Google is testing a new feature called Search profiles, a social-media-style listing that lets brands and creators showcase their content directly inside Google Search. For publishers battling falling traffic from AI summaries, the timing is no accident.
The profiles pull together a custom collection of a brand or creator’s content, sourced from their existing accounts on social and video platforms. According to Google, they give publishers and creators a central place to highlight their latest articles, videos, and social posts. People can then follow those sources directly, making them more likely to see that content on Discover, which sits on the home screen of the Google app.
That follow function is the key. Search profiles let creators build a direct connection with searchers, helping them grow their own audiences rather than relying purely on ranking. They also let creators customize how their search listing looks, potentially earning more prominent placement over time.
A Lifeline Against AI Overviews
The feature arrives as Google’s own AI search updates continue to crush click-through rates. AI Overviews now answer many queries directly on the results page, cutting the need to visit any website. Search profiles may offer a partial workaround. By giving creators a direct, followable presence, Google hands them a tool to recover some of the audience that AI summaries have been quietly absorbing. For news publishers and independent outlets watching their search traffic erode, that direct-follow path could matter more than any single ranking.
The Entry Bar Is Steep
There is a catch, and it is a big one. Google is limiting Search profiles to publishers and creators with a sizable following on at least one major platform. In practice, sizable means 100,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram, or X, or 300,000 followers on TikTok. That makes the feature exclusive at this stage, locking out smaller creators and emerging outlets. It is also only available to US users at launch.
Users can reach a Search profile on mobile in three ways. They can tap a creator or publisher’s knowledge panel, the information box that appears for notable people and brands. They can tap a name on Discover. Or they can visit a direct URL.
An Echo of Google’s Social Past
The profiles work much like Google’s existing business profiles, which appear on the right side of search results with brand links and posts. Search profiles essentially expand that idea to publishers and creators. They also carry faint echoes of Google’s repeated, failed attempts to build its own social network. With Google+ long dead, these profiles may be Google quietly folding social-style features into search itself.
For creators and publishers in Pakistan, the feature is worth watching closely even though it has not launched locally yet. The follower thresholds are achievable for established local outlets and influencers. Once Search profiles expand globally, they could become a valuable tool for building a direct audience in a market where Google dominates discovery, and where AI-driven traffic loss is just beginning to bite.
