Google Boosts Inline Links, Preferred Sources Use Up 7x

Google says it has increased the presence of inline links inside AI Mode and AI Overview responses. Search Engine Journal reported the update on October 15.

Hema Budaraju, Google's VP of Product Management, said in an official blog post that the company has "made continued and substantial increases to the presence of inline links" across its AI experiences. The post doesn't specify by how much.

The structure of responses is also changing. For task-based queries with only one or two official sources, Google is testing a new block at the top of the response that lists those official sites separately.

Each link in that block comes with a short note explaining why the source is useful. Links at the end of a response now include thumbnail images too, in a layout the company says is easier to click.

Carousels for timely articles that highlight a user's chosen Preferred Sources are also expanding to more locations and languages. Preferred Sources is a personalization feature that lets users pick publishers or creators they trust on a given topic, which then show up more often in related answers. Google said usage of the feature has grown to more than seven times its level at the start of this year, without giving a user count or explaining how growth was measured.

Preferred Sources first appeared in Search Labs testing in June of last year, then launched in the US and India that August. When it expanded across English-language markets on December 10, Google said users click through to a preferred source twice as often once they've selected it. The sevenfold growth figure reflects roughly a year of cumulative adoption since then.

AI Mode is also testing creator and publisher name links on video results, which point to a Search profile when clicked. Taken together, the changes read as Google refining how it surfaces sources across its AI answers generally.

One caveat is worth flagging. Search Console's Performance report still groups every link inside an AI Overview under a single position. So even if inline links are actually moving higher in responses, that change won't show up separately in Search Console data.

Google frames Preferred Sources as a personalization setting rather than a ranking factor. Still, a sevenfold jump in usage means people are actively finding and using the feature, which makes it worth factoring into any plan for getting surfaced in AI answers.

In Korea

Preferred Sources isn't fully rolled out in Korean yet, but it could be among the languages Google expands to next. It's worth checking now whether your site meets the kind of profile that tends to qualify, such as clear author information, consistent editorial standards, and a steady publishing history.

Source: Search Engine Journal, October 15, 2026. Checked October 16, 2026. Read the original