Mountain View, California - 10 July 2025: Google has launched Web Guide, a Search Labs experiment that groups search results by user intent rather than listing them in a single, linear order.
What is Web Guide?
Web Guide is an opt-in feature inside Search Labs. It relies on a tailored version of Gemini and a "query fan-out" process that runs multiple related searches at once. The results appear in expandable clusters labeled by theme, such as “Transport” or “Accommodation,” giving users a quick way to focus on the part of their query that matters most.
Why it matters
Google sees the feature helping with exploratory topics and multi-part questions where traditional ranking can hide useful pages. Austin Wu, Group Product Manager for Search, said the system "surfaces pages users might not find with standard ranking." Users can switch between Web Guide and the classic Web tab at any time without losing their place.
Background
Web Guide joins previous AI-driven features rolled out through Search Labs since 2023, including AI Overviews, which provides short summaries, and AI Mode, a chat interface for follow-up queries. Unlike those tools, Web Guide does not generate new text - it reorganizes existing links to highlight different facets of a query.
Although Google has used fan-out querying internally for years, this is its first public experiment that shows the technique directly to consumers. The company emphasizes that classic ranking remains available and that any expansion will depend on improved user metrics.
What’s next
Google plans to test similar clustering in the All tab after collecting feedback from early users. A broader rollout date has not been announced.
For more details, see Google’s official announcement on Web Guide.