Published 2026-10-20 · Last updated 2026-10-20
Google's AI answers are leaning on links to real websites. According to Search Engine Journal, Google says inline links now appear higher in more AI Mode and AI Overviews responses, and it is testing a section at the top of some answers that lists the official sites for a task. For a local business, the useful question is simple: when an AI answer needs the official source for what you do, is your own website clear enough to be that source? Optimus Business Solutions, a Salem, New Hampshire company that builds custom-coded websites and AI search optimization for businesses in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, explains what Google described, what it did not promise, and what an owner can check on their own site.
What did Google change about links in its AI answers?
Matt G. Southern of Search Engine Journal reported on a Google blog post in which Hema Budaraju, Google's Vice President of Product Management, described five updates to how links appear in AI Mode and AI Overviews. In his summary, the five are:
- More inline links, placed higher. Google says it has made "continued and substantial increases" to inline links in its AI experiences, and that they now appear higher in more responses. Google gave no figure for the size of the change.
- An official-sites section, as a test. For task-based searches that have only one or two official destinations, Google is testing a display that lists those official sites at the top of the answer, with a note on why each link is useful. The example in the coverage is an airline's own refund pages.
- Related-article links with pictures. Links at the end of some AI answers get image thumbnails and a more clickable design.
- Wider carousels for timely articles, built around the sources a person has chosen to prefer.
- Profile links on video results, also a test, connecting creators and publishers to their Search profiles.
Two of the five are tests, and Google did not say when either would expand. Nothing in the post was framed as a local business feature. So read it as a direction Google is pointing in, not a promise about your town or your trade.
What does "official site" mean for a local business?
In Google's example, the task is getting a refund and the official destination is the airline's own website. Third-party pages can describe the refund rules, but only the airline can speak for the airline.
Bring that down to Main Street. A customer's task might be booking a furnace tune-up, asking whether a plumber handles weekend emergencies, finding out if a salon takes walk-ins, or checking whether a contractor works in their town. Directories, review sites and old listings can all say something about you. The one place that can say it for you, in your own words, is your website.
Google has not said whether the official-sites test will ever reach local searches. But the thinking behind it is worth noticing. When an AI answer wants to point a person to the authority on a task, a business's own site is the natural candidate, as long as the site actually handles that task. A lovely homepage that never mentions which towns you serve is a nice brochure. It is not an official answer.
Why would an AI answer link somewhere other than my website?
Nobody outside Google knows exactly how each link is picked, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing. What we see again and again, though, is that small business websites leave out the plain facts an answer would need. The usual gaps:
- All the services squeezed into one paragraph, with no page that answers a single service on its own.
- Hours, phone number or service area that differ from the Google Business Profile or the directories.
- No way to book or request anything without a phone call during business hours.
- Pages that load slowly on a phone, or that are built in a way search crawlers struggle to read.
- No written answers to the questions customers actually ask before they call.
Fixing these does not guarantee a link in any AI answer. Google decides what it shows. But each gap gives any system, and any person in a hurry, a reason to treat a different page as the better source.
Will more links in AI answers bring more visits to my site?
Maybe, and nobody can promise it. Google did not publish click numbers for these changes, and a link appearing higher does not mean a customer taps it.
Search Engine Journal also pointed out a measurement detail worth knowing before you open your reports: Search Console counts all the links inside an AI Overview as one position. A link that moves up inside the answer will not show as a better position in Search Console. So do not judge the change from a single report. Watch the things that keep the lights on over several weeks: calls, booking requests, form fills. And ask new customers how they found you. It is old-fashioned, and it still works.
What should a local owner check on their website first?
Start with the tasks your customers come to you for, then make sure your site handles each one plainly. A short checklist:
| What to check | Why it matters for AI answers | A quick test |
|---|---|---|
| One page per main service | A page that answers one task is easier to link as the answer for that task. | Could you text a customer one link that covers only that service? |
| Your service area, in words | Local tasks depend on where you work. | Do your town names appear on the site as real text, not only in a picture of a map? |
| The same facts everywhere | Different hours or phone numbers in different places make every source look less reliable. | Compare your website, your Google Business Profile and your top two directories side by side. |
| A clear next step on every page | An official link only helps if the visitor can act on it. | Can someone book or send a request in two taps on a phone? |
| Answers in your customers' words | AI answers are assembled from text that answers questions. | Is there a short FAQ that uses the words customers say on the phone? |
None of these steps is exotic, and most owners can do the quick tests in an afternoon. The fixes are where it gets real: rewriting pages, splitting services, making the booking path work on a phone, and lining up the facts across every listing.
How does Optimus help a website become the source AI answers can use?
We build custom-coded websites for small businesses in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, with a page for each service, the towns served in plain words, a booking path that works on a phone, and answers written the way customers ask. Then our AI search optimization keeps the business's facts clear and consistent across the website, the Google Business Profile, Bing and the directories AI tools read from, and checks how the business shows up when people ask AI tools about its services.
We have done this work for 40+ businesses, and we will be straight with you: no one can guarantee a place in an AI answer, from Google or anyone else. What we can do is remove the reasons to skip your website, so that when an answer looks for the official source on your trade in your town, your site is ready to be it.
Common questions
Has Google's official-sites section reached local searches?
Google has described it as a test for task-based searches with one or two official destinations, and gave no date for expanding it. It has not been described as a local business feature. The practical step is the same either way: make your own website the clearest source on your services.
Do I need a new website to show up in AI answers?
Not always. Many sites need clearer service pages, matching facts and a working booking path more than a rebuild. If the site is slow, hard to update, or cannot be read well by search crawlers, a rebuild can be the better choice.
Will Search Console show whether my link moved up in an AI Overview?
Not as a position change. As Search Engine Journal noted, Search Console counts all links inside an AI Overview as one position. Track calls, requests and form fills over several weeks instead.
Can anyone guarantee my business a link in an AI answer?
No. Google and other AI tools decide what they show. Be careful with anyone who promises a placement.
Source: Matt G. Southern's report for Search Engine Journal on Google's changes to links in AI Mode and AI Overviews, which summarizes Hema Budaraju's Google blog post: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-inline-links-higher-ai-search-responses/593089/