Google tests moving AI Overview source icons to the bottom

Many search teams built their reading of Google AI Overviews on one assumption. That a reader at least sees the icons of the sites Google cited at the top of the answer. That assumption is now at risk. Google is testing a new placement that moves the source icons to the bottom of the AI Overview. SEO consultant Brodie Clark spotted it on 11 November and shared a screenshot. Barry Schwartz wrote it up at Search Engine Roundtable the same evening.

In the test, the row of citation icons no longer sits above the AI reply. Instead, Google shows only the number of referenced sites at the bottom of the answer. Hovering over that number opens the full list. A reader now has to scroll past the whole generated reply to see any cited site.

What Brodie Clark reported

He wrote on X that Google now puts the number of referenced sites at the bottom of the AI Overview. The previous test placed it at the top, above the citations. This version is different. Hovering displays the full list of citations. He attached a screenshot of the number of sources on a thin grey line at the foot of the reply.

Barry Schwartz treated the move with concern. "Why would Google move these source links to the bottom when it will result in even fewer clicks?" he wrote. He called it a test, not a confirmed rollout. Google has shown both placements in different experiments.

What it means for cited sites

The sites that get a click from an AI Overview are already a small share of all readers. The citation icons at the top give the reader a reason to click before reading. The icons at the bottom require the reader to scroll, and most will not. Hovering is a mouse action. A mobile reader cannot do it at all.

AI Overviews have cut classical search traffic for many sites. Many of those sites relied on the citation icons to make up some of the loss. That make-up click may now shrink. The cited site is still named in the generated answer. It is just harder to reach.

What to do this week

Three practical steps while the test runs. First, pull the AI click column in Search Console on its own. Track the share of your total clicks that come from AI Overviews. If the share drops week over week, this test may be the reason. Second, measure the share of your AI clicks that come from the citation icons versus the body of the answer. Most sites do not know this number. Third, work on being named in the body of the answer, not only in the citation row. A brand name in the generated text survives either placement.

Reveneau builds AI products that must be cited correctly by answer engines. The eval suite for those products already has to cover whether the model names the right source. It also has to cover whether the source link is well placed. A change like this one is a reason to add the second check if it is not already running.

Source

Google Tests Moving Citations Icons To Very Bottom Of AI Overviews, by Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable. Based on Brodie Clark on X.