Is Google testing removing the citations card from AI Overviews?

Yes. Google appears to be testing the removal of the citations card that normally appears next to AI Overviews, based on screenshots posted by SEO Brodie Clark showing the card present on one search and missing on another. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable could not replicate the missing card himself and has asked Google directly whether it's a bug or a deliberate test, but has not had an answer yet.

What was spotted

When you run a search on desktop and Google shows an AI Overview, it generally also shows a citations card with clickable links to the sources behind the summary. According to Search Engine Roundtable, Google may now be testing removing that card entirely on some queries, rather than just changing its position or design. That's a meaningfully different move from the layout tweaks Google has run before, because it removes the visible link path altogether rather than just making it less prominent.

Who found it and what the evidence shows

The removal was first spotted by Brodie Clark, who posted screenshots on X comparing two searches: one with a normal citations card, one without it. Clark wrote that "Google has made recent changes to AI overviews that are brutal for websites," and said that where citations for a handful of domains used to be prominently featured in visible cards, he is "now seeing a drastic reduction in their appearance," which he suggested could help explain recent declines in impressions and site visibility, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable.

It isn't confirmed as a widespread or permanent change yet. Schwartz said he personally could not replicate the missing citation card, and noted that in his own testing the card "does load in later, so maybe this is a bug of sorts or maybe not," according to Search Engine Roundtable. At least one commenter on X replied that they were "Seeing it consistently across a lot of test queries now," which suggests this isn't a one-off glitch limited to Clark's screenshots, per the same Search Engine Roundtable report. Schwartz said he had asked Google's Rajan Patel directly whether this was a bug or a test, but had not heard back at time of writing.

The stakes are not small. Schwartz has separately reported that AI Overviews show up "for over 80% of searches," according to Search Engine Roundtable. Any change to how, or whether, citations appear touches a huge share of search traffic.

How this fits Google's history of citation-card experiments

This isn't the first time Google has tinkered with how AI Overviews show sources.

In late September 2026, Google was testing citation cards stacked at the bottom of the AI Overview response on desktop, instead of on the right-hand side, a change spotted by Glenn Gabe. Gabe described it on X: "I'm in an AIO test where the citations are stacked at the bottom of the answer on desktop. The right side citation bar is gone," per Search Engine Roundtable. Schwartz noted Google had tested variations of bottom-placed citations "at least twice before, once in March of 2026 and before that in September 2025," according to the same Search Engine Roundtable article.

Earlier still, Google placed citation cards at the bottom of AI Overviews on desktop in a test spotted by Gagan Ghorta, which required users to scroll down to click through to sources. Schwartz commented at the time that "the click-through rate on these cards, especially when they are under the AI Overview, must be super low," as reported by Search Engine Roundtable.

Google has also tested a thinner design for the right-side citations panel, spotted by Khushal Bherwani, which Schwartz said "may be less noticeable to searchers, maybe leading to fewer clicks," according to Search Engine Roundtable. It tested a white background for citation cards instead of the usual blue, spotted by Sachin Patel and also appearing in AI Mode, per Search Engine Roundtable. And it tested a "massive box of citations" at the bottom of AI Overviews with thumbnails, site names, favicons and descriptions, which Mordy Oberstein described as feeling "like a throwback to the days of 'SGE,'" according to Search Engine Roundtable.

This isn't just a Google pattern either. A July 2026 report found Google AI Mode and ChatGPT were both running tests relocating citation cards away from inline positions toward the bottom of the answer, with Google's variant again spotted by Sachin Patel, per Aergos.ai. That report characterised the broader pattern as a shift "toward cleaner AI answer surfaces with citations as secondary elements rather than primary navigation," according to Aergos.ai. A reply to Schwartz's post about the September 2026 test on X put it bluntly: "Citation placement keeps moving because Google is still testing how much credit to visibly give sources without pulling attention away from its own answer," according to a reply on X.

Why Google might be doing this

Taken together, these tests read less like isolated bugs and more like a sustained direction of travel: smaller, less prominent, harder-to-reach, or now possibly absent citation elements. Google is also separately testing blending ads into AI Mode and query refinement bubbles in AI Overviews that push users deeper into AI Mode, according to Search Engine Roundtable's Daily Search Forum Recap. None of the reports confirm Google's internal reasoning, but the pattern across multiple tests, smaller cards, buried placement, now a possible full removal, suggests Google is weighing how much visible credit to give sources against keeping users inside its own answer surface.

Our view: even if this particular test turns out to be a temporary bug, the trend across more than a year of citation-card experiments is unmistakable. Google keeps shrinking, relocating or hiding the one UI element that sends traffic back to the open web, and site owners should plan for that trend continuing rather than hoping any single test gets rolled back.

What it means for site visibility and traffic

If citation cards disappear or stay buried, the practical effect is fewer clicks even when your content is the source behind an AI Overview answer. This echoes what Google's own data has shown about AI Mode cutting clicks to websites, and fits a wider pattern where AI Overview links keep multiplying without closing the traffic gap. It also adds to the measurement headache that comes from Google quietly dropping the AI Overviews label in some surfaces, making it harder to even know when you're being affected.

A real limitation here is that none of the available reporting confirms how widespread or permanent this test is, or whether Google will roll it out broadly. The evidence is a handful of screenshots, one unreplicated case, and some supporting anecdotes on X. It's a signal worth watching, not yet a confirmed rollout.

What to do about it now

You can't control whether Google shows a citations card. What you can do is reduce how dependent your visibility is on any single surface. Check what's actually happening on your own site using the Generative AI performance report in Search Console, which at least shows whether AI Overviews are surfacing your pages at all. Build presence on the sources AI systems tend to trust regardless of citation card design, since AI engines favour earned media over anything you can buy. And if you want a single view of where you stand across Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini rather than guessing from screenshots, a free AI visibility scorecard gives you a starting baseline to track against future changes like this one.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google confirmed to be removing AI Overview citations permanently?

No. Brodie Clark spotted the missing citations card and posted screenshots on X, but Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable could not replicate it and has asked Google's Rajan Patel for clarification without a response yet, according to Search Engine Roundtable.

Has Google tested changes to AI Overview citations before?

Yes, repeatedly. Google has tested moving citations to the bottom of the answer, thinning the citation panel, switching to a white background, and showing a large expanded citation box, across tests spotted by Glenn Gabe, Khushal Bherwani, Sachin Patel and others documented by Search Engine Roundtable.

Why does this matter if AI Overviews already don't send much traffic?

Because AI Overviews appear on over 80% of searches according to Search Engine Roundtable, even small reductions in citation visibility can have an outsized effect on total referral traffic across the web.

Is this the same as Google changing how AI Mode handles ads?

No, but it's happening alongside it. Search Engine Roundtable's recap notes Google is separately testing blending ads into AI Mode and adding query refinement bubbles that push users further into AI Mode rather than out to source sites.