What is AI Mode?
AI Mode is a separate, conversational mode inside Google Search that answers a question with one written response, built from many searches Google runs behind the scenes, with links to the pages it drew on. The user can then ask follow-up questions in the same thread, and AI Mode keeps the context of the earlier questions.
A typical AI Mode query is longer and more specific than a normal search. Google's own launch example was a question comparing the sleep tracking features of a smart ring, a smartwatch and a tracking mat [1]. A normal search would return ten links to read and compare. AI Mode writes the comparison, cites the pages it used, and lets the user ask "which one is most accurate for light sleep?" next.
Users reach AI Mode through its own tab in Google Search and the Google app [2]. It does not replace the normal results page. It sits next to it as a different way to search.
How does AI Mode work?
AI Mode works by query fan-out: Google breaks one question into subtopics and runs many related searches at the same time, then writes a single answer from what those searches return. Google described the technique at launch as "issuing multiple related searches concurrently across subtopics and multiple data sources" [1], and later as "breaking down your question into subtopics and issuing a multitude of queries simultaneously on your behalf" [2].
Three things follow from that design:
- AI Mode searches Google's own index. The pages cited in AI Mode are pages Google has already crawled and indexed with Googlebot. Google says a page needs to be "indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet" to appear as a supporting link, and that there are no extra technical requirements [3].
- One question becomes many queries. A page can be cited in AI Mode for a question it would never rank for directly, because it ranked for one of the hidden sub-queries.
- Answers are written per passage, not per page. Analysis of Google's patent filings by iPullRank describes the system choosing individual passages, ranking them against each other with a language model, and personalizing results with a profile of the user [11]. Google has not confirmed which of those patented methods AI Mode actually uses, so treat them as informed reading of patents, not documented behavior.
A heavier version called Deep Search, announced in May 2025, "can issue hundreds of searches" and produce a "fully-cited report in just minutes" [2].
What is the difference between AI Mode and AI Overviews?
AI Overviews appear automatically at the top of a normal results page, while AI Mode is a separate mode the user chooses for longer, conversational questions with follow-ups. Both run on Gemini, both use query fan-out, and both cite pages from Google's index [3].
| AI Overviews | AI Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it appears | Above the normal results, when Google decides it helps | Its own tab and interface |
| Who triggers it | Google, automatically | The user, by choosing AI Mode |
| Follow-up questions | Added later, from the overview itself [7] | Built in from launch |
| Best suited to | Getting "the gist" of a topic quickly [3] | Questions needing "further exploration, reasoning, or complex comparisons" [3] |
| Search Console | Counted in Web search totals | Counted in Web search totals [4] |
| Opt-out | Search generative AI control | The same control [9] |
The practical difference for site owners is smaller than it looks. Google's documentation gives one set of eligibility rules for both [3], Search Console reports both in the same totals [4], and the opt-out covers both at once [9]. There is no published way to appear in AI Overviews while staying out of AI Mode, or the reverse.
When did Google launch AI Mode?
Google announced AI Mode on March 5, 2025, as an opt-in Search Labs experiment, and opened it to every user in the US on May 20, 2025 [1][2]. It reached more than 180 countries in English in August 2025 and passed one billion monthly users by May 2026 [5][7].
March 2025: a Labs experiment
On March 5, 2025, Google announced AI Mode in a post by Robby Stein, VP of Product for Search. It ran on "a custom version of Gemini 2.0" and opened first to Google One AI Premium subscribers through Search Labs [1]. Google warned that answers might sometimes "unintentionally appear to take on a persona or reflect a particular opinion" [1].
May 2025: open to everyone in the US
Google removed the waitlist for US users on May 1, 2025 [6]. At Google I/O on May 20, 2025, Elizabeth Reid, VP and Head of Search, announced AI Mode was rolling out to everyone in the US with "no Labs sign-up required," moved it to "a custom version of Gemini 2.5," and introduced Deep Search [2].
June 2025: counted in Search Console
In June 2025, Google updated its Search Console documentation to say AI Mode clicks, impressions and positions count in the Performance report, mixed into Web search data with no separate filter [4].
July to October 2025: international rollout
AI Mode launched in India and the UK in mid 2025, then expanded to more than 180 countries and territories in English on August 21, 2025, alongside its first agentic feature, a restaurant reservation finder for US AI Ultra subscribers [5]. PPC Land records further rollouts to more languages in September and October 2025 [6].
May 2026: one billion monthly users
On May 19, 2026, Google said AI Mode had "surpassed one billion monthly users, with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch," and made Gemini 3.5 Flash the default model in AI Mode globally [7].
June to August 2026: reporting and an opt-out
On June 3, 2026, Google announced a Search Console setting that lets a site leave AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI features in Discover, plus new reports of impressions in those features [8]. Both started with a subset of UK sites and were rolled out to all websites worldwide by August 31, 2026 [8][9].
How do you track AI Mode traffic in Search Console?
AI Mode traffic is tracked in two places in Search Console: inside the normal Performance report, and in the generative AI performance report added in 2026. The two answer different questions.
- Performance report (Web search type). Clicks, impressions and positions from AI Mode have been included since June 2025, but they are mixed with all other Google traffic and cannot be filtered out [4].
- Generative AI performance report. Introduced in June 2026, it shows how often a site's pages appeared in AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover AI features, broken down by page, country and date [10]. It reports impressions only, with no clicks and no queries.
Neither report tells you which questions triggered an AI Mode citation. For that, Search Insider's position is that site owners still need their own fixed set of test questions, checked by hand or with a tracking tool, which is the approach behind AI visibility tracking.
How do you get cited in AI Mode?
You get cited in AI Mode the same way you get shown in Google Search: by having indexed, snippet-eligible pages that rank for the questions and sub-questions people ask. Google states there are "no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary" [3].
What changes is which pages win. Because of query fan-out, a page that answers one narrow sub-question clearly can be cited inside a much broader answer. Pages built around clear, self-contained passages give AI Mode more to quote.
Search Insider's own testing on AI Overviews, the closest feature with the same retrieval base, points the same way. In a study of 1,000 searches, adding a year to an otherwise unchanged title had no measurable effect on AI Overview citations once pages of the same age were compared [12]. Surface edits did not move citations. The underlying page did. No equivalent published study exists yet for AI Mode itself.
Does AI Mode reduce clicks to websites?
AI Mode can reduce clicks because the user gets a written answer before seeing any links, but Google has not published click-through rates for AI Mode. Search Console includes AI Mode clicks in its totals without separating them [4], and the 2026 generative AI report shows impressions only [10]. Any specific "AI Mode CTR" figure in circulation comes from a third-party sample, not from Google.
How do you stop your site appearing in AI Mode?
To stop a site appearing in AI Mode, use the Search generative AI control in Search Console under Settings. Excluding a site removes it from AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover, links included, usually within one to two days [9]. Google says the setting "isn't used as a ranking or inclusion signal affecting other parts of Search" [9].
Two older methods are often suggested and are less precise:
- Google-Extended does not remove a site from AI Mode. It controls use of content for training Gemini models and has no effect on Search [9].
- nosnippet, data-nosnippet and max-snippet limit what text Google can show from a page, in AI features and in normal results alike [3].
When should you prioritize AI Mode?
Prioritize AI Mode if your audience asks long, comparative or research-style questions, such as product comparisons, planning and professional research. Those are the questions Google says AI Mode is built for [3]. For short navigational and local searches, normal results and AI Overviews still carry most of the visibility. In both cases the work is the same: pages that rank, answer clearly and can be quoted passage by passage.