--- title: Google's latest link update for AI Mode and AI Overviews: what changed on 15 October 2026 canonical_url: https://tkmstudio.com/library/google-ai-mode-more-links-october-2026 language: en last_updated: 2026-10-16 organization: TKM Studio, AI Visibility & Adoption Studio, Madrid, working worldwide --- # Google's latest link update for AI Mode and AI Overviews: what changed on 15 October 2026 On 15 October 2026 Google announced five changes to how its AI answers in Search link to websites: more inline links placed higher, a test of a dedicated section for official pages, news carousels in more locations and languages, more prominent related article links, and a test of clickable creator names in AI Mode. Two are tests, and Google gave no countries, languages or dates for any of them. It is the latest in a series of link updates Google has announced this year, and like the earlier ones it comes without click data. What changed, what is still a test, and what a site can check today. ## What Google announced On 15 October 2026 Hema Budaraju, VP of Product Management at Google, published "More ways to connect with the web from Search" on the Google blog. The subtitle says Google is updating AI Mode and AI Overviews with clearer inline links, context about sources, timely articles and more. In the body Google uses broader terms: AI Search, AI experiences and AI responses. Apart from the creator test, the post does not say whether each change applies to AI Mode, AI Overviews or both. Google opens with one number: the number of people who use its Preferred Sources feature has grown by more than 7x since the start of the year. Google gives no baseline for that figure. ## The five changes - More inline links, placed higher: Google describes "continued and substantial increases" in inline links in its AI experiences, and says it will show inline links higher up in responses more frequently. - A section for official pages (test): Google writes that sometimes there are only one or two official places on the web to complete a specific task or get the exact information you need. It will test a new display that shows these links in a dedicated section at the top of a response, with context about why each link is useful. - News carousels in more places: carousels of timely articles are rolling out in AI Search features to additional locations and languages globally. They also highlight the reader's Preferred Sources. - Related article links: at the end of some AI responses, links to related articles get image thumbnails and a more clickable design. - Clickable creator names (test): this week Google started testing clickable creator and publisher names on video results in AI Mode. The names link to their Search profiles. ## What the post does not say The post names no countries, no languages, no devices and no rollout dates. It does not mention Search Console. It gives no click or traffic figures, and it does not describe how Google decides which page counts as official. Google's developer documentation page "AI features and your website" was last updated on 10 December 2025 and does not mention inline links. Google's announcement does not point to any new guidance for site owners, and the developer pages cited here have not been updated since it was published. ## Link updates this year This is at least the fourth time in 2026 that Google has announced more visible links in its AI answers. - 17 February 2026: Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, announced on X that on desktop, groups of links in AI Overviews and AI Mode open in a pop-up on hover, and that link icons become more descriptive and prominent on desktop and mobile. - 6 May 2026: Hema Budaraju published "5 new ways to explore the web with generative AI in Search": inline links next to the relevant text, hover previews on desktop, highlighted links from news subscriptions, previews from public discussions, and suggested next reads at the end of responses. - 26 August 2026: Stein announced on X that link carousels for developing topics, already shown in AI Overviews, were live in AI Mode. - 15 October 2026: the five changes above. None of the four announcements includes click or traffic figures. The May post says only that in early testing people were "significantly more likely" to click links labelled as their subscriptions, and Stein said Google's testing showed the new design was "more engaging". For a site owner, the useful number is still the one you measure yourself: which of your pages appear in AI answers to your customers' questions, and whether that changes after each update. In December 2025 the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into Google's use of web publishers' content for AI purposes in Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. ## Who can use the creator link today The creator test links to Search profiles. Google's help page "Create a new Search profile" says Search profiles are currently available in Canada, India and the United States. Eligibility requires being at least 18 and having at least 10,000 subscribers or followers on at least one of YouTube, Instagram, X or TikTok. Under the current help page, Search profiles are not available in Spain or Turkey. ## Where Preferred Sources fits Two of the changes point back to Preferred Sources: the 7x figure and the news carousels that highlight a reader's preferred sources. Google's documentation says that in AI Mode and AI Overviews, a site a reader selected can be highlighted with a "preferred" badge. That part requires the site to be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console. We covered the button, the deeplink and the Search Console setting in [Google's preferred sources button](https://tkmstudio.com/library/google-preferred-sources-search-generative-ai-control). ## The short checklist - In Search Console, open Settings > Search generative AI and confirm the property is not set to Exclude. Exclude removes your links and content from AI Overviews and AI Mode. - Search for your domain in Google's source preferences tool, and give returning readers a way to add you as a preferred source. - Note that the official page section and the creator links are tests. Google has published no criteria, so there is nothing specific to implement for them yet. - If you publish video, check whether a Search profile is available in your country before planning around the creator link. - Ask your customers' questions in AI Mode and record which links appear and where. Repeat after a few weeks to see whether placement changes. ## Questions people ask ### Will this send more traffic to my site? Google's post gives no click or traffic figures. It describes more links and higher placement, not a result for any given site. ### Are these changes live in Spain and Turkey? The post does not say. It names no countries or languages, apart from saying the news carousels are rolling out to additional locations and languages globally. The official page section and the creator links are tests. ### Can I apply to appear in the official page section? Google describes no application process and no criteria. The post only says the section is a test of a dedicated display at the top of a response. ### Can a creator in Spain or Turkey get the clickable name? Not under the current help page. The creator link goes to a Search profile, and Google says Search profiles are currently available in Canada, India and the United States. ### Does setting Search generative AI to Exclude affect these links? Yes, for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google's Search Console help says Exclude removes your links and content from AI Overviews, AI Mode and the generative AI features in Google Discover. ## Sources - [Google Blog, Hema Budaraju, More ways to connect with the web from Search, 15 October 2026](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/updates-ai-mode-overviews-explore-web/) - [Google Blog, Hema Budaraju, 5 new ways to explore the web with generative AI in Search, 6 May 2026](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/explore-web-generative-ai-search/) - [Robby Stein on X, 17 February 2026](https://x.com/rmstein/status/2023865995908313531) - [Search Engine Land, Google adds link carousels for developing topics in AI Mode, 26 August 2026](https://searchengineland.com/google-adds-link-carousels-for-developing-topics-in-ai-mode-485884) - [European Commission, IP/25/2964, 9 December 2025](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2964) - [Google Search Help, Create a new Search profile](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/16904498) - [Google Search Central, Help your readers find your site through preferred sources in Google Search, last updated 18 September 2026](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/preferred-sources) - [Search Console Help, Search generative AI control](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16908024) - [Google Search Central, AI features and your website, last updated 10 December 2025](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) See where engines find you: https://tkmstudio.com/services/answer-share-audit