Google AI Mode: what it is and what it changes for businesses

Short answer: AI Mode is a part of Google Search that answers questions in a conversation. Instead of ten links you get a generated answer based on Gemini, with links to the pages it draws on, and you can ask follow-up questions. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Google launched it on 8 October 2025. It opens via a tab on the results page, on the Google homepage and in the Google app. For businesses this means: your website has to be one of the sources AI Mode quotes.

What is Google AI Mode?

AI Mode is meant for questions that used to take several searches: comparisons, plans, “which is better for me” questions. You can ask by text, voice or camera and add images. According to Google, the default model has been Gemini 3.5 Flash worldwide since May 2026.

Usage is growing fast. At its I/O conference in May 2026, Google said AI Mode had passed one billion monthly users one year after launch, and that the number of queries had more than doubled every quarter.

What is the difference between AI Mode and AI Overviews?

Google points out that the two features may use different models and techniques, so answers and links differ. A page can appear in one and not the other. How to get cited in AI Overviews is covered in our article on Google AI Overviews.

How does AI Mode pick its sources?

AI Mode uses a method Google calls query fan-out: it splits your question into subtopics and runs many searches at once. For each one it fetches pages from the normal Google index and uses its core ranking systems to do so. From the passages it finds, it writes the answer.

For you this means: your page does not have to rank first for the main search term. It has to be the best answer to one of the sub-questions. Google's requirements are simple: the page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. According to Google there are no additional requirements and no special optimisations needed, so you don't need an llms.txt or special markup for it.

What does AI Mode change for businesses?

• Fewer clicks for simple questions: if the answer is complete, nobody needs to visit a website. Pew Research found that people clicked a normal result in 8 % of searches with an AI summary, compared with 15 % without.
• The decision moves into the answer: when someone asks for a provider, AI Mode names a few. Whoever is not named is not compared.
• Local data counts: according to Google, Google Business Profiles and Merchant Center help products and services appear in AI responses.
• Agents are coming: in the US, AI Mode can book local services and call businesses in some categories. These features are not available in Austria yet.

How does your business show up in AI Mode?

1. Check indexing: the “Pages” report in Search Console shows which pages Google has indexed.
2. Answer first: one page per service and location, with the answer in the first sentences and concrete facts: prices, timelines, service area.
3. Write non-commodity content: Google asks for content with your own experience and expert views, not common knowledge.
4. Keep your Google Business Profile up to date: categories, services, opening hours, photos and reviews with text.
5. Measure regularly: Search Console, plus a fixed set of customer questions you ask every month.

The same groundwork also helps in ChatGPT and Perplexity. What GEO involves overall is explained in What is GEO?.

How do you measure visibility in AI Mode?

Google announced a generative AI report in Search Console on 3 June 2026 and rolled it out to all websites worldwide on 31 August 2026. It shows impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country, date and device. Clicks, click-through rate and queries are not included yet. The impressions are already part of the totals in the normal performance report.

Since the same date, there is also a control with which site owners can exclude their website from Google's generative AI features. According to Google this is not a ranking signal for normal results. But a site that opts out gets no impressions or traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode. For most businesses that is the wrong step. How to measure AI visibility overall, including ChatGPT, is explained in Measuring AI visibility.

Can you turn AI Mode off?

As a user you don't have to: AI Mode is not the default and only opens when you click it. The normal results stay under “All”. AI Overviews, on the other hand, cannot be switched off by users. As a site owner, you control with nosnippet, data-nosnippet or max-snippet what Google may show from your pages, or use the opt-out in Search Console.

Written byChristoph SpeiserProject lead & sales

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