Google moved the links in AI answers to the bottom
Two changes spotted in Google's AI answers, and both push the links to your site further out of sight.
Google has moved the source icons in AI Overviews to the bottom of the answer. AI Overviews are the AI written answers at the top of Google results, and the source icons are the small links that point back to the websites the answer came from. Barry Schwartz posted the change, crediting @SERPalerts, and says it reduces clicks even more.
That is the opposite direction from what Google said recently, when it talked about putting more clickable links inside AI answers. Nobody has explained why the icons moved, and Google has not commented in the sources we have seen.
Definition searches now open the AI answer in full
Separately, Glenn Gabe says searches for definitions and meanings are now showing AI Overviews fully expanded by default. He checked saved snapshots of those results and found the AI answers collapsed as of recently, or not there at all. Barry Schwartz, posting Gabe's find, says the change pushes the normal web results further down the page.
Gabe called it a big heads-up for sites providing definitions and meanings. He also said he thinks the change is new, and maybe very new, so treat it as one person's observation rather than something Google has confirmed.
Big heads-up for sites providing definitions and meanings.
Who this hits
If a chunk of your traffic comes from people searching what something means, this is the one to watch. Glossary pages, jargon explainers, "what is X" posts for your industry. Those searches now hand the visitor a complete answer before they scroll, and the links back to you sit at the very bottom.
What to do
Open Google Search Console, go to the Performance report and sort your pages by clicks. Look for pages that answer a simple definition question. If clicks on those pages have slid in the last few weeks, you now have a likely reason, and it is not something you broke.
There is no fix that puts the links back where they were. What you can do is make the pages worth the click after the AI answer has given the basic meaning. A definition alone no longer earns a visit. The example, the cost, the local rule, the thing you would tell a customer on the phone, that is what Google's summary cannot reproduce from a two line definition.
If definitions are not a meaningful part of your traffic, do nothing. The source icon move affects every AI Overview, but you cannot control where Google places them, and chasing it is wasted effort.
Google moving source icons to the bottom of the AI Overviews, reducing clicks even more
Be the person who already knew
One email a day. Under three minutes. You will hear about a Google change before it shows up in your traffic.