Google Makes AI Links More Prominent, Hides Click Data — SkimNews
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- Google updated links in AI Mode and AI Overviews, making inline links more prominent in AI responses to give users more ways to connect with the web, according to the company's own blog and coverage by The Verge and Dawn.
- Google will not show click data for the updated AI links, per Search Engine Roundtable — an angle the other outlets' headlines (The Verge, Dawn, Google's own blog) do not surface.
Why it matters: Publishers and SEOs rely on click-through data to gauge traffic from Google Search; by making links more prominent yet withholding click metrics for AI Mode and AI Overviews, Google gives users more entry points while denying sites the measurement signal they need to value that traffic. The asymmetry favors Google's own analytics visibility over external publishers'.
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