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Ian, our Digital Account Director, looks at the launch of Google Search Live…

The next wave of AI-powered search has just gone live in the US with the launch of Google Search Live. Built into the Google app it allows users to talk directly with Google Search, with the added option of using their live camera feed allowing it to see and interpret what they’re looking at. Users can get real-time help with troubleshooting, trying a new skill or simply identifying something quickly and easily without having to stop and type in their query.

Whilst this has obvious benefits from a user perspective, it is another way in which traditional search listings are more likely to be ignored and click volume eroded further. Although links to the source of the answers will be cited, if someone is listening to the answer I would suggest the chance of them then checking the source of the answer and clicking on it is somewhere between low to non-existent. Unless you have an inbuilt cynicism about the source of information surfaced by AI and want to interrogate the answer, but that’s another conversation entirely. Don’t get me started on that one…

Credit: Ian Young, Digital Account Director