Welcome to this week’s Pulse, covering important updates on Google AI Mode citations, Maps local discovery, and Search Console features—all relevant to your work. Google AI Mode Self-Citations Tripled, With More Organic Links SE Ranking’s latest report reveals Google now links to its own properties three times more often in AI Mode citations than nine months ago, with self-citations rising from 7% to 21%. Originally focused on Google Business Profile listings, many links now direct to Google’s organic search pages. This shift means one in five AI Mode citations lead users back to Google rather than external sites, continuing Google's trend of retaining users within its ecosystem. Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking highlighted this increase on LinkedIn, noting that 17% of all citations now point to Google itself, indicating the issue extends beyond local search. Full coverage: Google AI Mode Cites Itself More Often, With More Organic Links Google Maps Launches Ask Maps With Gemini Google Maps introduced Ask Maps, a conversational AI allowing natural-language questions about places with personalized recommendations drawn from Maps’ place data and reviews. Currently live in the U. S. and India, Ask Maps tailors responses based on your search history and saved locations. This presents an opportunity for businesses with strong reviews to gain visibility beyond traditional map pins. However, Google has yet to clarify the recommendation criteria or if placement will be monetized. Full coverage: Google Maps Launches AI Conversational Search With Ask Maps Google’s Liz Reid Says AI Enables Direct Understanding of Audio and Video Liz Reid, head of Search, explained on the Access Podcast how multimodal AI models now enable Google to process audio and video content beyond transcripts, including style and meaning. She also mentioned future plans for subscription-aware ranking, where paywalled content could rank higher for current subscribers.

This advance could improve visibility for podcasts and videos, which have historically struggled in search, and offers paywalled publishers a chance for better targeted ranking. Slobodan Manić of Web Performance Tools emphasized these capabilities, including cross-language discovery. Full coverage: Google’s Liz Reid Says LLMs Unlock Audio And Video Indexing Search Console’s Branded Queries Filter Now Available Google’s AI-powered branded queries filter in Search Console is fully rolled out for eligible sites. It automatically classifies queries as branded or non-branded, catching misspellings and product-name-only searches. Some sub-properties and low-impression sites are excluded, and there are no plans to customize the filter’s criteria. This tool eliminates the need for regex to differentiate branded traffic, helping you understand if growth comes from brand recognition or new discovery. SEO experts like Eli Schwartz praise the clearer segmentation of non-brand impact, while Roger Montti notes that Google already captures misspellings automatically. Full coverage: Google Answers Questions About Search Console’s Branded Queries Filter Theme of The Week: Increasing Distance From Query to Your Site Google continues adding layers between search queries and your website. AI Mode increasingly directs users to Google’s own pages; Ask Maps places conversational AI ahead of local business listings; enhanced content evaluation affects what gets surfaced; and Search Console’s AI filter classifies branded queries—none allow user adjustment. While logical independently, these steps cumulatively increase the path length between users’ queries and your content. Additional Resources: - 5 Things I Learned About The Future Of Search From Liz Reid’s Latest Interview - Ask Maps Is Google Q&A’s AI Replacement: Here’s What It Means For Marketers - How To Cultivate Brand Mentions For Higher AI Search Rankings Image Credits: PeopleImages/Shutterstock; Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal