NEW YORK – For nearly a year, publishers watched traffic from Google Search slip away as AI-generated answers give all the information without requiring them to visit original websites.
Now, with referral traffic plunging 40.2% across Chartbeat’s news and media network, Google is making its AI answers more clickable, putting original sources back in the spotlight. But will these changes bring readers back, or is the battle for website traffic only beginning?
The latest changes to AI Overviews and AI Mode aim to make links more prominent, expand visual news displays, and give greater exposure to trusted publications. The move comes as data from news publishers points to a sharp decline in Google Search referrals and legal pressure in France adds to the scrutiny surrounding AI-generated answers.
The central question facing the search giant is whether making links easier to find will persuade users to leave AI-generated summaries and visit the websites supplying the information.
Google is changing how links appear within AI-generated responses, with a greater emphasis on placing important sources near the top of answers. The company says it has already made substantial increases in the presence of inline links and is continuing to improve their placement so users can access supporting information more easily.
Google is expanding prominent carousels featuring news headlines and images across more countries, languages, and search queries. These displays can highlight content from publications users have selected through its Preferred Sources feature.
The company says engagement with Preferred Sources has increased more than sevenfold since the beginning of 2026, underscoring the growing role of personalized source selection in its AI Search strategy.
Google is also redesigning the “Dive Deeper” sections that appear at the end of some AI responses. The updated presentation can include image thumbnails and more prominent links intended to encourage users to explore additional material.
In another experiment, Google is testing a dedicated section at the top of certain answers that presents one or two official webpages relevant to a specific question or task. Explanations accompanying the links are designed to help users understand why each source matters.
Publishers increasingly questioned whether AI-generated summaries are reducing the number of people who click through to their websites.
Chartbeat data covering its network of news and media publishers indicates that Google Search referral traffic fell by 40.2% year over year between July 2025 and July 2026. The decline was steeper than the 21.9% drop reported in the previous comparison period. Google Discover referrals also fell by approximately 34.3%.
Google Search’s share of total pageviews across the publisher network reportedly declined from around 9% in July 2024 to approximately 5% in July 2026.
AI Overviews launched in May 2024, after its announcement at Google I/O on May 14. The feature subsequently expanded internationally and became a prominent part of Google’s standard search experience. AI Mode comes in March 2025, initially through Search Labs for eligible Google One AI Premium subscribers in the US before expanding further.
Unlike AI Overviews, which integrate summaries into conventional search results, AI Mode offers a more conversational environment for detailed questions and follow-up exploration.
During Alphabet’s second-quarter 2025 earnings announcement in July, CEO Sundar Pichai said AI Overviews had surpassed 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages. The feature had reached approximately 1.5 billion monthly users in May 2025.
AI Mode, meanwhile, had more than 100 million monthly active users across the United States and India at the time. That reach makes even relatively small changes in user behavior potentially significant for publishers, advertisers, and businesses that rely on search traffic.
Google is also pursuing commercial arrangements with content providers as it develops its AI Search products. Its commercial and news-related AI licensing pilot reportedly covers more than 400 publications worldwide, with participating outlets receiving payment for enhanced content used in certain AI experiences.
These initiatives offer additional ways for publishers and creators to gain visibility, but they do not necessarily resolve the broader traffic problem. A website appearing in an AI answer is not the same as a reader clicking through, spending time on the site, or generating advertising revenue.