A New, New Way to Search: Google’s AI Mode

Google has launched a new search experience in the United States and India: AI Mode.

Unlike the AI Overviews now appearing in Australia, AI Mode lives in its own tab. It’s full-screen, assistant-style, and powered by Gemini, Google’s most advanced language model. Instead of a list of links, users are met with answers that are curated, conversational, source-linked, and ready for follow-up.

Video of Google’s AI Mode in action. Credit: Google.

AI Mode marks a fundamental shift in how people access and act on information. Where we once searched and chose, we now ask and receive, and that changes how, when and even why people interact with brands online.

In the US and India, AI Mode now appears alongside familiar tabs like Maps, Images and Shopping. That placement is a signal of what’s likely to come: just as Images and Shopping slowly became part of the main search experience, AI Mode will follow the same path until it eventually becomes the default way to interact with Google Search.

AI Mode appears as the first tab in Google Search in the US and India.

Looks Like ChatGPT. Runs on Google.

At first glance, AI Mode feels familiar. It’s conversational, generative, and pulls information from across the web, much like ChatGPT or Perplexity.

What sets it apart is what it’s built on.

Even the most fluent ChatGPT users still turn to Google for what AI can’t yet handle: live traffic, business listings, breaking news, sports scores. Real-time information that shapes how people move, decide, and respond.

AI Mode brings those signals back into the fold. Its answers are confident, contextual, and grounded in real-time data from the sources people already rely on to navigate the world.

That’s why, as AI Mode reaches more users, it won’t just introduce AI to new audiences; it will also bring existing AI users back to Google.

What This Means for Marketing

AI Mode changes what it means to be visible online.

Google’s AI responses draw from structured data, trusted sources, and known content relationships across the web. If your content isn’t technically sound, or your brand isn’t recognised as credible, you may not appear at all in AI Mode.

This makes foundational search engine optimisation (SEO) more important than ever. Schema markup, structured content, and EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) now shape not just how content is ranked, but whether it’s recognised in the first place.

Brand strength will also play an even larger role in the future. When users ask broad or open-ended questions, AI looks for signals of authority. Well-known, frequently referenced brands are more likely to be included, even when they’re not explicitly named by the user.

And that’s the shift: visibility in AI search is about both ranking and broader market recognition. Content, structure and reputation all need to work together to make your brand part of the answer.

The Opportunity in the Gap

AI Mode hasn’t launched in Australia yet, but it will, which creates a brief window of opportunity for Australian brands.

Now’s the time to get the fundamentals right. Structured data, strong content signals, and clear brand identity will make you visible in this new search experience.

Brands that act early will be easier to find, more likely to be referenced, and better positioned to be chosen before AI Mode becomes the default way people search.

If you want to understand what AI Mode means for your digital strategy, we’re here to help. Reach out via our Contact page.