Google is testing an AI Overview that hides the citation cards

A website that ranks in Google is losing one of two ways to earn a click from an AI Overview. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable reported it on 29 October. Google is testing a layout that removes the citation cards next to the answer. SEO consultant Brodie Clark spotted the layout the day before.

Clark posted screenshots on X. He wrote that the change is already hitting many websites. He said sites losing impressions in recent days are now likely losing them from this layout. His exact words called the change "brutal for websites" and the drop in cards "a drastic reduction in their appearance".

What the layout changes

Before this test, an AI Overview on desktop showed the AI answer on the left. A column of two or three citation cards sat on the right. Each card named a source domain. Each had a short title. Each sent a reader to that page. The cards sat next to the answer and needed no click to appear.

Clark's screenshots show the same page with the cards gone. The answer text is still there. Inline links inside the answer are still there. They are still hoverable and still clickable. What has gone is the visible row of named sources beside the answer.

Schwartz said he could not get the layout to show on his own queries. He kept trying for more than a day. Clark replied that he is seeing it consistently now across many test queries.

What Google has not said

Schwartz asked Rajan Patel of Google on X whether this is a bug or a test. Patel had not replied by the time the article went live. Google has made no public statement about the layout.

The company tested two other citation layouts in the past year. One moved the cards to the bottom of the answer behind a "show all" button. That ran in September 2025 and again in March 2026. Schwartz noted the new layout may be a next step, or something separate.

What a site owner can check

A reader whose site is in Search Console should look at impressions for the last seven days. A drop that lines up with 28 October may be the layout change. That applies if the site was being quoted as a citation card on common queries.

The share of clicks that come through inline mentions now carries all the weight. A site that earns an inline mention gets a visit. A site that was earning citation-card clicks loses them.

Search Engine Roundtable's earlier reporting put AI Overviews on more than 80 percent of searches. The surface the cards used to live on carried most of the clicks a site could earn from AI Overviews. Until Google explains the test or ends it, those clicks are not coming.

Source

• Google Testing Dropping Citations Cards From AI Overviews, Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz
• Brodie Clark's post on X, @brodieseo