Google is running a test that changes what happens when a reader clicks a linked phrase inside an AI Overview. Instead of landing on a publisher page, the click now opens AI Mode, Google’s conversational search experience, carrying the original query forward. Search watcher Gagan Ghotra spotted the behavior and posted a video of it on X, noting the anchor text no longer points to a webpage at all.
The test differs from an earlier one Search Engine Watch covered, where clickable AI Overview text reformulated the query within the standard results page rather than launching AI Mode. On September 21, 2026, Search Engine Watch reported the newer version as a distinct experiment, not a confirmed wider rollout.
The change follows Google’s test of an AI Mode button placed directly inside the results-page search bar, reported the same day. Together the two tests suggest anchor text is becoming another entry ramp into AI Mode instead of a route to source pages.
Publishers who depend on AI Overview citations for click-through should watch whether this anchor behavior expands, since it would divert the reader before they ever reach a linked source.
Search Engine Watch, September 21, 2026.
