AI Overviews expand to full size on some queries: the Show more button is gone, organic results moved down
Per Search Engine Land on August 28, 2026, Google confirmed that AI Overviews dynamically expand to full size on some queries. On affected queries the Show more button disappears and classic organic results move noticeably down the page.
Not an announcement, a change spotted in the wild and confirmed
The nature of this story should be stated up front: there is no product announcement, blog post or rollout timeline. Android Authority writes plainly that the change has not been officially announced.
The chronology ran as follows. On August 27, 2026 the SEO specialist Chris Long posted on X that the AI Mode prompt box was appearing by default on some queries. Chris Long is a co-founder of the SEO agency Nectiv.
On August 28, 2026 Search Engine Land published the story under Barry Schwartz's byline and reported that Google had confirmed the change.
Google's statement is this: on some queries AI Overviews can dynamically expand for topics its systems determine are most helpful for people. Google also says its research has shown that users find Search more helpful and engage deeper in follow up exploration.
Android Authority followed up on August 31 and reported that the behavior appears especially on queries asking for a definition or a meaning. The concrete example it gives is searching for the word algorithmic.
What changes on the screen
On affected queries the Show more button that previously hid the full answer disappears entirely. The summary opens at full size.
The follow up question box loads by default on desktop for affected queries. Previously it appeared only after Show more was clicked.
A question typed into that box moves the user into an AI Mode session. Search Engine Land writes that the change makes the search experience look more like Google's AI Mode.
The expanded block can fill the entire browser window on desktop. Search Engine Land describes what gets pushed down as the core search results searchers could previously see without scrolling.
The expansion works dynamically. If the user has already started scrolling below the AI Overview, Google cancels the automatic expansion so the reader does not lose their place.
Mobile behaves differently. Summaries still arrive truncated and a See more tap is needed for the full text.
Google did not share what percentage of queries this affects, or whether it will continue expanding to more queries over time.
There is another gap on scope: neither source states which countries or languages this behavior is active in. The observations reported are from English desktop searches.
The space shrinks, and so does the click expectation
The assessment in this section is ours, though it points the same way as the source's own comment. In the story Barry Schwartz writes that this should lead to even fewer clicks from Google Search.
The first screen is the most valuable region of a results page. When the area visible without scrolling fills with an answer block, the economic value of the links that used to sit there falls with it.
The real break is not the button disappearing, it is the follow up box loading by default. When a user types their next question into the answer block rather than the search box, the session continues on Google's own surface.
This further entrenches an order in which sites can be read without being visited. Your brand name appearing inside the answer becomes a value independent of your link being clicked.
The prominence of definition and meaning queries is instructive too. Those are exactly the queries with a short, definite answer. Answering such a query with a long blog post will bring fewer and fewer clicks.
Still, proportion is needed. This is not an announcement but an observed behavior; its prevalence was not disclosed and Google can pull it back. When building strategy it is safer to read this as a strengthening trend rather than a permanent rule.
What it means for businesses in Türkiye
The assessment below does not appear in the source, it is our reading. The sources say nothing about Türkiye or Turkish language queries, and the observations reported are from English desktop searches.
So the first job is to look rather than assume. Search your own service and product queries on desktop and record what appears on the first screen of the results page.
Blog pages that take traffic from definitional and informational queries are the group most exposed to this shift. If you earn traffic with what is, what does it mean and how does it work headings, lower your click expectation.
Transactional queries are more sheltered by contrast. For appointments, quotes, nearest branch or stock availability, the user still has to reach a page.
The practical conclusion is to split the content portfolio into those two groups. Informational content works for brand visibility and citation, transactional content for clicks and conversion. Judging both by the same metric produces bad decisions.
There is also the mobile distinction. Because search in Türkiye leans mobile, a behavior seen on desktop will not affect everyone's traffic at the same time or to the same degree.
The UNALSOFT take
On the web design and content side we have for a while been building pages for two readers at once: the person who arrives at the site and the system assembling the answer. In practice that means putting a clear answer directly under the question, giving the definition in one sentence, and tying the claim to a verifiable source. This change shows why that approach is strategy rather than defense: when you lose the first screen, the only thing left is being named inside the answer. Our advice to clients is to stop expecting clicks from informational content and let it work for brand visibility, while loading the click target onto transactional pages. Expecting both citation and conversion from the same page weakens both goals.
What is on the first screen for your queries?
Let us separate which of your content works for clicks and which works for visibility.