Google to display news links higher in AI Mode and AI Overviews
Google said on Thursday it will give website links a bigger and higher position in its artificial intelligence search results, responding to warnings from publishers about sharp falls in traffic. Contextual links inside AI-generated answers will now appear more frequently and sit higher up, while the link carousel below AI Overviews expands to more countries. The new Google AI Mode news links policy will also favour websites a reader has marked as preferred sources. Publishers say AI-generated answers keep users on Google’s own pages instead of sending them to the websites that produced the reporting.
What changes in Google AI Mode news links
Google outlined four main changes. First, contextual links will be featured more often and placed higher inside AI-generated search content. Second, the company will expand its link carousel worldwide. The carousel shows cards directly below AI Overviews with headlines and images for relevant articles.
Third, the ranking algorithm will prioritise articles from sites a user has marked as preferred sources. It will also pull content from relevant social media posts and forums. Fourth, links at the end of AI-generated summaries will become more prominent for users who want to “dig deeper”.
The two products at the centre of this row grew quickly. In May 2024, the company launched AI Overviews, where Google generates summarised answers to search queries rather than only showing links as it historically did. Then, in March 2025, Google added AI Mode, which opens in a separate window and provides a more comprehensive answer with more links than AI Overviews. During its second-quarter 2025 results, Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said AI Overviews had more than two billion monthly users across more than 200 countries.
Why publishers pushed Google to act
The pressure has been building for months. According to a report by consultancy Chartbeat, news website publishers saw a 40 per cent drop in traffic coming from Google between July 2025 and July 2026. For many outlets, search referrals were once their largest single source of readers.
In August, Apig, a group representing daily newspapers in France, alerted the country’s competition authority that AI summaries were in breach of agreements reached with news publishers in 2022.
What this means for Pakistani publishers and readers
For Pakistani readers, the practical takeaway is the preferred sources feature. A reader who marks Pakistani news sites as preferred sources is more likely to see those outlets near the top of AI-generated results. That could help local publishers win back some of the traffic lost to AI summaries, provided readers know the option exists and take a moment to set it.
The timing also matters for Pakistan’s digital sector. Google’s expanding presence in Pakistan has brought AI tools closer to local users, and the company recently offered a free one-year AI Pro plan for Pakistani students. More Pakistani readers now use Google’s AI products in daily study and work, so where links sit inside those answers directly affects which outlets get read.
The company has been moving quickly on the product side too. Google recently launched a Gemini AI agent for the workplace, and earlier this month it introduced Gemini 4 Argon with access limited to cyber defenders. Each new AI surface raises the same question for publishers: will it send readers to their sites, or answer everything on the spot? Pakistani publishers cannot control Google’s design choices, but they can strengthen the signal they send with clear headlines, original reporting and consistent publication.
Frequently asked questions
What is Google AI Mode?
AI Mode is a search feature added in March 2025. It opens in a separate window and gives a more comprehensive AI-generated answer with more links than AI Overviews.
What is the link carousel?
The link carousel is a row of cards shown directly below AI Overviews, each carrying a headline and image for a relevant article. Google says it will now expand this feature worldwide.
What are preferred sources?
Preferred sources are websites a user has marked as favourites in Google search settings. Google’s algorithm will prioritise articles from these sites inside AI-generated results.
Will these changes bring back publisher traffic?
Google has not promised that. The changes give links more visibility, but whether users click through will depend on the design and on reader habits.
