Google tests AI Mode sidebar on main search results page
Google is testing the left vertical sidebar normally seen only inside AI Mode — Google’s logo, chat history, a button to start an AI Mode chat and a settings icon — on its regular web search results page. Damien Andell spotted and posted a screenshot on X on October 14, 2026, per Search Engine Roundtable; SER’s Barry Schwartz could not reproduce it on his own browsers, so the rollout looks limited rather than default. A second X user, Marie Haynes, reported the sidebar also surfacing Gemini app conversation history when entering AI Mode directly. Google has not confirmed either observation.
Why it matters: It's at least the fourth AI Mode entry-point test the wire has logged since September, each narrowing the path from a plain search to an AI Mode session inside the results page itself.
The record: GoogleGoogle AI ModeGemini
Glossary: AI Mode
Via Search Engine Roundtable ↗
Posted to the wire October 14, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.