Google’s Search now reads your queries out loud
Podcast-style summaries are no longer confined to podcast apps, now they’re showing up in Google Search. Here’s why this matters for you and your organization:
- Search results get a voiceover. In the US, on mobile within Google Search Labs, users can tap “Generate Audio Overview” beneath “People also ask.” In under a minute, Google’s Gemini generates a mini‑podcast, complete with two AI hosts walking through your query.
- Hands‑free, multi-tasking friendly. The player includes playback speed, pause, mute, plus links to sources, and it’s designed for distraction‑free listening.
- Powered by Gemini and Search Labs. It builds on earlier audio features from NotebookLM and Gemini, integrated right into Search Labs for user testing.
Similarly to how AI Overviews first got integrated. The feature is now an experiment in Search Labs in the US, and will become a new default when the experiment is successfully wrapped.
If this becomes a new default, it would strike a big challenge to publishers. First AI Overviews replaced top links. Now Audio Overviews replace reading altogether.
AI Overviews have already slashed traffic for many sites. Users get what they need without clicking through. Audio Overviews deepen that trend, potentially pulling audiences even further from the source.
If AI-generated voices are becoming the new front page, your content strategy can’t stop at good writing, it needs to sound good. That means structuring information so it’s easily lifted and summarized, experimenting with your own audio-first formats, and asking the hard question: if Google reads out your content without attribution or clicks, does your brand still leave a mark?
