Google is now expanding AI Overviews to their full length automatically on some queries, with no "Show more" button to click. The full AI answer loads first, and the organic results sit below it. This one has a direct effect on your click-through rate, so here is what is happening and what you can actually measure about it.
What Changed
Until now, a long AI Overview appeared partially collapsed with a "Show more" button. The searcher had to choose to expand it, and plenty of them did not bother, which left the top organic results visible above the fold.
On some queries, that button is gone. The AI Overview loads fully expanded, and traditional search results are pushed further down the page. The searcher does not have to interact with anything for that to happen.
Chris Long spotted the behavior and shared it on X on August 27, 2026, describing it as Google continuing to push AI Mode as the default search experience. Search Engine Land reported it on August 28.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the behavior, saying that for some queries, AI Overviews may dynamically expand for topics where the company's systems determine it is most useful for people. Google added that users find Search more helpful and engage deeper in follow-up exploration.
What Google Did Not Say
Two things are missing from that statement, and both of them are the things you would want to know.
Google did not specify which queries trigger the expansion or what percentage of searches are affected. "Topics where our systems determine it's most useful" is not a category you can look up or plan around.
Based on how this appeared, it reads as an active rollout rather than a limited test. That distinction matters. A test you wait out. A rollout you plan for.
The engagement claim is Google's own framing, and it is worth reading carefully. Users engaging deeper in follow-up exploration inside Search is not the same thing as users clicking through to your website. Those two can move in opposite directions at the same time, and from Google's side both look like success.
My Take
The "Show more" button was doing quiet work for publishers. Every searcher who skipped it was a searcher who saw your listing near the top of the page. Removing it takes that away without changing a single ranking factor.
That is the part I want you to sit with. Your rankings can be completely stable through this and your traffic can still drop. If you are only watching average position in Search Console, this change is invisible to you. You will see it in impressions holding steady while clicks fall, and that gap is the thing to watch.
One of the biggest mistakes I see right now is treating every traffic decline as an algorithm problem that needs a content fix. Sometimes the page is fine and the page just moved down the screen. Diagnosing the wrong cause means you spend a month rewriting content that was never the issue.
What To Actually Do
- Pull a clicks versus impressions comparison in Search Console. Look at the last 28 days against the prior 28. Flat impressions with falling clicks on stable positions is the fingerprint of this change, not a ranking loss.
- Segment by query type. Informational queries are where AI Overviews are most aggressive. Compare those against your commercial and branded queries, which tend to hold up better.
- Check whether you are cited in the AI answer. If Google is expanding the overview on your best queries, being inside that answer is worth more than the blue link below it.
- Stop reporting on position alone. If you send clients a rankings report, add a clicks trend next to it or the report will start telling a story that is not true.
On the visibility side, tracking whether you show up in AI answers is now its own job. The walkthrough on GEO keyword research and tracking your AI visibility covers how to monitor that without guessing.
Keep in mind, this is a page layout change, not an algorithm update. If your rankings genuinely moved, check the timing against the Google May 2026 core update before you assume AI Overviews caused it.
The bigger strategic question is where your next dollar goes. If organic click-through on your money terms keeps compressing, paid search gets more attractive for the commercial queries, at least while you rebuild organic visibility. I walk through how to weigh that in SEO or Google Ads first. The good news? That decision gets easier once you have the clicks data segmented properly, because you will know exactly which queries are still sending you traffic.
Question to Answer:
Over the last 28 days, did your impressions stay flat while your clicks declined on the queries that matter most to your business?
In Summary
Google is auto-expanding AI Overviews on some queries and dropping the "Show more" button, which pushes organic results further down the page without changing your rankings. Google confirmed the behavior but did not say which queries or how many searches are affected.
Go compare clicks against impressions in Search Console before you change anything on your site. If impressions are flat and clicks are down while positions held, this is layout, not content, and the fix is a different one.
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