Google AI Mode and AI Overviews Links Update: What Kolkata Businesses Should Do Now

On 15 October 2026, Google announced that AI Mode and AI Overviews will show inline links higher up in answers, test a dedicated section for official websites, expand news carousels and make creator names clickable on video results, as explained in Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews update. For Indian brands, this means AI answers are now handing out more visible, clickable links to the web. The businesses that earn those links will be the ones with clear, trustworthy and well-structured pages, which is exactly where AEO services in Kolkata need to focus now.

This guide breaks down what Google changed, what it did not change, and a practical checklist for founders and marketing heads in Kolkata, West Bengal and across India.

What exactly did Google change in AI Mode and AI Overviews?

Google’s Search team, in a post by VP of Product Management Hema Budaraju, listed five updates across its AI search experiences:

• More inline links, placed higher: links embedded in words or phrases inside an AI response will appear higher up in responses more frequently, so key sources are clickable while people are still reading.
• A test for official pages: for tasks where only one or two official sites can help, Google is testing a dedicated section at the top of the response that surfaces those links with context on why each is useful.
• Wider news carousels: the prominent carousels for timely articles are rolling out to more locations and languages globally, and they highlight a user’s Preferred Sources.
• Richer related-article links: links shown at the end of some AI responses get image thumbnails and a more clickable design.
• Clickable creator names: Google started testing creator and publisher names on video results in AI Mode that link to their Search profiles.

Google also noted that the number of people using its Preferred Sources feature has grown more than seven times since the start of the year. That is a clear signal that users are choosing whom they trust, and Google is building that choice into AI answers.

Why does this matter for businesses in India?

Since AI Overviews arrived, many Indian marketers have worried that AI answers would swallow clicks. This update does not remove that concern, and Google has not shared click figures with it. What it does change is where the opportunity sits. Being cited is no longer enough; being cited near the top, with a link that looks worth clicking, is the new goal.

Inline links reward the sentence, not just the page

Inline links attach to specific words or phrases. That means the page that best answers one precise part of a question can win a link, even if it is not the biggest site. Clear definitions, direct answers in the first lines of a section, and well-labelled steps make it easier for AI systems to connect a phrase to your page.

Official pages matter more for task-based searches

The official-pages test targets searches where a person needs to complete a task, such as booking, applying, paying or checking a status. If your business is the official place to do something, for example booking an appointment at your clinic or registering for your institute’s admission test, your booking or enquiry page should be fast, indexable and unambiguous about what it does.

Preferred Sources now reach AI answers

According to Google’s Preferred Sources documentation, sites that users select can be highlighted with a preferred badge in AI Mode and AI Overviews, not only in Top Stories. Only domain-level and subdomain-level sites are eligible, so a blog sitting in a subfolder is judged as part of your main domain.

Video creators get a profile link

For brands that publish explainer videos or reels, clickable creator names in AI Mode create a direct path from an AI answer to your profile. Consistent naming across YouTube, Instagram and your website will matter more once this test widens.

What has not changed: Google’s own guidance on AI features

It is easy to overreact to updates like this. Google’s position is steady. Its Search Central guide to AI features says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. You do not need special AI text files, new machine-readable files or a special schema type.

The same guide lists fundamentals that still decide visibility:

• Crawling is allowed in robots.txt and by your CDN or hosting setup.
• Important content is available as text, supported by good images and video.
• Pages are easy to find through internal links.
• Structured data matches the visible text on the page.
• Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up to date.

In other words, AEO and GEO are built on solid SEO. If you want the bigger picture of how these disciplines differ, read our guide on GEO vs SEO content strategy.

