Google pushes links higher in AI answers as Preferred Sources use rises 7x

Google on October 15, 2026 published five changes to how AI Mode and AI Overviews display links to websites, including inline links placed higher in responses, a test of a dedicated section for official sites at the top of answers, and a wider rollout of news carousels. The company said the number of people using its Preferred Sources feature has grown more than sevenfold since the start of the year, without giving a baseline.

In Short

Google changed its AI search answers so that links to websites show up earlier, look bigger and appear in more places, including a new box for official sites and clickable creator names. This matters to publishers and creators, who have watched clicks from Google fall since AI summaries arrived and who depend on those links for traffic. Google gave no numbers on whether these changes send more visits, so the effect on traffic is still unknown.

What Google published

The post, written by Hema Budaraju, Vice President of Product Management, appeared on…