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Google confirms AI Overviews now auto-expand on some queries

Google confirmed on 28 August 2026 that AI Overviews can dynamically expand into a full, detailed answer for some queries, dropping the Show more control.

Published · 2 min read

Written byAdam Hafez
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Laptop screen showing a Google search results page

Key takeaways

  • Google confirmed on 28 August 2026 that AI Overviews can dynamically expand into a full, detailed answer on some queries.
  • The expanded form drops the traditional Show more control and resembles the presentation of AI Mode.
  • A Google spokesperson said the systems decide expansion per topic where it determines the fuller answer is most useful.
  • The automatic expansion cancels if a person has already started scrolling toward the results below the overview.
  • Beyond one example, definitions, Google has not disclosed which query categories trigger expansion, how often it happens, or which ranking signals decide it.

Google confirmed on 28 August 2026 that AI Overviews can now automatically expand into a full, detailed answer on some queries, rather than staying in the compact form behind a Show more control. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land: “For some queries, AI Overviews may dynamically expand for topics where our systems determine it’s most useful for people.” The expanded layout drops the Show more control entirely and resembles the presentation of AI Mode inside standard Search results.

What the expanded view shows

Instead of a short summary capped by a Show more link, qualifying queries now return the complete detailed answer immediately, pushing the standard organic results further down the page. Google added: “Our research has shown that with this dynamic experience, users find Search more helpful and engage deeper in follow-up exploration.”

When does the expansion cancel?

Search Engine Land reported one exception. If a person has already begun scrolling to view content below the AI Overview, Google cancels the expansion so the person does not lose their reading position. The report does not attribute that detail to a Google statement.

What has Google not said?

Google has not disclosed the full set of query categories that get the expanded treatment, how frequently it happens, or what ranking signals decide it. Search Engine Land reported the confirmation on 28 August 2026. On 31 August 9to5Google carried the same statement and added that Google’s one example is definitions, where AI Overviews take up the entire screen. Neither the trigger logic nor a rollout percentage has been published.

Why we care

A dynamically expanding AI Overview pushes organic results further down the page on an unknown subset of queries, without any stated way to detect which queries are affected before they change under you. Until Google publishes more, the only defensible position is what is confirmed: the Show more control can disappear, the expansion is reported to cancel once a person is scrolling, and the selection logic is undisclosed.

The evidence

Type
announcement
Impact
medium
Affects
AI Overviews, SERP layout, organic visibility

Sources

  1. 1.Google is dynamically expanding AI Overviews for some queries - Search Engine Land, August 28, 2026Primary
  2. 2.Google Search AI Overviews are getting bigger - 9to5Google, August 31, 2026

Common questions

Does the Show more button still appear in AI Overviews?

Not when a query qualifies for the dynamic expansion. Google removes the Show more control entirely and renders the full answer up front, so there is no click gate between the compact summary and the detailed one.

Can the automatic expansion be stopped once it starts?

In one case. Search Engine Land reported that if a person has already begun scrolling to content below the overview, Google cancels the expansion so the reader does not lose their place.

Which searches trigger the bigger AI Overview?

Google has not said. It described the decision as systems determining a topic is one where the fuller answer is most useful, without naming query categories, a rollout percentage, or the ranking signals involved.

About the author

Adam Hafez
Adam Hafez

Founder, UpgradIQ FZC LLC

Adam Hafez works on technical SEO and search measurement: how pages get crawled, indexed, ranked and now quoted by answer engines. He founded UpgradIQ, which reads Google Search Console and GA4 to tie ranking movement back to the changes that caused it. He publishes what the data supports and states the limits of it.

  • Technical SEO
  • Search Console and GA4
  • Answer engine optimization
  • Structured data

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