What Is AI Mode on Google? (Why You Should Care)

Google is playing their well-established role in the world of search and revolutionizing the search experience… again. This time, however, they’re setting the standard for AI search by integrating AI Mode directly into the search interface.

You may have noticed AI Mode being the leftmost option for your latest Google searches. Its sneaky placement makes it likely that users who venture to other tabs will click on the leftmost option out of habit in an effort to land back on “All”, but they’ll end up in AI Mode instead.

Whether this is Google’s attempt at bumping user counts or not, it doesn’t change the fact that AI is becoming an integral part of the search experience. For users, good news: you get faster, more intuitive answers to your burning questions. For brands and marketers, good or bad news (depending on how you look at it): the organic search playbook is shifting to a visibility focus.

Let’s dive into what AI Mode actually is, why it matters, and why marketers and brands should care.

What Is Google’s AI Mode?

In short, AI Mode is a conversational search experience, developed by Google and powered by Gemini, that turns the one-way road of traditional Google search into a two-way conversation. Think of it like ChatGPT’s chat-based interface, except powered by Gemini and placed in an *extremely* convenient spot.

While classic search often involves a trial-and-error of query phrasing, AI Mode takes the pressure off and allows users to communicate with the LLM how they would with a human: asking detailed questions and follow-ups, searching for specific sources of information, and using natural language versus “Google speak”.

To summarize, AI Mode transforms Google’s search experience from “10 blue links” SERPs into a true answer engine.

Is Google Bard the Same as AI Mode?

Not exactly. Both platforms use Gemini as a source of base training data, but:

• Bard has become Gemini Chat: A standalone conversational chatbot (similar to ChatGPT).
• AI Mode, on the other hand, is directly integrated into Google search, blending AI answers with traditional results.

So, though AI Mode is based on Gemini, Gemini Chat (formerly known as Bard) is a separate product, with AI Mode set to become the default way Google Search works.

How Do You Turn On AI Mode in Google?

Google began its global rollout of AI Mode in August of 2025, so if you don’t see it on your Google searches yet, fear not. It’s currently available in 180 countries for users who browse in English (which, of course, includes English speakers in the United States).

If you don’t see it on your Google browser, you’ll need to enable it through Search Labs. Here’s how you can do that (or check to see if it’s available to you):

• Visit Search Labs: Navigate to the Google Search Labs website and click “Turn On” or scroll down to select the specific experiments you would like to participate in.
  
  • Note that Search Labs can’t be used with some Workspace or Workspace for Education accounts; if it says “Not Available”, try accessing the website using a personal email address (i.e., not your work or school email).
• Verify Participation: Once you’ve turned on Search Labs (or opted into specific experiments), run a test Google search to confirm that those features are available to you.

How Does AI Mode Work?

Alright, now that you have AI Mode set up and ready to go (if you don’t have access yet, bookmark this article and come back to it 🤪 I’ll still be here when you do), it’s time to start using it. If you’re anything like me, though, you want to know the ins and outs of something before you dive into it. So let’s review a few key points about how AI Mode actually works.

AI Mode is based on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), meaning that it doesn’t pull its responses from only a set of training data. Rather, AI Mode scrapes the live web, retrieves information that is related to your query, and augments it into a synthesized answer by combining multiple sources or combining up-to-date information with Gemini 2.0+ training data. This helps “ground” the AI in facts based on the information it finds online from trustworthy sources.

Aside from RAG, AI Mode also uses a few other processes that are fairly common when it comes to LLMs:

• Semantic Search: Just like ChatGPT or Claude, AI Mode “understands” the meaning, intent, or context behind queries. This + Natural Language Processing (NLP) is what makes LLMs feel like they’re more than machines, like they really understand what you’re asking.
• Vector Embeddings: Think of a vector embedding as a huge, multi-dimensional space where words, phrases, objects, concepts, video, and audio are relationally mapped to one another. Related concepts are placed closer to each other in the ether.
• Multimodal Inputs: In order to generate relevant outputs, AI Mode is capable of processing images, videos, and text together.

Why Should You Care About AI Mode?

AI Mode is a huge player in the overall transformation of search as it continues to lean increasingly heavily on AI. Google, as the long-reigning king of search, is uniquely positioned to establish another stronghold in the AI search space.

However, we’ve not seen it play out quite this way: OpenAI was first-to-market with ChatGPT, forcing early adopters away from Google and to a different platform. Now marketers lie in wait to see what the future holds. Between the full rollout of AI Mode worldwide (which is coming soon, theoretically) and Perplexity and OpenAI releasing their own search engines, the chasm is closing, and closing quickly.

