"Even if you're saying that people click on those citations all the time, well, there's nothing to click on, because it just takes you to another Google result. Currently, an estimated 17 percent of total citations in AI Mode lead back to Google. That's a three-fold increase over the past year. The second most overall cited website in AI Mode? YouTube, another Google company."
"Google's presence in AI Mode citations is even more pronounced in certain niches. In the links analyzed by SE Ranking, around half of all citations in AI Mode for Entertainment and Travel returned to a Google Search result. For example, I asked AI Mode what to pay attention to during the 2026 Oscars ceremony, and the in-line hyperlinks for top-contender movies lead to Google results."
Google's AI Mode chatbot-style search tool exhibits a pattern of self-referential linking, with Google.com and YouTube being the most commonly cited sources. According to SE Ranking research, approximately 17% of total citations in AI Mode lead back to Google Search results, representing a threefold increase over the past year. This self-linking is particularly pronounced in certain content categories, with Entertainment and Travel niches showing approximately 50% of citations returning to Google results. Website owners and publishers have experienced traffic declines as Google prominently features AI-generated summaries in search results through AI Overviews and AI Mode. While Google's head of Search disputes traffic decline reports and claims AI tools drive quality clicks to external sites, critics argue that circular linking to Google results provides no actual traffic benefit to third-party websites.
#google-ai-mode #search-traffic-circulation #seo-impact #self-referential-linking #publisher-traffic-decline
Read at WIRED
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]