Today, as part of the Google I/O 2024 developers conference, the company made a major change in how it shows results in its search engine. It is adding what it calls AI Overviews which offers a summary of information about a search inquiry, based on gathering information from a number of internet sources, with links to those sources. AI Overviews are rolling out for US Google Search users and will expand to more countries in the future.
However, Google likely knows this new AI Overviews feature may not be popular with some Search users who would prefer to see the old-fashioned direct links to other sites for results. Today, the company quietly revealed it is adding a new filter to Google search results called "Web" that should provide those direct internet links.
In a post on the Google Search Liaison X (formerly Twitter) account, the company stated the new "Web" filter is like other filters you see for search results for "Images", "Video", "News" and others. The "Web" filter will be found at the top of the search results page or if you click on the “More” option.
We’ve launched a new “Web” filter that shows only text-based links, just like you might filter to show other types of results, such as images or videos. The filter appears on the top of the results page alongside other filters or as part of the “More” option, rolling out today… pic.twitter.com/tIUy9LNCy5
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 14, 2024
In a follow-up post, Google stated:
We’ve added this after hearing from some that there are times when they’d prefer to just see links to web pages in their search results, such as if they’re looking for longer-form text documents, using a device with limited internet access, or those who just prefer text-based results shown separately from search features. If you’re in that group, enjoy!
The "Web" filter in Google Search results is rolling out now and should be available worldwide by Wednesday.
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