Google Search now lets you hide ads: Here's how
What's the story
Google has announced a major update for its Search and Discover pages. The changes will introduce new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features into these platforms, making them more user-friendly. One of the most notable updates is the ability to collapse ads on Google Search results. This feature will let users hide sponsored content from their view as they scroll down the page.
Ad navigation
'Hide sponsored results' button will collapse ads
The new feature, dubbed "Hide sponsored results," will let users collapse ads at the top of Google Search results. However, even if you hide them from view, the "Sponsored Results" label will still be visible as you scroll down. This way, while the ads may not be directly visible anymore, they are still present in a way that keeps them in users' minds.
Ad placement
You can also hide text ads
The "Sponsored results" header will show up above and below AI Overviews, which are short summaries generated by AI that appear at the top of search results. For text ads, the "Sponsored results" header will also display at the bottom of the page, with all text ads grouped under it. Users can collapse these too using the same "Hide sponsored results" button if they want to focus on organic content.
Sports news
'What's New' button for sports updates
In addition to ad navigation, Google is also improving its Search and Discover platforms with new features. When looking up information about players or teams in sports, a new "What's New" button will appear. This will show a feed of trending updates and news articles related to the query, helping users stay updated on the latest happenings in the world of sports.
AI integration
AI previews in Discover feed
The Google app's Discover feed on mobile will also get an AI-powered feature. This will show short previews that users can expand for more information, along with other links to explore. The company says this feature is aimed at keeping users updated on stories from different publishers. However, it comes at a time when publishers are witnessing a decline in search traffic due to the rise of AI-generated answers and changing consumer media habits.