Google will test an "official sites" box in AI answers. Is your page the one it would pick?
By José Antonio Mijares | 2026-10-27 | 5 min read
On October 15, 2026, Google said it will test a section at the top of some AI Mode and AI Overviews answers that links one or two official sites. What the test is, what Google hasn't said, and five fixes for the page you want it to pick.
On October 15, 2026, Google said it will test a new display in its AI answers. In Google's words: "Sometimes, there are only one or two official places on the web to complete a specific task or get the exact info you need." The test puts those links in a dedicated section at the top of the response, with context about why each one is useful.
Picture someone asking about an airline's refund policy. The answer still summarises. But the first thing the reader sees would be the airline's own page.
If a customer can only get something done on your site, this test is about you.
What Google announced
The post was "More ways to connect with the web from Search", by Hema Budaraju, Google's VP of Product Management for Search. It listed five changes:
- More inline links in AI Mode and AI Overviews, placed higher in the response.
- A test of the official-sites section.
- News carousels in more places, highlighting a reader's Preferred Sources.
- Related-article links with thumbnails.
- A test of clickable creator profiles.
The inline links are launching. The official-sites section is something Google says it will test, not a launch. Google also says it builds on what Search already does when you're looking for a particular site.
What Google hasn't said
How a site qualifies. Which countries see the test. When, or whether, it launches.
So nobody can sell you a way into the box, us included. What you can do is make sure that if Google looks for the official page for a task, your page is easy to find and says the answer plainly.
The tasks that fit
Think of the questions only you can answer:
- Refunds, returns and cancellations.
- Bookings and appointments.
- Warranty claims.
- Prices, hours and locations.
- Support and contact.
For an agency, a clinic, a shop or a SaaS, that's a short list. Each item should have one page.
Five fixes for the page you want picked
These are our recommendations. Google hasn't published criteria for the test.
1. One URL per task. Your refund policy shouldn't live in a footer accordion, a PDF and a help-center article that disagree. Pick one page. Point the others at it.
2. Put the answer in the text. "Refunds within 30 days, to the original card, in 5–10 business days." Not a screenshot, not a PDF, not behind a login. A model can only lift what it can read.
3. Same facts everywhere. Your site, your Google Business Profile and your social profiles should give the same name, address, hours and prices. When they disagree, an answer engine has to choose. Make the choice easy.
4. Name the owner. An Organization block in your schema with your real name, logo, URL and sameAs links to the profiles you control. It tells a crawler which site is the brand's own.
5. Let Google read it. Allow Googlebot. Check that the page isn't noindex and doesn't carry nosnippet or a tiny max-snippet. Google's own guidance for AI features is the same as for Search: indexed and eligible for a snippet.
How to check this week
- Write down your five task questions, the way a customer would type them.
- Search each one in Google with AI Mode. Note which link the answer leads with. Yours, a reseller's, a directory's or none.
- For each miss, apply the five fixes to the one page that should own the answer.
- Re-check in a month. AI answers change from run to run, so look for a pattern, not a single screenshot.
If you track this in Search Console, its AI report counts impressions but not clicks or queries. Ezeo explains what Search Console does and doesn't show for AI answers. For the wider picture of how Overviews changed SEO, see how AI Overviews are changing SEO strategy.
Jamak works on the pages Google and the answer engines quote, as SEO and GEO together. Talk to us. No rate card.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is Google's official-sites test?
A section Google said on October 15, 2026 it will test at the top of some AI Mode and AI Overviews answers. When there are only one or two official places on the web to complete a task or get exact information, it links them in a dedicated section, with context about why each link is useful.
Q: How do I get my site into the official-sites section?
Google hasn't published criteria, a country list or a launch date. Make the page that owns each task easy to identify: one URL per task, the answer in plain text, the same facts across your profiles, Organization schema, and nothing blocking Googlebot or snippets.
Q: Does this replace ranking in Google?
No. The rest of the answer and the results below it still come from Google's index. The test only adds a section for a narrow kind of task question.
Q: Which pages should I fix first?
Refunds and returns, bookings, warranty, prices and hours, and support. They're the questions only your own site can answer.