By A10 Digital. Published .
Google AI Mode is a part of Google Search that answers a question with an AI-written response in place of a list of links, and lets you ask follow-up questions in the same conversation. It runs on Google’s Gemini models and can be opened from its own tab or from a search result.
How does Google AI Mode work?
You ask a question in ordinary language. Google breaks it into several related searches, reads the pages it finds and writes one answer from them, with links to its sources alongside. You can then ask a further question without starting again.
What is the difference between AI Mode and AI Overviews?
| AI Overviews | AI Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it appears | Above the normal results for some searches, with a route into AI Mode | In its own tab, or carried on from an AI Overview |
| What you see | A short summary, then the usual links | A full answer, with sources beside it |
| Follow-up questions | Continue in AI Mode | Built for them |
What does AI Mode mean for a business website?
Fewer people may click through for simple questions, because the answer is given on the page. For bigger decisions, the businesses and sources named in that answer are the ones a searcher sees first. Being among them matters more than being fourth in a list.
How does a business appear in AI Mode?
Google’s guidance on AI features and your website says no special optimisation is required beyond the practices that already apply to search: pages that can be crawled, useful content and accurate business information. Schema markup is one way to state that information clearly, though Google does not require it.
Is AI Mode the same as ChatGPT?
No. Both write answers, but AI Mode is part of Google Search and draws on Google’s own index of the web. Our guide to GEO, SEO and AEO covers how optimising for each of them overlaps.
Related service: GEO and AEO services from A10 Digital.