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Light Dark Use Device Settings Advertise Contact Us Home / Google News / Google AI Overviews Tests Contextual Overlay Link Cards Google AI Overviews Tests Contextual Overlay Link Cards Feb 9, 2026 - 7:41 am 0 — by Barry SchwartzBarry Schwartz / Executive Editor
Barry Schwartz is the CEO of RustyBrick and a technologist, a New York Web service firm specializing in customized online technology that helps companies decrease costs and increase sales. Barry is also the founder of the Search Engine Roundtable and the News Editor of Search Engine Land. He is well known & respected for his expertise in the search marketing industry. He only provides consulting services to expert SEOs and also performs search marketing expert witness services. Barry graduated from the City University of New York and lives with his family in the NYC region. You can follow Barry on Twitter at @rustybrick or on LinkedIn and read his full bio over here. 38,029 Articles as barry.schwartz Filed Under Google
Over the past week or so, Google has been testing a new format for link cards in the AI Overviews within Google Search. When you place your mouse cursor over a link clip icon, a new overlay will show you the page/site cards that line of text is being sourced from.
Here is a screenshot that I was able to trigger on Friday late morning in New York on Apple Safari desktop:
This was first spotted by Harpreet who posted this on X:
Google testing a new type of citation style in AI Overviews. Anyone seen this before? @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/ViGKwWj5Zo
— Harpreet (@harpreetchatha_) February 3, 2026
Then both Gagan Ghotra and Sachin Patel spotted it a couple of days later:
i also see this today pic.twitter.com/SkSOOKHZv6
— Sachin Patel (@SachuPatel53124) February 5, 2026
This might be related to the contextual links interface but I am really not sure.
Google has been experimenting with ways to make links more clickable from AI Overviews, the big question is, do any of these work?
This interface does not seem to be fully live, but does seem to be being tested heavily.
Forum discussion at X.
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