Google: Disabled Discover Clicks Were A Bug In An Experiment

Google VP of Engineering for Search Rajan Patel said on X that disabled source taps on Discover's AI summary cards were "a bug in a Discover experiment" and that Google has turned the experiment off, restoring the experience. Discover researcher Damien Andell had reported on Oct. 23 that a flag named "disable_aio_sources_button_tap" stopped taps on summary sources from opening the article feed, and on Oct. 27 he said the experiment was removed and replaced with another called "aio tap falls through to hero." Google did not say what the experiment tested, how long it ran, or how many users saw the disabled taps, and Search Console's Discover generative AI report tracks only impressions, not source taps.

Google says disabled source taps on Discover’s AI summary cards were “a bug in a Discover experiment,” https://x.com/rajanpatel/status/2114881960392679835 and that it has turned the experiment off. Rajan Patel, VP of Engineering for Search at Google, said so in a reply on X Monday evening. Damien Andell, who researches Google Discover, had reported the issue https://x.com/AndellDam/status/2113573795998941390 on Oct. 23. Before the test, Andell wrote, tapping a summary’s sources opened a feed of articles from those sources, one path from an AI summary to the sites it cites. The morning after Patel’s reply, Andell posted https://x.com/AndellDam/status/2115060169306730810 that the experiment had been removed and replaced with another. What Google Said Patel was replying to Lily Ray, who had quote-posted https://x.com/lilyraynyc/status/2113596008819200198 Andell’s report the morning of Oct. 23. Patel wrote: Hey Lily – this was a bug in a Discover experiment. We’ve turned off the experiment, and the experience works as intended again. The reply doesn’t say what the experiment was testing, how long it ran, or how many people saw the disabled taps. What Was Reported Andell wrote on Oct. 23 that Discover was testing an AI summary change that disabled clicks on sources. He found this test through a flag called “disable aio sources button tap,” and stated that this flag stopped taps on the sources at the bottom from opening the article feed. In his two screenshots, Andell is showing a Fox 9 video from YouTube that has appeared in his Discover feed. Each screenshot shows a brief summary underneath the video and a series of icon links below it. The second image circles the icon links and labels them “Sources.” What Andell Found After Google’s Reply On Oct. 27, he looked at this again. In a reply on X, he stated: I just checked and the experiment did indeed remove and replace it with another one called “aio tap falls through to hero”. His post didn’t explain how the new experiment works or where it is running. Why This Matters The Discover generative AI report https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16983858 from Search Console reports how many times users see links to your pages in Discover through the generative AI capabilities. Each source page is listed by URL in the Discover Generative AI Report. The only metric described in Search Console Help for this report is Impression, which represents when someone sees one of your website’s link s via the generative AI in Discover, not a source tap. Looking Ahead Until Google or Andell explains the replacement experiment, you can take a quick look for yourself. Tap the sources on an AI summary card in your Discover feed to see whether the article feed opens.