Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, announced on X that both AI Overviews and AI Mode are getting a redesigned link experience.
Stein said groups of links will appear in a pop-up on desktop when you hover over them. In the screenshot he shared, the pop-up includes site names, favicons, and short descriptions, so users can see the source at a glance before clicking.
Stein also said Google will show more descriptive and prominent link icons in responses on desktop and mobile.
Stein wrote that Google’s testing shows the new UI is “more engaging, making it easier to get to great content across the web.”
Why This Matters
Link visibility inside AI-generated responses has been one of the most-watched issues in search over the past year. Pew found users clicked a link in the AI summary itself in 1% of visits to pages that included an AI summary. A GrowthSRC Media analysis cited in SEJ coverage found the top organic CTR fell from 28% to 19% after AI Overviews expanded, a 32% drop.
Google has been making iterative changes to address this. In August, Stein said the company’s “north star” was to show more inline links and launched embedded link carousels on desktop. Today’s update extends that effort to AI Overviews specifically and adds the hover pop-up as a new interaction pattern.
The “more engaging” descriptor is worth noting. Whether these changes lead to more clicks reaching publisher sites is something the industry will measure over time.
Looking Ahead
This is the latest in a series of link-visibility updates Stein has announced over the past year. The pattern indicates that Google views links in AI responses as an ongoing design challenge and will continue iterating.
Featured Image: Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock
