After the success of its Discover service, Google began testing a new and more controversial feature, which is the use of artificial intelligence to re-formate titles and websites in traditional search results, which experts described as ‘extraction to control’ from the hands of publishers and content creators.
From ‘Experience’ to ‘Feature’: a recurring pattern
The story began last year when Google described its test of AI addresses in the ‘Discover’ service as a ‘small test’, but in just one month, this test turned into a ‘permanent feature’ after the company recorded ‘high levels of user satisfaction’.
And Google confirmed to The Verge that it is conducting a similar test in the main search engine, calling it ‘narrow and limited’, which raises publishers’ fears that this change will become an imposed reality soon.
What actually changes?
Tech editors monitored glaring examples of this manipulation. In one case, Google changed the title of an article about an artificial intelligence tool to help cheat, to become the address that appears to the user: ‘AI tool to cheat in everything’, a wording that the original writer has never used.
Essential Difference: Previously, Google was reworking headlines based on text already found within the page (such as sub-headings). Now, generative artificial intelligence is creating all-new texts and titles that are not mentioned in the original article, without any reference to the user that the title has been modified.
A crisis of confidence for publishers and content creators
This trend sparked a wave of anger among talent managers and SEO experts. ‘The title is the most important component of attracting readers and highlighting the brand’s identity,’ says Luisa Fram, SEO’s SEO manager.
For his part, Shawn Hollister, editor at The Verge, likened this behavior to ‘a library tearing up and displaying titles invented by the author of the library.’
Why does Google do it?
Google justifies its position that the goal is to ‘match addresses better with user queries and facilitate interaction with content.’ The company claims that the final version of this feature may not necessarily depend on generative artificial intelligence, but it did not clarify the alternative.
Advice for authors and publishers
Since Google does not currently provide any tool to reject these modifications (opt-out), experts advise the need to manually monitor how their article titles will appear in the search results, to ensure that their original message is not distorted or misleading readers.
