Google tests AI Overview local pack without action buttons, reviews or photos
What this answers
- Is Google removing action buttons from the AI Overview local pack?
- Google appears to be testing it. Search Engine Roundtable reproduced a version of the AI Overview local pack without action buttons, reviews or photos, after Joy Hawkins reported seeing it on mobile; the report does not say Google has confirmed the test.
Per Search Engine Roundtable, Google is testing a version of the AI Overview local pack that drops the action buttons (the ones used to visit a website, call or get directions), reviews and photos. Local SEO specialist Joy Hawkins posted on X that she had seen it over the last few days on mobile, where the traditional local pack was gone whenever this version appeared, even though it still draws on the Google Business Profile. Barry Schwartz said he could reproduce it. The report does not say how many searchers see the test, and it cites no comment from Google.
Why it matters: Local businesses reached through an AI Overview now depend on a summary that, in this test, carries no call, directions or website buttons, so visibility in the surface and clicks from it could diverge.
The record: Google AI OverviewsGoogle
Glossary: SEOAI Overviews
Via Search Engine Roundtable ↗
Posted to the wire November 10, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.