By James Calloway

Google says it has made "continued and substantial increases to the presence of inline links" in its AI search experiences, and it's now placing those links higher up in responses. Hema Budaraju, VP of Product Management, laid out five changes in a blog post this week. The company didn't quantify the increase — but for publishers fighting for visibility inside AI Overviews and AI Mode, the direction matters more than the exact number.

What exactly is Google changing?

The five updates touch both AI Mode and AI Overviews:

• Inline links appear more often, and higher up, in AI-generated responses
• Google will test a top-of-response section listing official sites for task-based searches with limited resources
• Carousels for timely articles expand to more locations and languages
• Links at the end of some AI responses get image thumbnails and a more clickable design
• Creator and publisher names on AI Mode video results now link to Search profiles

The inline-link shift builds on a May update, when Google said users could expect more inline links displayed directly next to relevant text. The new post confirms the trend has continued — Google just won't say by how much.

The official-site test targets a narrow case: searches where only one or two official sources of information exist. In those responses, Google would list results from the official sources at the very top, plus context explaining why each link is a good resource.

Short version: links are moving up, and Google is giving reasons to click them.

How big is the Preferred Sources feature?

Big enough that Google wants more of it. The post states the number of people using Preferred Sources — the feature that lets users pick sites they want to see more of — has grown to more than seven times what it was at the beginning of the year. Google provides no user count and no methodology for the figure.

The timely-article carousels, which surface a user's Preferred Sources around developing topics, are rolling out now to more locations and languages. Google didn't name which ones.

For publishers, there's a qualification hurdle: according to Google's documentation, a site must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console to qualify as a Preferred Source in AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google also offers a button and a deep link that publishers can use to ask readers to add their site.

Sevenfold growth with no baseline number is a soft metric — but it signals real user adoption of a feature publishers can influence.

Who gets a Search profile link?

This week, Google began testing clickable creator and publisher names on AI Mode video results, taking users to that creator's Search profile. Google introduced Search profiles in June; they aggregate a creator's articles, videos and social media posts.

Access comes via knowledge panels in mobile search, Discover, or a direct URL. As of Oct. 15, Google's Help Page did not list AI Mode among the places users can find a profile — the test appears to predate the documentation.

Eligibility is tight. Search profiles are available in the US, Canada and India to creators and publishers with at least 10,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) or TikTok. Profiles require a Google Account owned by someone 18 or older.

Ten thousand followers is the gate — smaller publishers need not apply for now.

Does a higher link mean a better reported position?

Not necessarily. Search Console assigns all links within each AI Overview the overview's single position in search results. Moving an inline link further up the response doesn't, on its own, change that inline link's reported position.

So publishers may see more prominent links without seeing different numbers in their performance reports. Measure accordingly.

What happens next?

The official-pages section and the AI Mode profile links are both in testing, and Google's post gives no timeline for wider rollout. The carousel expansion has started, so publishers serving multiple markets should watch their AI Search results for when it lands in their locations and languages.