Google testing links directly in Search Generative Experience snapshot answers

Google is testing showing links directly in the snapshot answers generated by Google’s new Search Generative Experience.

The links appear within the text answer. Until now, Google has only been showing links in the cards at the top right section of the AI-generated answer.

What it looks like. Here are two screenshots that you can click on to enlarge that Shalom Goodman sent me after he posted about this on Twitter:

You can see links by each section, showing where Google is getting these answers from.

More variations. Google is also testing these links as drop-down buttons and in a quotation format, here are those screenshots:

What I see. I see what SGE launched with – not showing links in the generative answer box:

Why we care. One of the biggest complaints about the Search Generative Experience is that you cannot click from the text of the AI-generated answer to the source of the information. Having links in these generative answers makes this experience more useful. It is nice to see Google testing this. Hopefully, this rolls out more broadly.