Google AI Overviews citation cards begin showing AI-written summaries
Google appears to be testing or rolling out AI-generated summary snippets inside the citation cards that sit alongside AI Overviews in Search. The cards, which usually show a linked source with a short description, can now carry a summary written by Google rather than text lifted from the page.
Brodie Clark spotted the change and noted that the wording does not appear verbatim on the cited page, with Google summarising the content it judges most relevant to the query. The behaviour was visible on some queries and not others, suggesting a test or a partial rollout.
For brands chasing citations in AI answers, the shift moves the goalposts: the snippet a user sees is now Google's paraphrase of the source, not the source's own meta description or opening line. Pages that state their most relevant points plainly give the summariser better material to work with.
Reported by Search Engine Roundtable ↗
Topics: AI Overviews, Google Search, Citations