What does the Gemini API return for displaying Google Search suggestions?

Definition: With Google Search grounding enabled, the Gemini API returns a google_search_result step whose result contains search_suggestions. Google documents this field as an HTML snippet for rendering search suggestions in an application's user interface.

Key facts

• The google_search tool lets the model handle searching, processing, and citing automatically, according to Google's Grounding with Google Search documentation.
• A grounded response includes the model's text with inline citation annotations plus google_search_call and google_search_result steps containing search queries and search suggestions.
• The search_suggestions value is an HTML snippet for rendering the suggestions in the application's UI. The documentation sends the full usage requirements to the Terms of Service.
• Google's Gemini API Additional Terms define Search Suggestions as suggestions supplied with Grounded Results. A Search Suggestion click takes the user to a google.com destination governed by the Google Terms of Service.
• The terms require the associated Grounded Results and Search Suggestions to be shown to the end user who submitted the prompt, within an application owned and operated by the developer.

What is in the API response?

The response step is separate from the model's answer. Google documents google_search_call as the step containing executed queries and google_search_result as the step containing the suggestions HTML. A compact shape matching the documented example is:

{
  "type": "google_search_result",
  "result": [
    {
      "search_suggestions": "<!-- HTML and CSS for the search widget -->"
    }
  ]
}

The value is therefore ready for the display path described by the documentation as an HTML snippet. It is not documented here as a list of suggestion strings or as a separate endpoint. The same response also contains the answer text and inline annotations that link parts of that text to sources.

What do the usage terms require?

The Additional Terms apply Grounding with Google Search through Google AI Studio as an unpaid service and through the Gemini API as a paid service. They define Grounded Results using the end user's prompt, any applicable contextual information, and results from Google's search engine. They define Search Suggestions as suggestions Google provides with those results.

The application must be owned and operated by the developer. The developer must display the Grounded Results with their associated Search Suggestions to the end user who submitted the prompt. The terms prohibit caching, framing, syndication, resale, analysis, training, or learning from Grounded Results or Search Suggestions. They also describe the components as intended for combined use in responding to the given prompt and prohibit extracting or collecting one component for another purpose.

Can the HTML be changed or tracked?

Unless Google gives written permission, the terms prohibit modifying or interspersing other content with the Grounded Results or Search Suggestions. They also prohibit placing interstitial content between a Link or Search Suggestion and its destination, redirecting users away from destination pages, or limiting the full display of a destination page.

The terms prohibit copying, storing, or implementing click tracking, Link-tracking, or other monitoring of Grounded Results or Search Suggestions, subject to the listed exceptions. Text of displayed Grounded Results may be copied and stored for up to two years for specified evaluation, chat-history, or temporary refinement purposes. Search Suggestions and Grounded Results may also be copied and stored for the minimum time necessary to comply with applicable law. The terms permit a final Grounded Result to include associated Search Suggestions up to a maximum of five when an interim result is resubmitted through a function call.

Google's terms state that prompts, supplied contextual information, and output are stored for thirty days when Grounding with Google Search is used, for creating Grounded Results and Search Suggestions and for debugging and testing supporting systems. The page does not specify the exact HTML and CSS markup that a client receives for each suggestion.

Related terms

• Gemini
• Google AI Mode
• Where do I view related sources in a Gemini response?
• Do Gemini's double-check links identify the sources used to write an answer?

FAQ

Is search_suggestions plain text?

Google's documentation describes it as an HTML snippet for rendering search suggestions in the UI. The documented response example places it inside the result array of a google_search_result step.

May I store the suggestions for analytics?

The terms prohibit copying, storing, and monitoring Search Suggestions, including click tracking, subject to narrow exceptions. They also prohibit analyzing or learning from Search Suggestions.

Who should see the suggestions?

The application must show the associated suggestions with the Grounded Results to the end user who submitted the prompt. The terms place that requirement on an application owned and operated by the developer.

Sources

1. Google AI for Developers, "Grounding with Google Search", 13 October 2026
2. Google AI for Developers, "Gemini API Additional Terms of Service", 28 April 2026

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