As announced in a community post spotted by SERoundtable, the Google app for iOS can automatically convert text on websites into links to Google search results. Google calls the feature “Page Annotations,” which “extracts interesting elements from a webpage and highlights them inline,” and when tapped, it displays search results and lets you insert links without asking the user or site owner. This seems like a strange move for a company embroiled in antitrust disputes over both its search and advertising businesses.
Google offers web publishers a form where they can disable links. According to the form, “Any page annotations feature enabled on your site will be disabled within 30 days of completion.” If you do this, you’ll need to enter all variations of your site, including “www and non-www, http and https, subdomains, etc.”
As 9to5Google points out, the feature is similar to the “ad intent” that Google introduced to its AdSense platform earlier this year, which automatically places links in site text that display “relevant organic search results with ads.” The difference, however, is that site owners must enable ad intent instead of opting out.
