Google is adding more links and link context to AI search

Google is rolling out five updates to how links appear in its AI generative search experiences, including AI Mode and AI Overviews. The changes add, among other things, subscription labels and inline links in replies.

Here is an example of what the changes will look like:

Hema Budaraju, vice president of product management, wrote about the updates in a blog post.

What’s new

The updates cover five areas of link display in Google’s AI generative search capabilities.

AI mode subscription highlighting and AI overviews

Google now flags links from users’ news subscriptions in AI Mode and AI Overviews.

Google announced in December that it would highlight subscriptions for the Gemini app, but did not provide a timeline for AI mode or AI overviews. Today’s announcement confirms the expansion to both surfaces.

Google said that in early testing, people were “significantly more likely” to click on links labeled “their subscriptions.” The company did not provide specific figures.

Publishers who want to help subscribers link their subscriptions to Google can find details on the Google developer website.

Topic suggestions based on AI answers

Searchers will see suggestions for related content at the end of many AI responses. These link to articles or analyzes on different aspects of the topic.

Discussion and social media previews

Google’s AI responses include previews of perspectives from online public discussions, social media, and other first-hand sources.

The company also adds context to these links, such as creator names and community names.

Check out a provided example:

More inline links in answers

Users will see more links directly in the AI ​​response text, positioned next to the relevant passage. Google hasn’t quantified how many more inline links users will see or where the change will appear.

Check out a provided example:

Link hover preview on desktop

On desktop, when you hover over an inline link in Google’s AI Experiences, you’ll see a preview of the linked website. The preview includes the site name and page title. Google has found that people are hesitant to click on links if they don’t know where they lead.

Check out a provided example:

Why this is important

These updates show that Google is trying to make links more visible in AI search at a time when publishers are closely monitoring referral traffic.

Other inline links, hover previews, discussion cards, and subscription labels all point in the same direction. Google wants AI answers to feel less like dead ends and more like starting points for deeper exploration of the web.

This is important because the debate around AI search centers on whether AI answers reduce the need to click. Google is now adding more click options, but isn’t providing publishers with the data they need to assess the impact.

For websites, the update remains in a familiar location. Link handling can improve visibility, but the impact on traffic still needs to be measured in analytics after the rollout reaches the audience.

Looking ahead

The next question is how consistently these link treatments appear across all AI Search interfaces.

Google hasn’t provided rollout details for most updates, including geography, language, eligibility or timing. This makes it difficult to interpret early tests until we can see where the functions appear and what types of queries they trigger.

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