Google's AI search briefly stopped linking to websites
A new Gemini model went live in AI Mode with almost no citations, and Google called it a bug.
Google's AI Mode, the chat style version of search, started running a new model called Gemini 3.8 Flash, and for a short period its answers came back with almost no links to websites.
Gagan Ghotra was the first to report it. Barry Schwartz wrote it up, saying AI Mode on the new model was "not link or citation friendly". Lily Ray summed up the reaction with a joke about Google forgetting to add any links to answers at all.
Google called it a bug
Robby Stein replied to Schwartz the same day and said the behaviour was not intended and a fix was coming soon. Schwartz then updated his story to say Google had confirmed the issue and would fix it.
By the next morning, Glenn Gabe said links were back. He posted screenshots comparing AI Mode answers when the model first rolled out with what he was seeing after the fix, and called the difference big.
Why a model swap matters to your site
When Google changes the model behind AI Mode, the part of search that writes an answer instead of just listing results, the set of sites it points to can change with it. Marie Haynes said a new model in AI Mode feels like an algorithm update for two reasons. The answers get better at meeting what the user wanted, so there is less reason to click through to a website. And the system gets better at guessing which websites a person would actually find helpful.
That is the part worth watching. The missing links were a bug and they came back. The underlying shift, where the answer does more of the work and fewer people click, is not a bug.
What to do
Nothing, for this bug. It lasted about a day and Google fixed it.
If your traffic dipped sharply around the same period and recovered, this is a likely explanation, so do not go rewriting pages over it. Open Google Search Console, click Performance, and set the date range to the last 28 days so you can see whether clicks dropped for a day or have been sliding for weeks. Those are two different problems.
The longer term answer has not changed. Pages that give a real, specific answer are the ones an AI answer has a reason to cite. Thin pages that restate what everyone else already said give it nothing to point at.
This isn't working as intended, and we’ll roll out a fix soon.
The AI answers do better at meeting user needs, meaning less need for clicks to websites.