Classic SEO vs AI-answer visibility: what to optimise

Area	Classic blue-link SEO	AI Mode and AI Overviews (after this update)
Unit that wins	The whole page ranking for a query	A specific passage or phrase earning an inline link
Position	Rank on the results page	How early your link appears inside the answer
Brand trust	Reviews, backlinks, brand searches	All of these, plus Preferred Sources badges
Task pages	Ranked like any other page	May be surfaced in a dedicated official-pages section (in testing)
Video	Video results and thumbnails	Clickable creator names linking to Search profiles (in testing)
Measurement	Search Console Performance report	Same report, within the Web search type

What should AEO services in Kolkata focus on now?

Whether you run this work in-house or with a partner, here is a practical, step-by-step plan based on what Google has actually published.

1. Audit indexing and snippets first. Check that your key service, product and booking pages are indexed and not blocked by robots.txt, a CDN firewall or a nosnippet tag. If Google cannot show a snippet, the page cannot be a supporting link.
2. Write answer-first sections. Start each H2 or H3 with a one or two sentence answer, then expand. This gives AI systems a clean phrase to attach an inline link to.
3. Make your official pages obvious. Give booking, pricing, enquiry and location pages clear titles, plain-language headings and one clear purpose each. Avoid several near-identical pages competing for the same task.
4. Strengthen entity signals. Keep your business name, address, phone and service descriptions consistent across your site, Google Business Profile and social profiles. Our AEO and GEO services start with exactly this kind of consistency audit.
5. Earn Preferred Sources selections. If you publish regular industry news or insights, add Google’s preferred-source button or deeplink to your articles and newsletters, and ask loyal readers to select you.
6. Publish useful video under one creator identity. Short explainers answering real customer questions can now lead people from AI Mode to your profile.
7. Keep structured data honest. Mark up FAQs, products, services and local business details only where the same information is visible on the page.

Ranking well still matters, but it is only half the job. We explain why in our article on why ranking first is not enough when AI tools never mention your brand.

What this means for businesses in Kolkata and West Bengal

Kolkata’s market mixes old, trusted family businesses with fast-growing startups in Salt Lake Sector V, New Town and Rajarhat. Many have strong offline reputations but thin websites. This update rewards exactly what offline trust cannot provide on its own: clear, crawlable pages that answer questions.

Here are practical ways different local businesses can respond:

• Clinics and diagnostic centres: a single, clear appointment page per branch, with timings, doctors and contact details as text, is the kind of official page Google’s new test is designed to surface.
• Restaurants, cafes and retail stores: people asking AI Mode for options in Park Street, Gariahat or Salt Lake often see local results. Up-to-date menus, opening hours and photos on both your site and Business Profile help. Strong local SEO services in Kolkata tie these signals together.
• B2B manufacturers and exporters in Howrah and Durgapur: detailed product specification pages and plain-language buying guides give AI answers specific passages to cite for technical queries.
• Coaching institutes and colleges: admission dates, fee structures and eligibility rules are classic task queries. Keep one authoritative page per programme and update it every cycle.
• Bengali-language publishers and creators: Google says the timely-article carousels are expanding to more languages and locations, so regional news and culture sites should keep their articles crawlable and well dated.

For brands investing in video, consistent short-form content matters more now that creator names can be clickable in AI Mode. Our AI reel creation for short-form video helps teams publish regular explainers without a full production unit.

How should you measure the impact of AI search links?

Google states that traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in Search Console’s Performance report under the Web search type. There is no separate AI filter in that report, so track trends rather than expecting a neat AI-only number.

• Compare clicks and impressions for your question-style queries month on month.
• Watch pages that answer specific questions, since inline links reward precise passages.
• Use Google Analytics to compare engagement time and conversions from organic search.
• Note change dates, such as this 15 October update, in your reports so shifts are easier to explain.

For a deeper walkthrough of the reports, see our Search Console AI insights guide for Indian SEOs.

Next steps

Google’s latest update is a reminder that AI search is still sending people to websites, but only to pages that are easy to understand, trust and cite. If you are not sure whether your service, booking or product pages are ready for AI Mode and AI Overviews, our team in Salt Lake Sector V can review them with you. Book a free 30-minute strategy call and we will share a clear, prioritised list of fixes for your site.