Google Now Auto-Expands AI Overviews at the Top of Search Results

By NewSunSEO | September 16, 2026

Searchers now get a complete AI-generated answer at the top of Google for some queries, without clicking a "Show more" button. Google has started automatically expanding its AI Overviews for certain searches, presenting the full summary first, then an "Ask anything" box, and then the familiar list of blue links. When the expansion triggers, those links sit much farther down the page and can require a lot of scrolling to reach.

What changed in Google Search

Previously, an AI Overview appeared as a partial response with a "Show more" button that a searcher could click to read the rest. With the new behavior, Google skips that step for some queries and displays the entire AI Overview automatically. The layout that follows is consistent: the full AI Overview at the top, an "Ask anything" box beneath it, and the standard organic results below that.

The practical effect is a longer page. Because the AI answer opens to its full length by default, the ranked list of website links is pushed well past the top of the screen for the affected searches.

Which searches trigger the auto-expansion?

Google has not published a fixed list of criteria for when an AI Overview expands on its own, and the behavior is inconsistent. The same query can return a full auto-expanded Overview in one search and only the initial portion with a "Show more" button in another, and results can differ across browsers. One query observed to trigger the expanded format is "what is the best game on switch 2," though even that did not produce the full Overview every time.

According to a Google spokesperson, the expansion is tied to the topic and to what the company’s systems predict will help. "For some queries, AI Overviews may dynamically expand for topics where our systems determine it’s most useful for people," Google said in a statement.

Does it interrupt reading?

Google says the expansion is designed not to disrupt someone who is already reading. "If users have already begun scrolling to view content below the AI Overview, we cancel expansion so that the user doesn’t lose their reading position," the spokesperson said. In other words, the automatic expansion holds off once a searcher has started moving down the page toward the links and other results.

What it means for finding links

For anyone who relies on the ranked list of links, the change adds distance between the top of the page and those results on affected queries. The AI Overview and the "Ask anything" box now occupy the space above them by default when the expansion kicks in. Since the trigger is not consistent, the same search may look different from one attempt to the next.

FAQ

What is Google’s auto-expanding AI Overview?

It is a change where Google automatically shows the full AI Overview at the top of the results page for some queries, instead of a partial summary with a "Show more" button. Below the Overview it shows an "Ask anything" box, then the list of links.

Which searches trigger the full AI Overview?

Google has not stated exact criteria, and the behavior is inconsistent across searches and browsers. It says Overviews may dynamically expand for topics where its systems determine it is most useful. One query seen to trigger it is "what is the best game on switch 2."

Does the AI Overview expand while I am reading?

No. Google says that if a searcher has already begun scrolling to view content below the AI Overview, it cancels the expansion so the reader does not lose their position on the page.

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