Google has added a new AI search tool called Web Guide. A Google Search Labs experiment, Web Guide will “intelligently organize” results pages according to specific aspects of the user’s query. Web Guide implements a custom version of Gemini AI “to better understand both a search query and content on the web” for what Google calls a “more powerful” search that enhances discovery of more on-point but obscure pages. Like AI Mode, a Google Labs experiment launched in March, Web Guide uses a query fan-out technique, “issuing multiple related searches to identify the most relevant results.”

“Google suggests trying Web Guide with longer or open-ended queries, like ‘how to solo travel in Japan,’” Ars Technica writes, embedding a video how-to using that example.

Along with links, the results page also includes “AI-generated headings with summaries and suggestions,” per Ars Technica, which describes the look as “halfway between standard search and AI Mode” (omitting the AI Overview summary at the top).

Because Web Guide runs multiple searches in parallel, it “takes a beat longer to produce results compared to a standard search,” Ars Technica points out.

In order to activate Web Guide, users must first opt in to Search Labs. That done, they can toggle on Web Guide, “currently available within the same ‘Web’ tab on Google Search that currently shows search results without including AI Overviews,” The Verge explains.

“Over time, as part of this Labs experiment, we’ll 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,” Google explains in a blog post.

“Search is changing at a breakneck pace, with Google rolling out new AI features so quickly it can be hard to keep up,” reports Ars Technica. “Many Google searches today come with an AI Overview right at the top of the page,” while AI Mode “does away with the typical list of links in favor of a full chatbot approach.”

While thus far traditionalists have found it “easy to scroll right past the AI and get to the regular list of websites,” Ars speculates “that may change in the not too distant future” — a contention backed up by Alphabet’s emphasis on AI search on its Q2 earnings call.

In addition to AI Mode, other Search Labs experiments include Notebook LM and the Flow filmmaking tool.

Related:
Google Expands AI Search Sorting as AI Previews Eat into Referral Traffic, Social Media Today, 7/24/25