Google is testing AI-generated title rewrites in search results, describing it as a small, small experiment for now.
What’s going on. Google confirmed to The Verge (subscription required) that it is testing AI-generated titles in regular search results, not just Discover.
- The tests are “minor” and “minimum,” and are not warranted for wide release.
- It affects the news site but it is not limited there.
- The goal is to better match topics and queries and improve engagement, Google says.
One example showed Google replacing original headlines with shorter or rewritten versions, sometimes changing tone or intent (eg, shortening “I used an AI tool to ‘cheat on everything’ and it didn’t help me cheat on anything” to “‘Cheat on everything’ AI tool.”).
Why do we care. Google Search is already sending fewer clicks. Now you also have to deal with Google generating new headlines with AI, risking changes in description, brand voice, and click rates.
Celebrate deeply. Google Changed 76% of Title Tags in Q1 2025 – Here’s What That Means
What they say. Sean Hollister, senior editor at The Verge, wrote:
- “This is like a bookstore ripping off the covers and changing the titles. We spend a lot of time trying to write articles that are authentic, interesting, entertaining, and worthy of attention without resorting to clickbait, but Google seems to believe that we have no inherent right to market our work that way.”
Article links. According to Google’s Average category of article links, first published in 2021:
The creation of Google article links on the Google search results page is completely automatic and takes into account both the content of the page and its references from the web. The goal of the article link is to properly represent and explain each result.
Google said it uses these sources to “auto-determine article links”
- The contents of the
- The main visual title is displayed on the page
- Subject elements, such as
elements - Content in
og:titlemetatags - Another great and prominent content is through the use of therapies
- Another text contained on the page
- Paste the text on the page
- The text between the links pointing to the page
WebSitestructured data
What you can watch. Google called this one of many standard tests, but that's no guarantee that it's always minimal. The Verge noted a similar "exploration" in Discover later became a full feature.
- Any future launch may not rely on AI for production, but Google didn't explain how that would work.
Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. We are committed to providing the highest quality of marketing articles. Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is written by an employee or paid contractor of Semrush Inc.
![Does AI content perform well in search? [Survey + Data study]](https://static.semrush.com/blog/uploads/media/68/44/6844368b5f1c234ef355bfec19180a82/2bccd1c9173564597a0ed61aa6068621/does-ai-content-rank-well-in-search-survey-data-study.png "Does AI content perform well in search? [Survey + Data study]"){kind=icon}
