How the link placements work in practice<\/h2>\n
The top one or two links sit highest in the response and are reserved for queries where a single best web page clearly answers what the searcher is trying to do. Below that, the inline links are woven into the generated text itself, so each paragraph may offer an outbound path. The related articles section adds image thumbnails for a more visual invitation to click, while the news carousel is the format used for breaking or time-sensitive stories. The video creator and publisher links are the newest placement, and they pass through Google’s profile layer before any external site.<\/p>\n
Preferred Sources usage grew sharply<\/h2>\n
Alongside the link changes, Google shared an adoption figure for its Preferred Sources feature. According to the announcement, “the number of people who’ve used Preferred Sources to select sites they want to hear has grown by 7x since the beginning of the year.” Preferred Sources lets a user pick the publishers they want surfaced more often, and the news carousel now incorporates those picks, which directly ties the new global rollout to the existing preference system.<\/p>\n
Publishers still want click data<\/h2>\n
The visible link push has not quieted the underlying ask from site owners: report the actual clicks coming out of AI answers. On that point, Google has kept the door open without committing to a metric. The official line is that the team is “continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights will be most helpful to inform their strategies, and we’ll introduce additional metrics over time.” Clicks are the top metric publishers ask for, and they are also the central metric of Google Ads, so the gap between what is shown visually and what is measured in reports is widening rather than narrowing.<\/p>\n
For news publishers there is an adjacent data point. Google noted that “over 400 publications worldwide are part of our News AI pilot licensing program where we pay for the delivery and use of enhanced content to develop new AI features.” That licensing path gives a revenue signal, but it does not replace per-article click reporting for the wider web.<\/p>\n
What site owners can do right now<\/h2>\n\n- Audit which of your pages would naturally match the “one or two right links” use case, since those slots now sit at the very top of the AI response.<\/li>\n
- Structure articles so key sources can be cited with clean inline anchors, giving the AI more natural placement points.<\/li>\n
- For news or timely content, confirm your outlet is set as a Preferred Source for your audience and that your structured data marks articles as news.<\/li>\n
- Track when your pages are cited inside AI answers rather than clicked, since outbound click volume from these surfaces is still not visible in standard reports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A useful operational view of how your site shows up inside AI answers, including which queries surface your pages as the top one or two links, is what an AI visibility audit surfaces; BizScoreAI runs that kind of scan and reports how a listing appears to AI search.<\/p>\n
FAQ<\/h2>\nWhat is new with links in Google AI Mode and AI Overviews?<\/h3>\n
Google has added more inline links inside the AI response, a prominent top section that highlights one or two right web pages for qualifying queries, a “Dive Deeper” related articles section with image thumbnails, globally expanded news carousels that surface Preferred Sources, and clickable publisher and creator names on video results that route through Google’s Search profile pages.<\/p>\n
Are the new AI Mode links global?<\/h3>\n
The top one or two links and the inline link updates are being applied in AI Mode and AI Overviews, and the news carousel for timely topics has been expanded globally with Preferred Sources support.<\/p>\n
Will Google show click data for AI Mode and AI Overviews?<\/h3>\n
Not yet. Google has said it is still working with site owners on which insights to surface and will add additional metrics over time, and clicks remain the metric publishers most consistently ask for.<\/p>\n
Related coverage<\/h2>\n
A useful operational view of how your site shows up inside AI answers, including which queries surface your pages as the top one or two links, is what an AI visibility audit surfaces; BizScoreAI runs that kind of scan and reports how a listing appears to AI search.<\/p>\n
FAQ<\/h2>\nWhat is new with links in Google AI Mode and AI Overviews?<\/h3>\n
Google has added more inline links inside the AI response, a prominent top section that highlights one or two right web pages for qualifying queries, a “Dive Deeper” related articles section with image thumbnails, globally expanded news carousels that surface Preferred Sources, and clickable publisher and creator names on video results that route through Google’s Search profile pages.<\/p>\n
Are the new AI Mode links global?<\/h3>\n
The top one or two links and the inline link updates are being applied in AI Mode and AI Overviews, and the news carousel for timely topics has been expanded globally with Preferred Sources support.<\/p>\n
Will Google show click data for AI Mode and AI Overviews?<\/h3>\n
Not yet. Google has said it is still working with site owners on which insights to surface and will add additional metrics over time, and clicks remain the metric publishers most consistently ask for.<\/p>\n
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