Google brings updates and ads to AI Overviews and Google Lens
Google is expanding Lens with new features including video analysis, voice commands, and enhanced shopping capabilities, while also introducing ad integrations to the latter. In parallel, the company is cautiously testing offering shopping ads within relevant AI Overviews.
Google recently announced some new features coming to its Lens and AI Overviews products. On the customer side, Lens is getting video understanding and the option to ask a question using your voice alongside taking a picture for Lens to analyze. To have Lens analyze a video, users must hold the shutter button to record while saying their question out loud. Lens will then analyze the contents of the video along with the voice input to deliver a relevant AI Overview. When the content captured by holding the shutter button while also asking a question out loud is "static" (a storefront, a sign, a plant) Lens will perform the same function while interpreting the input as an image.
These Google Lens features build on another major update announced earlier this year, where users can point their camera, ask a question, and have Lens answer their query with an AI Overview. According to Google, the feature increased overall usage of Lens. This finding, and the fact that users between the ages of 18-24 seem to be using Lens the most, has driven the company to make it easier for users to search their surroundings with Lens.
Google Lens can also support customers when they want to buy something they are searching with Lens, which coincidentally appears to be the perfect opportunity for Google to sell some ads. Improvements to the 'shopping with Lens' experience will combine AI with Google’s Shopping Graph to identify the exact item appearing in an image to show relevant shopping results, including information like reviews and price comparisons.
Google also mentioned it would start rolling out search results pages organized with AI in the US alongside a new design for AI Overviews, which will soon be available in every country where AI Overviews has been launched. Moreover, the company also shared it is carefully testing how to display ads in relevant AI Overviews. To set an example, Google explained that if a user searches for the best way to remove a stain from a piece of clothing, and one of the suggestions is to use a specific stain remover, a clearly labeled shopping ad for said product can appear right within the AI Overview, maximizing the chances to connect that specific user with the business selling the stain remover.
According Google's Ads-specific announcement, sellers with AI-powered Search ads, Shopping, and Performance Max campaigns will be able to display ads in these updated Lens and AI Overviews experiences. Ads in AI Overviews are rolling out to mobile users in the US, while Shopping ads for Lens will be available for Android and iOS users in select countries.
