Some AI Overviews now carry a row of suggested follow-ups across the top, but choosing one drops the user into AI Mode instead of reshaping the results page, Search Engine Roundtable reported on Oct. 29. Google appears to be testing the design. Gagan Ghotra spotted the test in some languages and said the bubble’s text becomes the prompt in AI Mode, Google’s conversational search experience.
Barry Schwartz had expected a bubble to change the results for the chosen refinement. Instead the click moves the user out of the standard results page. The report does not say which languages are included, how many users see the bubbles, or whether Google plans a wider rollout.
For publishers, a follow-up that once produced a fresh set of blue links now leads into a surface with fewer visible source links. If the test spreads, follow-up searches could generate fewer classic impressions and clicks. Teams should watch Search Console query data for long-tail refinements in the affected languages, and treat any decline there as a possible side effect of this test.
Reported by Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable on Oct. 29, 2026, based on a screenshot from Gagan Ghotra.
