Skip to main content

How to use Google SGE — try out the search generative experience for yourself

Google SGE search tool.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google's Search Generative Experience, or SGE, is an in-development tool for finding information faster and more readily in Google search. It involves an AI summary of some of the results from your search at the top of the page, letting you get quicker access to the information you're looking for -- at least in theory.

If you're eager to try it out for yourself, here's how to use Google SGE.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • Desktop PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone with web access

  • Chrome browser

  • Google account

Note: Google Search Labs is only available for select users in the U.S. and in English only.

Google SGE waitlist.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sign up for Google SGE

At the time of writing, Google SGE is under development, so only those Google gives access to can play around with it. If you want such access, you'll need to sign up to the waiting list.

Step 1: Open Chrome and navigate to Google's Labs page. Alternatively, look for the Labs icon at the top of your Chrome browser. It looks like a canonical flask. Select it.

Step 2: Select the blue Join waitlist button halfway down the page.

Step 3: Input your details, if necessary. Otherwise, simply wait for an email notification to let you know when you have access.

Google SGE search tool.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How to use Google SGE

Once you've been accepted on the waiting list, you'll eventually be given access to Search Labs, at which point you can start using Google SGE.

Step 1: Open the Chrome browser on whatever device you're using.

Step 2: Navigate to Google Search and search for something. SGE works best with questions, but it can respond to standard searches, too.

Step 3: You'll have to wait a few seconds. Google's SGE is nowhere near as fast as the instantaneous standard search results. After a few seconds, though, you should see an AI-generated summary at the top of the first results page, along with several cards linking you to its sources and some potential follow up questions you might like to ask.

Google SGE isn't the fastest or the smartest AI tool out there. ChatGPT with plugins could steal that crown, though.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
ChatGPT Search is here to battle both Google and Perplexity
The ChatGPT Search icon on the prompt window

ChatGPT is receiving its second new search feature of the week, the company announced on Thursday. Dubbed ChatGPT Search, this tool will deliver real-time data from the internet in response to your chat prompts.

ChatGPT Search appears to be both OpenAI's answer to Perplexity and a shot across Google's bow.

Read more
Google’s AI detection tool is now available for anyone to try
Gemini running on the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Google announced via a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday that SynthID is now available to anybody who wants to try it. The authentication system for AI-generated content embeds imperceptible watermarks into generated images, video, and text, enabling users to verify whether a piece of content was made by humans or machines.

“We’re open-sourcing our SynthID Text watermarking tool,” the company wrote. “Available freely to developers and businesses, it will help them identify their AI-generated content.”

Read more
The best AI chatbots to try: ChatGPT, Gemini, and more
Bing Chat shown on a laptop.

The idea of chatbots has been around since the early days of the internet. But even compared to popular voice assistants like Siri, the generated chatbots of the modern era are far more powerful.

Yes, you can converse with them in natural language. But these AI chatbots can generate text of all kinds, from poetry to code, and the results really are exciting. ChatGPT remains in the spotlight, but as interest continues to grow, more rivals are popping up to challenge it.
OpenAI ChatGPT and ChatGPT Plus

Read more