Google is Revolutionising Search with Generative AI (SGE)

22 August 2023

Revolutionising Google Search with Generative AI: What Small Business Owners Need to Know

Introduction to AI in Google Search

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been an integral part of Google Search for decades. It has enabled significant advancements, including the spelling correction system introduced in 2001, enhancing search accuracy and efficiency.

The Advent of BERT

In 2019, the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) was implemented in Google Search ranking. BERT's contextual understanding of words has enabled users to ask more conversational queries and receive more relevant results.

The Multitask Unified Model (MUM)

MUM is a sophisticated model that is 1,000 times more powerful than BERT. It operates across 75 languages and has been deployed in numerous features to enhance search quality. For instance, it has been used to find related topics in videos, even when not explicitly mentioned.

Introducing SGE (Search Generative Experience)

Generative AI is set to transform Google Search further. The new programme - Search Labs - has introduced a beta trial called SGE, which allows users to:

Ask entirely new types of questions.
Quickly understand a topic with links to relevant results.
Engage in conversational mode for follow-up questions.
Generate creative ideas and drafts directly within Search.

Re-imagining Search

Building search engines has led Google to find innovative ways to search. With breakthroughs in generative AI, new types of search queries can be answered, changing how information is organised and accessed.

First Steps into a New Era of Search

Note: As of now, SGE is available in English in the USA and with a personal (not business) Google account - but stay tuned as it may soon reach the UK (or just use a reliable VPN).