I/O 2024

10th May AI Overviews Google unveils the Search Generative Experience at I/O 2023