Google May Be Pulling Citation Cards From AI Overviews
Google appears to be testing the removal of the citations card that normally sits alongside AI Overviews on desktop search results. The card, which links out to the sources behind an AI-generated answer, was missing on some queries in screenshots shared by Brodie Clark, who said he was seeing it consistently across a large number of test queries.
Clark reported a sharp drop in how often the cards appear, and warned that sites seeing a significant fall in impressions and visibility in recent days may be feeling the effect. AI Overviews now appear on more than 80% of searches, so the card is one of the few prominent routes from an AI answer back to a publisher.
Barry Schwartz was unable to replicate the missing card, and noted that it sometimes loads in later, which could point to a bug. He has asked Google's Rajan Patel whether it is one and had not received a reply. Google has previously tested placing the citations card below the AI Overview rather than beside it.
For brands and agencies tracking citations in AI answers, the change, if it holds, would cut the visible credit a source gets even when its content is used in the answer. That makes impression counts from AI Overviews a less reliable signal of visibility, and puts more weight on whether a brand is named in the answer text itself.
Reported by Search Engine Roundtable ↗
Topics: AI Overviews, Citations, Google Search