Google automatically expands AI summaries, pushing search links further down

Google has started automatically expanding its AI search summaries on the results page for certain queries, according to reporting from Search Engine Roundtable. Rather than showing a truncated preview with a clickable "Show more" button, the full AI Overview now appears first, followed by an "Ask anything" box and only then the conventional list of website links—requiring users to scroll significantly to access them.

When and why the expansion triggers#

The precise logic behind Google's auto-expansion decision remains murky. Test searches showed the feature activating across most queries initially, though it has since become less frequent and inconsistent. Queries like "what is the best game on switch 2" demonstrated the behavior most reliably, but even those results varied between searches and browsers.

Google attributes the change to user benefit. "For some queries, AI Overviews may dynamically expand for topics where our systems determine it's most useful for people," a company spokesperson told The Verge. The company claims internal research indicates users find Search more helpful and engage more deeply with follow-up questions when given this expanded view.

Preserving user scroll position#

Google notes it has built in a safeguard: if users have already begun scrolling past the AI Overview to view content below, the system cancels further expansion to keep them from losing their reading position. This suggests the company is aware the feature could frustrate users by disrupting their browsing flow.