Google’s AI Search Results Like to Bring You Back to Google
It seems like Google addicted to Google. If you click a link in Google’s chat-style search tool, AI Mode, you’re likely to be included in another Google search, according to new research from SE Ranking, a search engine optimization company. Currently, Google.com is the most linked site in AI mode.
Many website owners and publishers rely heavily on Google Search as their main source of visitors and have complained about a decrease in traffic over the past few years as the technology giant has prominently featured AI-generated summaries in search results, through AI Overview and AI Mode. Liz Reid, head of Google Search, has previously disputed reports about a drop in traffic and described AI tools as driving “higher quality clicks” on these sites.
“Even if you say people click on those stats all the time, there’s nothing to click on, because it just takes you to another Google result,” said Mordy Oberstein, SEO expert and head of product at SE Ranking. Currently, an average of 17 percent of the total citations in AI mode go back to Google. That’s a three-fold increase over the past year. The second most cited website in AI mode? YouTube, another Google company.
Google’s presence in AI mode quotes is even more prominent in certain areas. Of the links analyzed by SE Ranking, nearly half of all AI Mode Entertainment and Travel citations were returned to the Google Search result.
For example, I asked AI Mode what I should pay attention to during the 2026 Oscars ceremony, along with hyperlinks on the line of highly competitive movies, such as They are sinners again One Battle After Anotherleads to Google results. In fact, all 17 hyperlinks in this AI Mode output lead to Google results from the sidebar. In addition to the Google links, the output includes three buttons that link to third-party resources at the end of the sections.
“Some of the links described in the report are like shortcuts to help people explore possible search queries and find additional web links,” a Google spokesperson told WIRED. “They are not intended to replace web links.” A spokesperson compared these links to AI Mode and other Search features, such as “People Ask.”
The disruptive rise of social media in the past has sparked heated discussions between Silicon Valley companies looking to adopt the new technology and publishers worried about a possible decline in traffic. Partnership deals between technology companies, such as Google, and publishers have been an attempt to adapt to that seismic shift.
The idea that Google is cherry-picking its own results and features isn’t new to the SEO experts WIRED spoke to about the report. “It’s an ongoing trend with Google,” said Danny Goodwin, editorial director of Search Engine Land. You’ve noticed that Google links to its search results more often in its AI Overview over the past year and the news that AI Mode now includes more citations is not surprising.
Goodwin has personally faced “setbacks” before. “Google might think that’s cool, but I’ve gone through those loops where I’m trying to find an answer, and the only option is to click on a Google search result that takes me to another search result,” he said. “However, you still haven’t answered my question.” The circular experience of these AI tools is incredibly frustrating, says Goodwin, for users and publishers who put content online.
“The biggest beneficiary of Google traffic these days is Google,” says Rand Fishkin, founder of audience research firm SparkToro and digital marketing expert. He sees this as part of a broader trend where less traffic from search engines and social media sites is going to external sources. “That’s a big change. Basically, from a web that sends traffic, to a web that stores and clicks zero.”
