Google is integrating SGE into Chrome browser

Search Generative Experience (SGE)

[mhansen]

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System: The following message was cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5090814.htm [webmasterworld.com] by not2easy - 1:27 pm on Aug 15, 2023 (atl -4)

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Google is now going to integrate SGE into the Chrome browser side panel. As a user is browsing your page/site in desktop or mobile, they can click a button and the SGE side panel will display information about the page, as well as content related to the page. Outside of your own content, it also looks like it displays a list of PAA type questions. I'm not sure if it ONLY your page content, or if those will lead offsite.

How long before they integrate ads?

Link to article from Barry Schawrtz [searchengineland.com]

searchengineland.com Google Search Generative Experience adds SGE while browsing Paywalled content will not work with the new SGE while browsing feature. Google SGE also added definitions and color coding syntax.

[aristotle]

they can click a button and the SGE side panel will display information about the page

I couldn't see a button in those images shown in the linked article. I did see some things jumping on and off the page, but don't know what triggered them.

At any rate, this looks like it could be a major distraction to someone trying to read an article. I've never used chrome much, and this could be a reason to use it even less.

[mhansen]

@Aristotle - Did you update to the latest version of Chrome and enable it labs.google.com ?

[aristotle]

@mhansen - Well I was using Firefox at the time, as I am now.

I believe that my chrome updates automatically. Anyway, if this needs to be enabled manually, then I prefer not to do it.

[BigKat]

How long before they integrate ads?

I would think sooner rather than later since Google's ad revenue growth is rather weak. It should prove interesting though, especially if ads start encroaching on revenue from sites monetized with Adsense. It will also be interesting to see what happens inside our company if/when higher ups see Google using Chrome to run Amazon China ads for users viewing our products. I can see the meetings now to discuss blocking Chrome, orders with Gmail addresses, etc. LOL

[mhansen]

if this needs to be enabled manually, then I prefer not to do it.

It is a manual update for Chrome (downloads installer package and you must click to install), and you need to activate the "SGE While Browsing" feature within Google Labs.

[mhansen]

@BigKat - Currently, the ONLY way to block this is by having your website behind a paywall according to Google.

[engine]

If anyone wants the Google document on this topic, here you go.

[blog.google...]

blog.google Learn as you search (and browse) using generative AI New updates to Search Generative Experience (SGE) help people easily learn new things and understand key concepts while searching online.

[aristotle]

It is a manual update for Chrome (downloads installer package and you must click to install), and you need to activate the "SGE While Browsing" feature within Google Labs.

If it's really necessary to do all of this, then I doubt that many ordinary chrome users will do it. [Or maybe I just don't understand what google intends to do with this.]

[mhansen]

If it's really necessary to do all of this, then I doubt that many ordinary chrome users will do it.

Just like SGE, it's only available via Google Labs right now. (via labs.google.com, in a logged in chrome browser) Once it's active in the browser, all you have to do is tap the "side panel" icon at the top of the browser and it runs on the website you're browsing.

I imagine that once it's out of the testing phase and they integrate ads and other Google owned properties into the panel, it will be more readily available.

[ember]

So if ads end up being in a side panel next to a website someone is browsing, who gets the ad revenue? Will it be split with the website the person is viewing or will it all go to Google? I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

[aristotle]

So eventually google may automatically implement this in everyone's chrome browser. In my opinion this would be bad news for a lot of webmasters because, as I mentioned before, it could be a distraction to their visitors.

Also, somehow this whole thing reminds me of hacking, since google would be altering what people see on your website's pages. And there would be no good way for a webmaster to prevent this if there is no acceptable opt-out. Something like this should be opt-in, not opt-out.

[superclown2]

Everything I used Chrome for is now gone. To search for an image, get an exact match, sort by date, find a cached copy of a webpage, I now have to use Firefox so the only time I use Chrome is for the Lighthouse plugin. I then, also, avoid the useless, huge PAA.

Why on Earth they are messing with it so much is a mystery to me. Whoever is in charge seems to want to destroy it.

[RubicCubed]

My thinking is this is not bundled (yet) to avoid being sued by the DOJ or used in evidence in the current case. But it may be bundled one day, especially when the current DOJ lawsuit is resolved. Reminds me of TV channels using the watermark area of the screen to run what are essentially ads of other shows on their network. But I see the potential for major abuse and used by Google to pull users back into Google's walled garden so they can divulge more search/viewing history and be blasted with more ads.

From the view of a webmaster and business, I see nothing good coming from Google at all.

[OptWhisper]

It will turbocharge the search and "SGE while browsing" is the most exciting feature since its inception. But the problem is that users outside of the US cannot get their hands on this innovative experience. I hope, we enjoy it soon and see how it works.

As far as the integration of ads goes, I believe, Google always tries to choose a cautious approach when it comes to integrating ads in new features. It may prioritize user experience and ads may be seen introduced much later.

[mhansen]

I believe, Google always tries to choose a cautious approach when it comes to integrating ads in new features.

Once you get to use SGE, you'll see they have done very well at integrating ads into any SGE generated panel that includes a product, type of product, etc. They literally take up the entire screen with thumbnails of products, and when you click on one, it goes directly into the Google Product Ads carousel.

They integrated reference links into many of the general information SGE results last week, but those links have disappeared again this week.

[christianz]

Still no way to signal opt-out from SGE and data usage for model training? I don't want those "references" style backlinks that nobody will ever click.

[OldFaces]

I think this CEO has been horrible for Google from a product perspective. Every single thing Google has focussed on for the past handful of years has been profit focussed. Someone said it somewhere...when Google purchased Doubleclick they should have changed the name to Doubleclick and not Google. Google became an ad company many years ago, but over the last x years they have only focussed on profit.

Search has become laughable, they blame webmasters for polluting the internet but they themselves are the ones dictating the rules that makes so many silly articles where you have to read hundreds of words before getting a simple answer. They are cutting back on indexing content because it's too costly to crawl, store, and sort results. They are pushing their suggested queries to save on processing, and no matter how you revise your search query you'll get the same list of results. "Top x blah' results from the same domains...

Their core products like Chrome and GA4 are becoming just another advertising vehicles. How many updates has GA4 had about advertisements yet still doesn't perform the basics that Universal did? To get GA4 to match Universal you NEED to user BigQuery and Looker which comes with a cost for their cloud services.

They charge for email and workspace products which were supposed to be grandfathered in for free forever.

They have arbitrary lifted prices per click for AdWords where you could get long tail searches for pennies that now cost dollars.

But hey...they are making money for stockholders. As a sizable stockholder I appreciate this...but I am selling once my greed has been appeased. You can only squeeze so much before it dies.

I don't get it. If my company was synonymous with the internet I wouldn't gamble that reputation to generate a few extra zeros. I'd ride that horse for as long as it lasted.

[mhansen]

Still no way to signal opt-out from SGE and data usage for model training?

An article from The Washington Post [washingtonpost.com] yesterday, sheds light on everything tech companies are using to train their AI and we should not be surprised that it boils down to "anything publicly available" being used. Google goes even further by mining gmail and any other private data, and using it to train internal AI products like the "Help Me Write" (AI text composing assistant) and "Smart Compose", which it uses in gmail and other products to help complete sentences. They do say they don't use personal identifying information, but that should not matter.

Everything should be opt-in by default, with clear guardrails on how WE say it can be used, not the other way around.

www.washingtonpost.com Analysis Your Gmail and Instagram are training AI. There's little you can do about it. Our tech columnist found Google, Meta and Microsoft are taking your conversations, photos or documents to teach their AI how to write, paint and pretend to be human.