Google Just Changed the Click Economy: How to Win In-Line Citations in AI Mode
By Kevin Roy, GreenBanana SEO
Google just made a move that looks small on the surface, but it changes the entire click economy.
They are adding more in-line links inside AI Mode—and each link now comes with a little “why this matters” blurb. That sounds polite, but make no mistake: this is a major shift in how traffic will flow.
At GreenBanana SEO, we help brands show up not just in Google’s traditional results, but in the answers—Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and the whole new “lift system.”
In this post (and the video below), I’m breaking down exactly what Google just updated, why they are doing it, and—most importantly—what you need to change this week if you want to be one of the sources AI actually chooses.
Watch the Breakdown:
The Update Stack: What Changed?
Google recently rolled out four distinct changes that signal where Search is heading. Here is the breakdown:
1. AI Mode is Adding More In-Line Links
Google says AI Mode will now show more links directly inside the answer. But they aren’t just dropping URLs; each link gets a short explanation—a “why this matters” blurb—telling the user exactly what they will learn if they click.
2. “Preferred Sources” is Expanding
This feature allows users to “star” the sites they trust, ensuring those outlets show up more often in Top Stories and other surfaces.
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The stat that matters: Google says when people pick preferred sources, they click through to those sites about twice as much on average.
3. Web Guide Got Faster
Web Guide is the Gemini-powered organization layer that groups results by topic so users can explore deeper. Recent reports indicate performance improvements have roughly doubled its speed and broadened where it appears.
4. Google News AI Overviews (Pilot)
Separate from the standard AI Mode, Google is testing AI-generated “article overviews” on select publishers’ Google News pages. This is meant to provide context before a click (and reports suggest some publishers in the pilot are receiving direct payments).
Why Is Google Doing This?
I believe Google is trying to solve three problems at once:
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Transparency: Where did this answer come from?
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Trust: Why should the user believe it?
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Pressure: Scrutiny from publishers and regulators (especially in the EU).
“More in-line links and ‘why relevant’ blurbs is Google saying: ‘We’re not stealing the web—we’re sending you back to it.’“
The New SERP Logic
Here is the big takeaway for SEOs and brand managers: AI answers aren’t replacing links. They’re re-ranking links inside the answer itself.
The competition has shifted. It is no longer just about ranking #1 on the page. The new competition is: Can you become the source that gets embedded as the ‘next click’?
