Google is testing a new way of showing citations in AI Overviews. Honestly, this feels like a throwback to the days of “SGE.”
Spotted by Sachin Patel on X, the format has ginormous link cards at the bottom of the AI summary:
Google AI Overview is now showing a new type of link cards @rustybrick @brodieseo @gaganghotra_ @glenngabe pic.twitter.com/puJnYWEgqf
— Sachin Patel (@SachuPatel53124) March 24, 2026
It’s just a giant blue card broken up like a merged cell in a table that includes a thumbnail of no apparent value, the site name, favicon, description, and title.
Again, here’s how the citations normally appear on the right side of the output:
It sort of feels like something just went wrong here, and the proportionally sized blue box got shoved under the output. Maybe it's a bug?
Barry previously reported on a test that shows a very similar format but in normal proportions back in 2025.
There is no way that this test gets rolled out. This thing is ugly. I guess maybe it’s more noticeable, so maybe more clicks. All the more reason this test never gets rolled out.
Forum discussion rolling out.
