Short answer
What has Google announced for AI Overviews?
Short answer
On 15 October 2026, Hema Budaraju, Vice President of Product Management at Google, announced changes to Google AI Overviews and AI Mode:
- More links inside the text of the answer, shown higher up.
- A test of a top section with one or two official websites.
- News carousels in more countries, featuring Preferred Sources.
On top of that come bigger end-of-answer links with thumbnails, and a test in AI Mode of clickable creator names on videos.
Google has given no click figures and promised traffic to no one. What it does make clear is the direction: AI answers with more ways out to the web.
The changes
The five changes, one by one
Not everything is equally advanced. This is what is rolling out and what is only being tested:
| Criterion | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Inline links | More links inside the answer, shown higher up more often | Rolling out |
| Official websites section | At the top of the answer, one or two official sites to complete a task, with context on why they are useful | In testing |
| News carousels | Highlighted recent news, featuring the user’s Preferred Sources | Rolling out to more countries and languages |
| End-of-answer links | Larger, more clickable related articles, with thumbnails | No specific date |
| Creators on video | Clickable creator and publisher names on AI Mode videos, leading to their Search profile | In testing, AI Mode only |
…keep refining these experiences based on what works best.
The official websites section is the one that could move things most. If it leaves testing, tasks with one or two reference websites will see Google place them above the answer itself.
Context
Why now? AI Overviews take clicks away
AI Overviews have spent more than a year under pressure from publishers and businesses that watch the answer keep the click. These are the most solid figures from 2026:
39.8%
fewer organic clicks when an AI Overview appears, in a randomised experiment with 1,065 users
Agarwal and Sen, 2026 (US)
73.3%
of branded searches showed an AI Overview in September, up from 61.3% in July
Ahrefs, October 2026 (US, desktop)
× 7
growth in the number of people using Preferred Sources since the start of 2026
Google, 15-10-2026
The second figure matters to any business: when someone searches for your brand, more and more often the first thing they see is an AI summary, not your website. And in Ahrefs’ study, that summary mostly cited Wikipedia, YouTube and LinkedIn.
According to Chartbeat data reported by EWN, news publishers lost 40% of the traffic they received from Google between July 2025 and July 2026.
US data
Europe
And outside the US? What arrives and how to measure it
Google has not said in which countries each change applies, beyond the news carousels reaching more locations and languages.
What already works outside the US:
- Preferred Sources has been expanding worldwide in 2026; it reached Spain, where I work, on 30 April. Since late May, Google has been extending it to AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- The generative AI performance report in Search Console has been available for every website since 31 August 2026.
That report is how you check whether the changes affect you. It measures impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, but not clicks. To see clicks, compare the pages with AI impressions against their trend in the usual search report.
If you want to track AI Overviews in more detail, Google AI Mode: what it changes for your website explains how to read that report.
Impact
What does it mean for your business?
Your official websiteHigh impact
Your service pagesHigh impact
Your blog or news sectionMedium impact
Your videosLow impact
Your measurementHigh impact
Plan
What to do now: AI Overviews SEO in five steps
There are no separate tricks for AI Overviews: Google says there are no additional requirements. But there is an order:
Open the generative AI report
In Search Console, note which pages get impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. They are your candidates for those new links.Improve those pages first
A direct answer at the top, specific facts (prices, timescales, areas) and the information only you can give. It is what Google calls non-commodity content.Make clear what is official
Your website should state unambiguously which company you are, what you offer and where: home page, contact page and company details consistent with your Google profile.Search for your brand on Google
Check whether an AI Overview appears, what it says about you and which websites it cites. If it cites Wikipedia, LinkedIn or a directory, make sure what those sources say is up to date.Compare every month
AI impressions per page against clicks in the usual report. That way you will know whether the change brings you visits or only visibility.
The complete method for every engine, not just Google, is in the guide to AI visibility.
Key points
- On 15 October, Google announced more links, higher up, in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- The official websites section and creator names are in testing; the carousels are rolling out.
- Google promises no traffic: according to 2026 studies, AI Overviews still take clicks away.
- Track your AI impressions in Search Console and compare them with your clicks every month.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about AI Overviews
What are AI Overviews?
AI Overviews are the AI-generated summaries Google shows above its search results, with links to the websites it uses as sources. AI Mode is a different experience: a full conversation with Google’s AI, with more links and follow-up questions. Both run on Google’s Gemini models and its ranking systems.
What changed in AI Overviews in October 2026?
On 15 October 2026, Google announced five changes to AI Overviews and AI Mode: more inline links, shown higher up; a test of a top section with one or two official websites; news carousels in more countries and languages that highlight Preferred Sources; bigger end-of-answer links with thumbnails; and clickable creator names on videos.
Will the new links bring my website more traffic?
Google has not promised it or published click data. What has been measured is that AI Overviews take clicks away: in an experiment with 1,065 US users, organic clicks fell by 39.8% when one appeared. More visible links should help the websites that are cited, but the only way to know is to measure it on your own site.
How do I track AI Overviews for my website?
In Search Console, with the generative AI performance report, available for every website since 31 August 2026. It shows how many impressions your pages get in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, date and device. It shows no clicks or queries, so it is worth pairing it with a fixed set of questions you check every month.
What are Google Preferred Sources?
A feature that lets each user choose their favourite news websites so they appear more often in Top Stories. Google says the number of people using it has grown more than sevenfold since the start of 2026, and since late May it has been extending it to AI Overviews and AI Mode. Publishers can ask their readers to select them.
Do I need special SEO for AI Overviews?
According to Google, there are no additional requirements: the page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet, and your site included in AI features in Search Console. What matters most is useful content that is not interchangeable, a clear answer near the top and trustworthy third-party websites that talk about you.
References
Sources
Accessed and verified on 29 October 2026.
- Google. More ways to connect with the web from Search, by Hema Budaraju (15 October 2026).
- PPC Land. Google pushes links higher in AI answers as Preferred Sources use rises 7x (18 October 2026).
- EWN. Google boosts news and link visibility in AI Mode (16 October 2026), with the Chartbeat figure.
- Google Spain. Fuentes preferidas llega a España (in Spanish, 30 April 2026).
- Agarwal and Sen. Field experiment on AI Overviews and traffic, via PPC Land (revised 17 June 2026).
- Ahrefs. AI Overviews on branded searches (2 October 2026).
- Search Console Help. Generative AI performance report. Google Search Central. Guide to optimising for generative AI.
This article was created with the help of AI and reviewed by José Galán. I take great care over every post and every translation, but the odd mistake can still slip through. If you find one, write to me: you will be helping me improve.
Search & AI Visibility
Does Google’s AI link to you? Check it for free.
The AI visibility checker reviews whether Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity can read your website and tells you what to fix first so they cite you.
Run the free check