Earlier this month, we covered Google testing what we called contextual overlay link cards in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Well, Google officially began rolling them out yesterday, and they are more like hover-over pop-up link cards.
Robby Stein from Google announced this on X saying, "In AI Overviews and AI Mode, groups of links will automatically appear in a pop-up as you hover over them on desktop, so you can jump right into a website to learn more."
He added, "And we’ll show more descriptive and prominent link icons within the response across both desktop and mobile."
As I said when Google was testing these, I think these should increase the likelihood of searchers clicking over to sites, at least more than the older version.
Here is what it looks like:
"Our testing shows this new UI is more engaging, making it easier to get to great content across the web," Stein added.
Of course, I'd love to see the data but you know...
I do think this is an improvement and so do many others.
Been seeing this too and REALLY hoping it sticks! https://t.co/DOWuYJw8Eb
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) February 17, 2026
Forum discussion at X.
