By Caitlin Desa, Junior Search Specialist at Wrapped Agency
Google just quietly changed something important in AI search. And most brands haven’t noticed yet.
In Google’s AI-powered search results, specifically AI Overviews and AI Mode citations, Google is increasingly showing the full author name and the original publishing platform.
At first glance, this feels like a small UI update. It isn’t. It’s a signal of where search is heading next.
Previously, Google would typically show the platform name only. Now, it wants users to know who actually wrote the content.
Why Google Is Doing This
In an AI-driven search environment, credibility matters more than ever.
AI systems rely heavily on user-generated platforms like LinkedIn. But, a platform name alone doesn’t tell users whether the information is trustworthy.
Showing the author name helps users judge whether the person is authoritative, whether they are a real expert, or whether the information came from a random poster.
Google is no longer only evaluating the content itself.
It is increasingly evaluating the identity behind the content.
The Shift from SEO to GEO
This is another clear indication of the shift from traditional SEO to GEO.
One analysis found LinkedIn now appears in roughly 11% of AI-generated responses across major AI systems. That suggests that high-quality thought leadership content may matter more than generic SEO pages.
It also means search and social are becoming increasingly interconnected, so these teams need to become better aligned.
Therefore, how brands think about LinkedIn content must change.
What This Means for Brands
For brands, faceless content strategies may become less effective.
The focus is shifting towards identity, expertise, reputation, and recognised authority. Google no longer only cares about what was written. It increasingly cares about who wrote it.
Which means the organisations that succeed in AI search may not simply be the most optimised.
They’ll be the most trusted.
The Trade-Off
There is also a downside. If Google displays the summary, the author, and the platform directly within AI search results, users may never click through to the original source.
Visibility may increase. Traffic may decrease.
Which means visibility alone is no longer the goal. Recognition is.
Increasingly, that recognition will be attached to people, not just websites.