Why Everyday Users Should Care About AI Mode

From an everyday user’s perspective:

• AI Mode capitalizes on convenience and habit. Many users who previously had to log into ChatGPT or Claude to access a powerful LLM can now simply stay within the Google ecosystem.
• Using Google to find information is already a highly trusted method already, and now users can get answers faster without clicking multiple links.
• The search experience is much more dynamic, allowing users to ask follow-up questions phrased in natural language to refine results.
• Users can input more than just text queries; voice and image searches are integrated much more seamlessly into AI Mode than into legacy platforms like Google Reverse Image Search.

Why Brands & Marketers Should Care About AI Mode

For brands, AI Mode poses the same challenges that AI search does:

• It results in even further de-utilization of traditional Google search, which means fewer clicks for your brand’s website.
• SEO strategies must now be adjusted for AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) by being authoritative, helpful, and semantically rich; luckily for marketers, we have plenty of guides on that 😉
• This isn’t something to push down the pipeline to Q1 or even Q4; it’s happening now, and will continue to happen. Brands that adapt early will gain more exposure in conversational search.
• The nature of reporting on SEO and AEO is changing; tools like Goodie emerge as a way to track citation, sentiment, and content gaps to give brands visibility into their performance in LLMs.

How Does AI Mode Affect SEO & AI Search Visibility?

As with most AI search platforms and LLMs, AI Mode introduces both challenges and opportunities for SEO.

AI Mode SEO Challenges

• As users leverage traditional Google search less, fewer clicks to websites happen, as answers are provided directly in Google. This is a similar effect to that of the crocodile mouth in AI Overviews that show up at the top of the SERP for 13% of searches.
• Due to this change in user behavior, organic search competition shifts from ranking pages to being cited in AI Overviews and by LLMs. SEOs must pivot their strategies and attribution methodologies to account for this.

AI Mode SEO Opportunities

• For brands that understand the factors that impact AI citation, the path to gaining authority by being surfaced in summaries is apparent. This, in turn, impacts your SEO positively (think of it as a win-win).
• Structured data (schema, HowTo, and FAQ) and conversational content increase chances of visibility. It’s time to put your writing hats on and Slack your dev team; you’re about to work together a whole lot more.
• AEO becomes just as important as SEO. The good news is that the two disciplines are pretty closely related, with SEO serving as the foundation for AEO.

From SEO to AEO: Key Adjustments to Make

The name of the game is now visibility; whether users are finding you on AI Mode or in Google’s AI Overviews, marketers must accept the reality that they will pay for discoverability with clicks. Search is becoming more and more about getting users’ eyeballs on your brand, breaking the clean customer funnel we’ve been working with thus far.

Here’s how marketers can adjust their SEO strategies to account for the new era of search:

• Content Quality & Clarity: Clearly answer specific questions, avoid fluff, explain simply and logically, and use short paragraphs and bullet points to break up text.
• Factual Accuracy & Trustworthiness: Back claims with credible sources, use up-to-date stats, fact-check claims, and avoid promotional exaggerations.
• Structure & Semantic Clarity: Follow a clear topic structure, include FAQs, use schema markup, and optimize for semantic relevance.
• AI Visibility Technical Signals: Ensure pages are indexable and crawlable, leverage canonical tags, and describe images with alt text.
• LLM Discovery & Monitoring: Test how your content surfaces in LLMs, monitor mentions, optimize for brand and industry queries.

For a more in-depth dive on AI search visibility, read our guide.

Final Thoughts

Google’s AI Mode is more than a new feature; it’s part of the biggest shift in search since the rise of mobile-first indexing. It changes how users find and consume information (and it forces brands to rethink how they show up in search…sorry, brands).

By adapting your content to meet AI Mode’s demands (with structured data, semantic relevance, and conversational readiness), you can ensure your brand isn’t just found, but trusted and cited in the AI search era.

Google AI Mode: FAQs

What is Google’s AI Mode?

AI Mode is Google’s generative AI feature in Search, delivering AI-generated overviews, contextual answers, and follow-ups alongside traditional search results.

How do I turn on AI Mode in Google?

Enable AI Mode through Google Search Labs, depending on your region and account access.

Is Google Bard AI available now?

Yes, but also no. Bard has been rebranded as Gemini Chat, available separately from AI Mode in Search.