Google is rolling out five updates to how links appear in its AI generative search experiences, including AI Mode and AI Previews. The changes add subscription labels and inline links in replies, among other features.
Here is an example of how the changes will appear:
Hema Budaraju, vice president of product management, wrote about the updates in a blog post.
What’s new
The updates cover five areas of link display in Google’s AI generative search features.
AI Mode Subscription Highlighting and AI Previews
Google now labels users’ news subscription links in AI mode and AI previews.
Google announced the promotion of subscriptions in December for the Gemini app, but did not provide a timeline for AI mode or AI previews. Today’s announcement confirms the expansion on both surfaces.
Google said that in early tests, people were “significantly more likely” to click on links labeled as their subscriptions. The company did not share specific figures.
Publishers who want to help their subscribers connect their subscriptions to Google can find details on the Google Developers website.
Topic suggestions after AI responses
Searchers will start to see suggestions for related content at the end of many AI responses. These refer to articles or analyzes on different aspects of the subject.
Chat and social media insights
Google AI responses will include insight insights from public online discussions, social media, and other first-hand sources.
The company also adds context to these links, like creator names and community names.
See an example provided:
More inline links in answers
Users will start to see more links directly in the AI response text, positioned next to the relevant passage. Google has not quantified how many additional links users will see or where the change will appear.
See an example provided:
Link hover previews on desktop
On desktop, hovering over an inline link in Google AI Experiments will display a preview of the linked website. The preview includes the site name and page title. Google noted that people are hesitant to click on links when they don’t know where they lead.
See an example provided:
Why it matters
These updates show that Google is trying to make links more visible in AI Search at a time when publishers are closely monitoring referral traffic.
More inline links, hover previews, talk cards, and subscription labels all point in the same direction. Google wants AI responses to feel less like dead ends and more like starting points for deeper exploration of the web.
This is important because the debate around AI Search has focused on whether AI responses reduce the need to click. Google is now adding new ways to click, but it doesn’t provide the data publishers need to judge impact.
For websites, this leaves the update in a familiar place. Link processing can improve visibility, but the impact on traffic will still need to be measured through analytics once the deployment reaches its audience.
Looking to the future
The next question is how consistently these link treatments appear on AI search surfaces.
Google has not provided rollout details for most updates, including geography, language, eligibility, or timing. This makes early tests difficult to interpret until we can see where features appear and what types of requests trigger them.
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