What changed
Google began adding more inline links to AI Mode and AI Overviews, expanded timely-article carousels, and started tests of an official-sites section plus clickable creator and publisher names. Some changes are broad rollouts, while the official-site and attribution treatments remain limited tests.
Why it matters
The interface changes can make it easier to inspect sources behind generated search responses and can alter referral patterns for publishers. They improve the path to evidence, not the correctness or completeness of an AI answer.
What to do
For consequential searches, open the cited primary pages and compare dates and claims rather than relying on the summary. Publishers should measure referral and attribution changes separately by surface, country and query type before drawing traffic conclusions.
Caveat
Google has not published complete eligibility, geography, ranking or experiment-allocation details. The official-sites section and clickable publisher treatment are tests, and more links do not guarantee balanced sourcing, accurate synthesis or referral recovery.