Google’s AI Searches Prefer Redirecting You to Google

Google appears to have developed an addiction to itself. Clicking a hyperlink within Google’s chatbot-style feature, AI Mode, often results in being directed to yet another Google search, as revealed by a recent study from SE Ranking, an SEO firm. At present, Google.com ranks as the most frequently linked site in AI Mode.

Numerous website owners and publishers have leaned heavily on Google Search as their main traffic source and have reported a decline in visitors over recent years, especially as the tech giant has prominently displayed generative AI summaries in search results through AI Overviews and AI Mode. Liz Reid, Google’s head of Search, has previously countered claims of traffic drops, asserting that AI tools are generating “high-quality clicks” to these websites.

“Even if you’re asserting that users click on those citations frequently, there’s nothing to click on, as it just redirects to another Google search,” explains Mordy Oberstein, an SEO specialist and head of brand at SE Ranking. Currently, about 17 percent of citations in AI Mode revert to Google. This represents a threefold increase over the last year. The second most frequently cited site in AI Mode? YouTube, which is also owned by Google.

Google’s dominance in AI Mode citations is particularly pronounced in specific sectors. Among the links analyzed by SE Ranking, nearly half of the citations in AI Mode for Entertainment and Travel point back to a Google Search result.

For instance, I asked AI Mode what I should focus on during the 2026 Oscars ceremony, and the hyperlinks provided for leading contender films, like Sinners and One Battle After Another, directed me to Google results. In fact, all 17 hyperlinks in this AI Mode response led to Google results displayed in a sidebar. Alongside these Google links, the response featured three buttons linking to external sources at the end of the paragraphs.

“Some of the links identified in the report serve more as shortcuts to guide users in exploring likely follow-up questions and finding additional web links,” a Google spokesperson mentioned to WIRED. “They are not designed to replace external web links.” The spokesperson likened these links in AI Mode to other search features like ‘People also ask.’

The rapid rise of social media previously ignited intense discussions among Silicon Valley companies aiming to utilize new technologies and publishers concerned about potential traffic declines. Partnerships between tech giants like Google and publishers attempted to adapt to that drastic shift.

The notion of Google favoring its own outputs and features is not unfamiliar to the SEO experts consulted by WIRED regarding the report. “It’s a persistent trend with Google,” states Danny Goodwin, editorial director of Search Engine Land. He noted that Google has been increasingly linking to its own search results in AI Overviews last year and isn’t shocked by the news of AI Mode incorporating further self-references.

Goodwin has personally encountered these “loops” before. “Google may believe that’s a good thing, but I’ve found myself in those loops where I’m searching for an answer, and the only option is to click on a Google search result that leads to yet another search result,” he explains. “Yet, it still doesn’t resolve my question.” The circular nature of these AI tools can be immensely frustrating, according to Goodwin, for users and publishers providing content online.

“The primary beneficiary of Google’s traffic today is Google,” asserts Rand Fishkin, cofounder of audience research firm SparkToro and a digital marketing authority. He views this as part of a broader trend where diminished traffic from search tools and social media platforms is flowing to external sources. “That’s the significant shift—essentially moving from a web that directs traffic to one that conserves it and is zero click.”