On desktop, Google has started showing an AI written summary of a business in the right hand panel when someone searches its name, where the knowledge panel used to sit.
Dominic Coutts
Search your own business name this week and read what Google says about you. It can get things wrong.
What happened
Since late October, the AI Overview for many brand name searches has moved out of the main results and into the right hand panel on desktop. The panel now carries an AI written description of the company next to the usual facts. Google hasn't announced it, and the examples so far are mostly from the US.
What it means for you
The answer to "who is this company" is now written by Google rather than taken from your own website. There's some good news: your own site moves back to the top of the main results. But the generated text can be wrong. In one widely shared example, the panel gave 2 different founding years for the same company, and there's no clear way yet to correct it.
What to do
- Search your business name on a desktop computer and read the right hand panel carefully.
- Make sure your Google Business Profile, About page and company details are accurate and consistent everywhere, because that's what the summary draws on.
- Check again in a few weeks, as the rollout in the UK is uneven.
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