AI Mode is a separate search experience inside Google Search where the whole response is written by Gemini rather than shown as a list of results. It handles long, multi-part questions and follow-ups in a chat-like thread, and it shows links to the web pages it drew on. Google opened it to US users in May 2025 and has since rolled it out to more countries and languages.
How AI Mode works
Google describes AI Mode as using a query fan-out technique: it breaks a question into subtopics, runs many related searches at once, and combines what it finds into a single answer. That means a page can be used because it answers one narrow subquestion well, even if it would not rank for the original question.
AI Mode can also draw on Google's other data sources, such as the Shopping Graph and local business information, depending on the query.
AI Mode compared with AI Overviews
AI Overviews appear on the normal results page for some queries, and the blue links are still there below them. AI Mode is a distinct tab or entry point, and the response is the main event. People tend to use it for research-style questions, comparisons and planning, which overlaps strongly with how B2B buyers evaluate software.
Eligibility and controls
Google's guidance for AI Mode is the same as for AI Overviews: a page has to be indexed and eligible for a snippet, and there is no extra markup to add. Snippet controls such as nosnippet apply. Google-Extended does not remove you from AI Mode.
Measuring it
Clicks, impressions and positions from AI Mode are counted in Search Console's Performance report under the Web search type, mixed in with everything else. Google has said follow-up questions in AI Mode count as new queries. You cannot currently filter AI Mode traffic on its own in Search Console, so many teams supplement it with manual or tool-based checks of key prompts.
Example
A fictional security product
A buyer asks AI Mode, “what SOC 2 automation tools work for a 30-person startup that already uses Jira and AWS?” Vaultline, a made-up compliance tool, has a dedicated Jira integration page and an AWS page, each with a clear summary at the top. Because AI Mode searches for the subtopics separately, those pages are candidates for the integration part of the answer even though Vaultline's homepage does not rank for the full question.
Common mistakes
Optimizing only for the head query
AI Mode answers are assembled from many subqueries. Specific integration, use-case and pricing pages give it more to work with.
Assuming AI Mode traffic is invisible
It is counted in Search Console. It is just not separated, so watch trends in impressions and clicks on the pages likely to be used.
Questions
Availability has expanded since the 2025 US launch, but it still varies by country, language and account. Check Google's current announcements for your markets.
Google says it draws on its search systems and index, plus other Google data sources. The exact retrieval process is not published.
