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Google to show inline links higher up in AI Overviews and AI Mode responses

Google announced on 15 October that links will appear higher up and more often in its AI search answers, as publishers warn of falling traffic. It also announced other link and publisher changes and a licensing pilot.

2 outlets · 1L · 0C · 1R First reported Account updated
Image: The Verge
Image: The Straits Times

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The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Google announced on 15 October that it will make inline links appear "higher up in responses more frequently" in its AI Overviews and AI Mode search results. Left · 1Google says it has made "continued and substantial increases to the presence of inline links in our AI experiences", and that the change will help ensure key sources are easily clickable. Left · 1The Verge reports that Google is testing showing relevant links at the top of a response, with context, for sites that are among only a few sources for a specific task or piece of information; its example was a query about an airline refund.

Mixed · 2Google is also rolling out link carousels for timely articles, first announced in May, to more locations and languages; AFP says the carousel, cards showing headlines with images below AI Overviews, will expand worldwide. Left · 1Links at the end of AI answers will become "more engaging and prominent", with image thumbnails and a more clickable design, and Google is testing clickable links in AI Mode to search profiles for publishers and creators. Right · 1According to AFP, the algorithm will prioritise sites a user has marked as "preferred sources" and can also pull in relevant social media posts and forums.

Left · 1Google also said more than 400 publishers are in its "News AI" pilot, announced in December, a licensing programme that pays publishers for delivering and using enhanced content to develop new AI features; Axios, CNN and the Financial Times are newly onboard. Mixed · 2The move comes amid concern that AI answers reduce traffic to publishers. AFP cites Chartbeat as finding a 40% drop in Google-referred traffic to news sites between July 2025 and July 2026, and says several studies show AI summaries sharply cut click rates. Right · 1AFP adds that AI Overviews launched in May 2024 and AI Mode in March 2025, and that in August the French daily newspaper group Apig told the Competition Authority that AI summaries breached 2022 agreements with news publishers.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
The Verge reports it as a product update drawn from Google's blog post, with the traffic concern as brief background.
Emphasis
Specific feature changes and the News AI licensing pilot with named partners.
Leaves out or plays down
Gives no traffic figures, regulatory complaints or user-preference details.
For example
“there are concerns that the format reduces traffic to publishers” — The Verge

Centre0 outlets

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right1 outlet

Framing
The Straits Times, running AFP copy, frames the change as a response to publishers' warnings of a sharp traffic decline.
Emphasis
Traffic losses, Chartbeat's 40% figure, the French Apig complaint and the history of AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention the News AI licensing pilot or the publisher-profile test.
Charged language
“sharp decline”
For example
“as brands and news publishers warn of a sharp decline in their traffic.” — The Straits Times

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