- Menu
The Pulse of the search community
Follow Subscribe Subscribe OptionsBrowse By
Browse by Date Find by Category Discover by Author Scan Most Recent See Comments View Tag CloudLight / Dark Mode Settings
Light Dark Use Device Settings Advertise Contact Us Home / Google News / Google Tests New Anchor Links & Favicon Experiences In AI Mode Google Tests New Anchor Links & Favicon Experiences In AI Mode May 6, 2026 - 7:45 am 1 — 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. 38,367 Articles as barry.schwartz Filed Under Google
Google is testing an update to the citations, anchor links, and favicons within the AI Mode results. This new experience seems to make the citations more clickable because the embedded links have larger favicons and seem to appear more often, near the text it is referencing.
This test was spotted by Sachin Patel who posted some screenshots on X - he wrote, "Is this new logo appearing after the website anchor text? When I hover over it, it appears differently. Previously, it was just clickable and redirected to the website, but now it behaves differently."
Here are some of the variations of this design he spotted:
Brodie Clark later was able to replicate and post his example on X and SERP Alerts - he wrote, "With this new test, the embedded links now also show with a larger favicon. This was first discovered by @SachuPatel53124, who also spotted a variation that features the embedded links with a black underline with a black link icon beside it."
Here is his screenshot:
Forum discussion at X.
Copied!Popular Categories
The Pulse of the search community
Follow Subscribe Subscribe OptionsSearch Video Recaps
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos Most Recent Articles
Search Forum RecapDaily Search Forum Recap: May 7, 2026
May 7, 2026 - 10:00 am 0 - by Barry Schwartz GoogleGoogle Improves Links Within AI Mode & AI Overviews In 5 Ways
May 7, 2026 - 7:51 am 0 - by Barry Schwartz Bing SearchMicrosoft Bing On Search Indexing vs. Grounding Indexing
May 7, 2026 - 7:41 am 0 - by Barry Schwartz Google AdsGoogle Ads AI Max Content & Titles Exclusions On Account Level Coming
May 7, 2026 - 7:31 am 0 - by Barry Schwartz Bing SearchBing Places For Business Finally Mobile Friendly
May 7, 2026 - 7:21 am 0 - by Barry Schwartz Google AdsGoogle Ads Call Recording To Default To Yes On July 1st
May 7, 2026 - 7:11 am 0 - by Barry Schwartz
Previous Story: Google Expands UCP Checkout To Main Search Results Next Story: Google AI Overviews With Author Names & Source (Again) - Submit a Thread
- Forum Search
- Awards
- About Us
- Comments Policy
- Advertise
- Contact
The content at the Search Engine Roundtable are the sole opinion of the authors and in no way reflect views of RustyBrick ®, Inc
Copyright © 1994-2026 RustyBrick ®, Inc. Web Development All Rights Reserved.
This work by Search Engine Roundtable is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Creative Commons License and YouTube videos under YouTube's ToS.
Comments
0 comment