Google has updated AI Overviews (the AI-generated answer boxes that appear above traditional search results) and AI Mode (its conversational, chat-style search experience) to surface more links to source websites, according to a report from Tech in Asia.

The change targets the two AI surfaces Google now runs across Search. AI Overviews summarize answers directly on the results page, while AI Mode lets users ask follow-up questions in a chat format. In both cases, publishers have complained that AI-generated answers satisfy the user on Google's own page, cutting clicks to the sites that supply the underlying information.

What did Google actually change?

The reported update centers on link visibility. More links to originating websites now accompany AI-generated responses in both AI Overviews and AI Mode, per Tech in Asia's coverage.

That matters because link placement is the mechanism publishers depend on. When an AI Overview answers a question without a prominent link, the source site loses the referral visit. Google's adjustment signals it is trying to keep publishers — and by extension its own content supply chain — viable.

The report describes this as a product update rather than a formal policy change. Google has not, in the material available, attached a rollout date, a percentage figure for link frequency, or a named update version to the change. Treat the specifics of how many more links appear, and in which query categories, as unconfirmed until Google publishes its own documentation.

Confirmed versus speculative

Confirmed: Google has modified AI Overviews and AI Mode so that more links to source pages appear alongside AI answers. That is the substance of the Tech in Asia report.

Speculation: anything about traffic recovery, ranking effects, or how the change performs across verticals. No tool vendors, publishers, or studies are cited in the available reporting, so publishers should not yet assume measurable click gains. Rank-tracking tools (third-party software that monitors search-result positions and features) may eventually quantify whether AI Overviews link out more often in specific niches — but no such data exists in this report.

Why publishers were watching this closely

The update lands in the middle of a running dispute over AI answer surfaces. News organizations and content sites have argued that AI-generated summaries in search results reduce traffic to the original sources. Google's competitors in AI search face the same criticism, and link prominence inside AI answers has become the practical test of whether search engines can keep publishers willing to be indexed at all.

For site owners, more links inside AI Overviews and AI Mode would mean at least a partial path back to the referral click — the visit that funds most publishing. Whether that path restores meaningful traffic depends on how prominently Google renders the links and how often users click them. Neither figure appears in the source reporting.

What to watch next

Monitor Search Central documentation and Google's own announcements for rollout details: which markets get the change, whether links appear on desktop and mobile equally, and whether Google publishes any usage data on AI Overview click-through. Rank-tracking dashboards covering AI feature visibility will show within weeks whether the extra links are consistently present across query types. If Google extends the approach, expect the next fight to be over link placement inside AI Mode's chat responses — where a link buried under a paragraph of generated text is worth far less than one a user sees before they finish reading the answer.