Report: Google AI Overviews now carry far more external links

A report says Google has sharply raised how often AI Overview answers include external links. The claim comes from one company’s chart, and the person relaying it has doubts.

What was reported#

Malte Landwehr of Peec AI posted data from his company on X, writing that “Google massively increased the number of external links within AI Overview answers.” The chart attached to it tracks the share of AI Overviews that contain external links, which went from close to 0% to over 25%. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable relayed it on September 23, 2026.

Note what the figure measures: how many AI Overviews include at least one external link, not how many links each one carries or how many clicks they send.

The caveats#

Schwartz wrote that the result does not “feel” right to him, but that he should share it anyway, because his recent coverage has mostly shown Google linking out less, and this data shows the opposite. He also disclosed a small investment in Peec AI and said he would cover its content less often because of it.

The report gives no sample size, query set, date range or definition of an external link. It does not say whether the source cards Google shows beside an AI Overview count, or only links in the answer text. It does not say Google confirmed a change.

What Google documents#

Google’s AI features page says AI Overviews and AI Mode “surface relevant links” to help people find information and explore content they may not have discovered before. To be eligible as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet, and Google says no special optimization is required. Nothing in that page sets a target number of links, so a shift in link frequency would not show up there.

How to check it on your own site#

Google says clicks from AI features are counted in the Search Console Performance report under the “Web” search type, so you cannot filter them out directly. A workable check:

• List queries where your pages are cited in an AI Overview today.
• Compare clicks and click-through rate for those queries before and after mid-September 2026.
• Record which pages are cited, since citation and ranking are drifting apart.

For how often AI Overview citations also rank in the organic top 10, see our AI Overview citation overlap report.

Why we care#

If the shift is real, AI Overviews would send more clicks to outside sites than before. Treat it as unverified until a second dataset or a Google statement backs it.