Google adds more source links in AI Mode responses
Publishers continue to push back over how AI displays their content in Search
Google is rolling out several new updates across Search and Gemini AI. The company is updating how links appear in AI Mode citations. Google says it will increase the number of in-line links that appear in AI Mode results. These links point to the sources used to generate summaries.Â
Google says it will also update the link design and add short contextual explanations that describe why a link may be relevant.
These updates continue the broader push toward showing more citations in AI-generated answers, which has become a recurring point of interest for publishers and advertisers monitoring how Search traffic may shift. Google’s approach adds more links inside AI responses, which means users may see more direct paths back to the original reporting. However, the company has not described this as a response to publisher pressure.
Google expands Preferred Sources globally
The company is expanding Preferred Sources globally, after initially releasing it in the U.S. and India. The feature allows users to choose the news outlets they want to see more often in the Top Stories section. The company says the global rollout will begin with English-language users in the coming days. Support for all other languages is planned for early next year.
Subscription links get their own carousel
Google is introducing a separate update that identifies links from outlets a user already subscribes to. These links will appear in a dedicated carousel. According to the company, the goal is to help people find content from publications they already pay for.
This placement will first appear in the Gemini app in the coming weeks. Google says the same experience will be added to AI Overviews and AI Mode afterward.
Web Guide improvements
Google also shared an update on Web Guide, an experimental feature that uses AI to organize links into topic groups. The company says it has made Web Guide twice as fast and is showing it more often in the All tab of Search for people who opted into the experiment.