Google Search is not just having its AI Overviews link back to itself but also search features like Things To Know. This is all while Google touts how it is seeing impressive growth in search results (artificially inflated?) and while supposedly prioritizing traffic to publishers (made up also?).
I should note, this is also being tested in the people also ask section.
Sachin Patel spotted this and posted about it on X and I was able to replicate it for some queries.
Here is an example of me expanding one of the "Things To Know" where Google is showing several dotted links in the response, they all link back to show you more Google Search results.
Here is a screenshot I took:
Here is a GIF I made of it:
Here is how it looks with AI Overviews, which Google was still doing last week:
Google AI Overviews continues to link to its own search results - I can even replicate - here is a quick video - story updated at https://t.co/e1oMAr8hcw https://t.co/m2L2l8rMbn pic.twitter.com/5MXs2SORRc
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) April 4, 2025
People also ask:
They tested the same for the PAA section. pic.twitter.com/45WULgKJOe
— Sachin Patel (@SachuPatel53124) April 7, 2025
Forum discussion at X.
yep, imo, this is the only way they can currently monetize these AIOs - many of those lead to results without AIOs and tons of ads
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) April 9, 2025
