Google adds more prominent website links to its AI search answers

Google is putting more website links within easier reach of people reading its AI-generated search answers. In an October 15 announcement, the company outlined changes across AI Mode and AI Overviews, including links placed higher in responses, more visible related articles and a wider rollout of news carousels. Other additions remain tests rather than general releases.

The package addresses several points in a search: finding a source while reading an answer, reaching an official page for a task, discovering current reporting and learning who made a video. Google’s stated goal is to make it easier to explore the web from its AI experiences. The announcement includes no click-through results for the new designs.

Links inside the answer—and above it

Inline links are embedded in the words or phrases of an AI response. They let someone open a website at the point where a topic appears, rather than first reaching the end of the answer. Google says it has already substantially increased their presence in its AI experiences.

The new placement update goes a step further: inline links will appear higher in responses more frequently. That is a change to where readers encounter sources, alongside the increase in how often links appear. Google describes the aim as keeping key sources readily clickable when people need them.

A separate planned test targets searches where one or two official websites are the right destination for completing a task or getting exact information. Google will try a dedicated section at the top of an AI response, with an explanation of why each link is useful. This builds on its existing practice of prominently displaying links when someone is looking for a particular site.

More room for news and follow-up reading

Google is bringing its prominent carousels for timely articles to additional locations and languages globally. This extends an existing news display rather than introducing an entirely new format. The company says the carousels make current articles visible across a wider range of queries, and they also highlight a reader’s Preferred Sources.

That preference feature supplies some context for the expansion. Google says the number of people using Preferred Sources has grown more than sevenfold since the start of the year. The figure describes adoption of the preference tool, not how many people click articles from the newly expanded carousels.

For readers who finish an answer and want another angle, Google is also redesigning related-article links at the end of some responses. Those links are getting image thumbnails and a more prominent, clickable design. Unlike inline links, these provide a route to further reading after the generated explanation.

Video names lead to Search profiles

The video change has a different destination. Google began testing clickable creator and publisher names on video results in AI Mode this week. Selecting a name leads directly to that creator’s or publisher’s Search profile, where readers can learn about them and their broader work. It is a source-context feature within Search, rather than the direct website link emphasized elsewhere in the update.