Google announced last week its plan to transition responses to search queries from the traditional list of websites to answers provided by Gemini AI agents. As a result, users will receive answers directly from the AI, without going through the AI Overviews or sponsored links typically displayed at the top of search results.
Google Announces Plan to Shift Search Results to Gemini AI Agent Responses
This article is a translation. Read the Japanese original
In the current version of Google Search, users must use the "Web" filter within the submenu or manually enter search codes to display pure web-based results. However, many users find the AI answers displayed at the top sufficient, leading to a decrease in further clicking or scrolling.
This shift is having a significant impact on the media industry. As Google's algorithms have shown an increasing tendency to undervalue external links, traffic to publishing sites has plummeted by more than approximately one-quarter overnight. Since sites operate on traffic and writers are employed by those sites, this trend is reported to be an issue concerning the very survival of the industry.
Google is set as the default search engine on nearly all devices. Therefore, it is said that if this plan is executed, it will also affect people who rely on search results for their livelihoods, such as small business owners and students.
Source: Google Hates You (HN 75pt, 43 comments) (HN Search (backfill), 2026-05-29)