What Is Google AI Mode? Everything You Should Know

Google’s new AI Mode introduces a generative layer atop traditional search. At Google I/O 2025, Sundar Pichai unveiled AI Mode as a “total reimagining of Search” that replaces the old “blue-link” paradigm with an AI-powered experience.

In this new mode, users can ask complex, multi-part questions and get conversational answers that cite real websites.

Google reports that its previous AI feature, AI Overviews, already “scaled to over 1.5 billion users” and boosted search engagement by around 10%, signaling a profound shift toward generative answers.

The AI Mode tab (visible on desktop and in the Google app) leverages Google’s latest Gemini 2.5 model to deliver faster, more accurate AI responses at the top of results.

But is Google AI Mode really aiming to make search more personalized and action-oriented? It’s a big question, and we will try to answer it in our blog. Let’s get started!

Here’s a recent podcast on the topic:

What Really is “The Google AI Mode?”

Google AI Mode is essentially a new “AI Search” experience integrated into Google Search.

It appears as a dedicated tab (or mode) within Google Search. As Google explains, AI Mode is “our most powerful AI search, with more advanced reasoning and multimodality, and the ability to go deeper through follow-up questions and helpful links to the web”. Under the hood it uses a custom version of Google’s Gemini 2.5 model – the latest and most capable incarnation of Google DeepMind’s generative AI.

In other words, Google AI Mode harnesses the frontier of Google’s AI models to tackle tough queries. For example, it is “particularly helpful for questions that need further exploration, comparisons and reasoning,” letting users ask nuanced questions that might have formerly required multiple searches.

How Google AI Mode Works?

Here’s how Google describes it:

Under the hood, AI Mode uses our query fan-out technique, breaking down your question into subtopics and issuing a multitude of queries simultaneously on your behalf. This enables Search to dive deeper into the web than a traditional search on Google, helping you discover even more of what the web has to offer and find incredible, hyper-relevant content that matches your question.

AI Mode combines Gemini’s generative AI with Google’s massive index and knowledge systems. When you ask a question, Google “fans out” the query into many sub-questions, running hundreds of searches in parallel to gather information.

This query fan-out technique “breaks down your question into subtopics and issues a multitude of queries simultaneously on your behalf,” enabling the AI to scour the web more deeply than a single search can. The results are then synthesized into a single, easy-to-understand answer.

As Google’s blog explains, AI Mode uses upgraded Gemini 2.5, which is also considered to be Google’s most “intelligent model” to date. This means the system has superior reasoning, code understanding, and even multimodal vision capabilities.

How to Access Google AI Mode?

As of mid-2025, Google AI Mode is rolling out (starting in the U.S.) as part of Google Search on desktop and mobile. Importantly, no extra sign-up is needed. Google first offered AI Mode as an opt-in experiment in Search Labs, but quickly announced “we’re rolling out AI Mode in the U.S. — no Labs sign-up required”.

Over the coming weeks, users will see a new “AI Mode” tab appear next to “All” (and other categories) in the search results page and in the Google app search bar. Tapping that tab switches you to the AI interface.

Using the AI Mode

In practice, to use AI Mode you simply perform a Google search (in regions where it’s available) and select the AI Mode option. You can then type or speak a question (including adding an image) in that AI context. The “Ask Anything” interface of AI Mode feels like chatting with an AI assistant, but it remains integrated into Search.

For example, you can start from a normal search on Google and switch to AI Mode if you need a more thorough answer.
Currently the rollout is limited to certain regions (initially the U.S.), but Google has indicated global expansion is planned. Google One AI Premium subscribers in the U.S. may be invited first, but soon any user in supported regions can simply click the AI tab.

If AI Mode is not yet available in your country, you’ll just see the standard search interface as before.

Traditional Search vs AI Mode: Key Differences

Compared to traditional search, AI Mode moves Google’s answer above the fold.

Instead of first seeing link titles, the user sees the AI-generated response front and center, with links further down.

As SEMrush notes, “traditional blue SERP links are being pushed farther down the page, while AI-generated summaries and interactive modules now dominate above-the-fold”. In essence, traditional search brings you to information via links, whereas AI Mode attempts to give you the answer directly, sourcing it automatically.

Implications for SEO and Content Marketers

One of the biggest shifts that is happening is the decoupling of impressions and clicks:

More and more websites are seeing their total clicks go down but impressions go up.

What’s that mean?

It means people are still searching but fewer are clicking because they’re getting the information they want and leaving.

Google AI Mode changes how content is surfaced and monetized.

For SEO and content strategy, this means adapting to a new landscape where TOFU content might not be the play.

Traditional ranking tactics (keywords, backlinks, etc.) still matter, but now content also competes to appear inside AI answers. This means embracing Generative Engine Optimization and content distribution.

Google’s advice is to double down on valuable content.

As Google’s Search team emphasizes: focus on “unique, satisfying content” for real users – this principle “carries across” to AI search experiences. In other words, write content that genuinely helps people (including answering the nuanced questions they’ll ask AI).

Practically speaking, marketers should ensure their sites are well-structured and high-quality. On-page SEO basics remain important (titles, headings, schema, fast mobile pages) so Google can index and understand your content.

But beyond that, think about what queries your audience will have in an AI-driven world, and create comprehensive content to match.

Marketers rely on AI-driven SEO solutions to maintain a competitive edge. By using AI for writing and analytics, teams can accelerate their workflows—expediting content creation and automating keyword research, as highlighted by Foundation Marketing.

What’s Next: The Future is AI Search..

Google AI Mode represents only the beginning of AI-driven search.

And in a recent interview it was pretty much promised when Sundar Pichai told Lex Friedman: 

“Think of the AI as a layer which is giving you context, summary… maybe in AI mode you can have a dialogue with it back and forth.”

Google has signaled that many AI Mode innovations will be folded back into core search experience without blue links over time, so even non-AI-Mode queries may soon benefit from advanced reasoning. 

We can expect the AI search interface to become richer:

Google mentioned upcoming features like more visual answers (images, video), improved citation formats, and tighter integration with apps. It’s going to use what it knows about a users calendar, inbox, YouTube behaviors and past search history to give them information that is tailored and personalized to them. 

This also means… Millions of personalized SERPs.

Something that no SEO tool is ready to handle.

International expansion is starting. Google is already bringing AI Overviews and AI Mode to more regions, and plans “global expansion” beyond the initial U.S. launch.

Future versions will incorporate even more Gemini updates. For example, the current deep multimodal research on Gemini suggests that within a few years AI Mode could fluently combine text, images, and perhaps even audio/video in a seamless answer.

For marketers and SEOs, the future means ongoing evolution. Content strategies will need to “future-proof” by continuously adapting to AI changes.

As we advise, AI integration is not the end of content strategy but a beginning. We should view AI as an evolving tool: keep testing new formats (like FAQ pages that AI can parse), and stay agile.