Google moves links higher in AI answers: check if you're cited

What Google has changed

Google is changing how links appear in AI Mode and AI Overviews, Search Engine Journal reports. Inline links, the small source links that sit inside the AI-written answer, are moving higher up the response. Google is also expanding the carousels that highlight Preferred Sources, the sites a searcher has chosen to see more of.

This is not a one-off. Search Engine Roundtable notes that Google has updated how it shows links and link cards in its AI answers many times. Each time, Google says the aim is to encourage searchers to click through to the publisher or creator.

There is an important gap. Google has not released click data for these changes. Nobody outside Google can yet say whether higher links send more visitors to websites, fewer, or about the same. This article makes no claim either way.

How inline links and source carousels appear in Google's AI Mode and AI Overviews. The blue outline marks the white 'Dive Deeper' panel of linked sources below the Google logo. Screenshot published by Search Engine Journal.

Why being quoted now matters more

The practical point for UK businesses is simple. A link placed higher in an AI answer can only help a site that appears in that answer at all.

When Google writes an AI Overview, it picks a handful of pages to quote as sources. Those sources are the ones that get the better link placement. A business whose pages are not among them gets nothing from this change, however well it ranks in the ordinary results underneath.

So the useful question is not "where do the links sit?" but "is my page one of the links?" For many businesses, the honest answer is that they have never checked.

Sayu's study of everyday UK searches looks at exactly this: which sites Google's AI Overviews quote, and how that compares with the sites in Google's ordinary results. The full breakdown of which sites are quoted is still being finalised, so no figures from it are given here.

What this means for UK businesses

• Check, don't assume. Ranking well in Google's normal results does not guarantee that its AI answers quote you. Look at the AI answer itself for the searches that matter to you.
• Answer the question clearly. AI Overviews often pull from pages that give a direct, plain answer near the top. Pages that bury the answer under long introductions are harder to quote.
• Make sure Google can use your page. Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Search to appear as a link in its AI features. Settings that block snippets or indexing also keep you out of AI answers.
• Don't plan around traffic claims yet. Google has not shared click data, so treat any promise that this change will lift or cut visits with caution. Watch your own analytics instead.

Analysis compiled by Sayu (sayu.co.uk), a UK digital marketing agency.