Google AI Overviews Now Show Top Stories Inside Them, Raising Opt-Out Stakes for Publishers

Google has begun placing Top Stories carousels inside AI Overviews instead of showing them as a separate module lower on the search results page, according to tracking data released by NewzDash, a visibility tracking firm for news publishers. The change means that the decision to opt out of AI Overviews now carries a direct and visible consequence for news headlines — a trade-off that many Indian publishers may not have fully anticipated.

Tracking data from NewzDash, based on searches where Top Stories appeared, found that 15.5% of such results in the United States and 17.46% in the United Kingdom had the carousel inside the AI Overview. The sample size, time period, and number of queries tracked were not disclosed. Entertainment-related searches showed the highest frequency in both countries.

John Shehata, founder and CEO of NewzDash, noted that the two modules — Top Stories and the AI Overview carousel — never appeared together in the sample he tracked. He described the new placement as a more prominent position on the page, though no click-through data comparing the two versions has been published yet.

The AI opt-out setting and its effect on Top Stories

Google’s Search Console now includes a control that lets site owners opt out of AI Overviews and two other features (AI Mode, and AI-powered answers in Search). The company says it began taking the setting into account on June 17, initially testing it with a subset of UK site owners. The help page now states the control is rolling out to a broader group.

Shehata interprets the setting as applying to any content inside an AI Overview, including a Top Stories carousel. A publisher who opts out would therefore be removed from the carousel displayed within that feature. He calls this a high-confidence interpretation rather than a confirmed outcome, and says NewzDash plans to test it. Google has not commented on whether the setting affects the Top Stories carousel specifically.

Importantly, the AI opt-out setting is distinct from Google-Extended, which controls whether crawled content is used to train future Gemini models or ground answers in Gemini Apps and Vertex AI. Google’s crawler page says Google-Extended does not affect whether a site appears in Google Search. Blocking Google-Extended alone does not keep a site out of AI Overviews, AI Mode, or either Top Stories placement.

What the change means for Indian news publishers

For Indian news outlets that rely on Google Search for traffic, the development presents a concrete dilemma. Until now, the primary debate around opting out of AI Overviews was about content: whether Google should be allowed to summarise a newsroom’s work and reduce the need for a click. The new data adds a visibility dimension — the very headline itself now sits inside the feature a publisher would be opting out of.

The cost of opting out becomes harder to measure because it depends on how often a publisher’s headlines appear in the Top Stories carousel and how often that carousel is rendered inside an AI Overview. No official data from Google shows how users interact with headlines inside AI Overviews versus standalone Top Stories, leaving publishers to make decisions based on limited information.

Google’s help page says the links and content of a site that opts out will not appear in the covered features, and that content from other sites will still be available. The rule applies to the whole feature, not to subcomponents, so it does not explicitly address the carousel. Shehata’s reading is the most detailed public analysis so far.

Remaining unknowns and what to watch

Several questions remain unanswered. Google has not confirmed whether the Top Stories carousel inside an AI Overview is subject to the same opt-out as the AI Overview itself. The NewzDash data covers only the US and UK; no comparable figures exist for Indian search results. Click-through rates for headlines in the new placement have not been published.

Publishers in India should monitor their own Search Console data for the AI opt-out setting and watch for changes in Top Stories impressions. It may be prudent to delay any opt-out decision until Google clarifies whether the carousel is affected, or until independent testing — such as NewzDash’s planned experiment — provides clearer evidence.

Datos clave

Metric	Value
Share of US searches with Top Stories inside AI Overviews	5%
Share of UK searches with Top Stories inside AI Overviews	46%
Date Google began taking AI opt-out into account	June 17, 2025
Publisher who published the analysis	John Shehata, NewzDash

Source: Search Engine Journal, “AI Opt-Out May Cost Sites A Google Top Stories Spot” by Matt G. Southern, published July 28, 2025. Available at https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ai-opt-out-may-cost-publishers-a-top-stories-spot/584016/