Welcome to the week’s Pulse: updates affect how AI Mode links work, how local discovery works in Maps, and what you can do in Search Console.
Here’s what matters for you and your work.
Google AI Mode Self-Citations Tripled, With More Organic Links
SE Ranking published its third report on Google AI Mode citations, showing Google is linking to its own properties more often than it did nine months ago.
Key Facts: Self-citations went from 7% of all AI Mode citations to 21%. Most of those links used to point to Google Business Profile listings; now, more of them point to Google’s own organic search results pages.
Why This Matters
One in five AI Mode citations now go to a Google property rather than an external site. The pattern we’ve seen before in AI Overviews continues with Google keeping more of the journey within its own ecosystem.
AI Mode may be newer, but the strategy feels familiar. As more citations point to Google’s pages, there may be fewer heading your way.
What People Are Saying
Mordy Oberstein, head of brand at SE Ranking, wrote on LinkedIn:
“In what is one big giant circle-jerk, Google is citing itself 3X more than it used to in AI Mode. 17% of all citations are to Google itself. Way more than any other source.”
He added that the move away from Google Business Profile links means this is no longer just a local issue.
Read our full coverage: Google AI Mode Cites Itself More Often, With More Organic Links
Google Maps Launches Ask Maps With Gemini
Google Maps launched a conversational AI feature called Ask Maps that lets you ask natural-language questions about places and get recommendations on a map.
Key Facts: Ask Maps provides answers drawn from Google’s database of places and reviews. The results are personalized based on your Maps search history and saved locations. It’s currently available in the U.S. and India.
Why This Matters
There’s an opportunity here for businesses that have been investing in their reviews and profiles. Ask Maps could surface them in a way that a list of map pins never did. But Google hasn’t explained how it picks which businesses to recommend, and it hasn’t said whether it plans to sell placement in those recommendations either.
Read our full coverage: Google Maps Launches AI Conversational Search With Ask Maps
Reid Says Google Can Now Understand Audio And Video Directly
Google’s head of Search, Liz Reid, discussed how AI is changing what Google can index and how it personalizes results.
Key Facts: Reid told the Access Podcast that multimodal AI models let Google process audio and video content beyond just reading transcripts. She also described a direction where Google could rank paywalled content higher for people who already subscribe to that publisher.
Why This Matters
Google has historically had a harder time surfacing podcasts and video in search because it relied mostly on titles and transcripts. Reid is saying that’s changing, which could open up new visibility for audio…
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