Google AI Mode and SEO: What Marketers Need to Know in 2025

Published on: Jul 2, 2025

Imagine searching for something on Google and getting a full answer, not just a list of links. That’s what Google AI Mode promises for 2025. It changes search into a conversation, offering in-depth responses right at the top of the page.

Instead of the familiar 10 blue links, AI Mode delivers summaries, advice, and even helps users complete tasks. This shift is huge for anyone who depends on Google traffic. Early tests already show website visits dropping as more searches get answered immediately, with some publishers seeing traffic cuts of up to 70%.

For brands and SEO pros, these changes set a new bar for what it takes to stand out. Success will depend more than ever on producing highly trusted, structured, and updated content that Google’s AI recognises as the best possible answer. If you want to keep growing your reach in search, understanding and adapting to AI Mode isn’t optional anymore—it’s essential.

What Is Google AI Mode? Core Features and Capabilities

Google AI Mode changes the search experience by acting more like a helpful assistant than a simple search engine. At its core, AI Mode taps into the Gemini 2.5 model, giving users richer, more relevant answers that go far beyond a list of links. Let’s break down how this system works, its standout tech, and what makes it different from anything Google has offered before.

Gemini 2.5 and the Technology Powering AI Mode

Google AI Mode relies on the custom Gemini 2.5 large language model (LLM), which drives much of the intelligence behind the product. This model is designed with advanced reasoning, meaning it doesn’t just pull information—it processes, summarises, and explains it naturally.

Gemini 2.5 stands out because of its multimodality. This means you can interact with it using more than one method at a time. Whether you send a text, speak your question out loud, or even upload an image, Gemini processes the input and delivers relevant answers. It can draw on real-time data integrations, keeping details current even as you search.

Some key highlights of Gemini 2.5 include:

Handling large volumes of context (over a million tokens at once) for more accurate and comprehensive responses.
Managing images, audio, and text together for a seamless user experience.
Fast responses that combine up-to-date web results with Google’s knowledge graph.

When Google announced the latest version, they noted how Gemini 2.5 was built to “reason through its thoughts” before responding, which leads to more helpful and confident answers. You can learn more about the model’s capabilities in Google’s Gemini 2.5 update and from DeepMind’s deep dive on Gemini’s features.

Deep Search and Conversational Search Experiences

One of the most impressive features of Google AI Mode is how it handles deeper, multi-step queries. Rather than stopping at the surface, AI Mode uses a “query fan-out” approach. This technique sends your initial question, along with follow-up prompts, across Google’s systems to gather multiple sources and pull out the most accurate information.

Here’s what you get with this approach:

Deep research reports: Instead of quick answers, AI Mode can give lengthy and thorough overviews, sometimes hundreds of words long and packed with valuable details.
Conversational context: You can ask follow-up questions without starting from scratch, so your search feels like a flowing conversation.
Citation-based responses: Every claim AI Mode makes comes with links and sources. These citations are more than just footnotes; they highlight parts of third-party web pages so you can quickly verify facts and dig deeper into the content.

The search results look less like a list and more like a personalised research report, making it easier to trust and use the information. Google explains how this approach represents “a shift from giving facts to offering intelligence,” which you can read about in their overview on expanding AI Overviews and the more recent coverage by Mashable on how Google AI Mode works.

Personalisation and App Integrations

Google AI Mode isn’t just for one-off questions. It’s built to use your past activity, context, and Google account data to tailor answers just for you. The system taps into:

Your search history, so it remembers topics you care about.
Data from Google apps like Gmail, Calendar, and Maps. This means if you ask about your upcoming meetings or travel plans, AI Mode can instantly pull in details from your other accounts.
A long-term memory feature, which stores important context for smarter recommendations and personal tips.

Personalisation appears in everything from local suggestions—think restaurant tips for your location—to recommendations that adapt as your habits change over time. By integrating across devices and Google apps, AI Mode acts like a bridge between your search activity and everyday digital tasks, making it easier to get the right answer or complete a job faster.

Key points to remember here:

Local relevance is higher than ever, as Google uses your context for better recommendations.
Visual and text-based data from your profile or apps can fine-tune the way the assistant helps, feeling more like a personal aide than a standard search engine.

Google’s goal is not just to answer questions but to help you get things done. This new integration across apps and devices shows the shift from search being a passive tool to an interactive, always-on helper that knows what matters most to you.

With these advancements, Google AI Mode sets a new standard for what search can offer. By blending Gemini’s powerful reasoning, deep conversational skills, and smart personal context, it moves Google from search engine to true digital assistant—right at your fingertips, on any device.

How Google AI Mode Is Transforming User Behaviour and Search Dynamics

Google AI Mode isn’t just a new paint job on the search engine you know. It dramatically reshapes the way people look for answers online, flipping the script on what users expect and how they interact with Google. Let’s break down the most pressing changes driving this shift and what they mean for anyone in SEO or digital marketing.

Zero-Click Searches and the Decline of Traditional Traffic

With AI Overviews and AI Mode, search is turning into a destination rather than a bridge to other sites. Users ask questions and receive direct, in-depth answers without ever clicking a link. As a result, organic website traffic is seeing sharp drops.

Recent studies show that for queries where AI Overviews appear, the click-through rate for the top organic result has slid from 7.3% in March 2024 to just a fraction of that now.

Some websites, especially in news and informational niches, report traffic falls of over 60 per cent since AI-driven results started rolling out widely. You can read more about these findings in reports like “Google AI pummeling news sites as traffic dips” and discussions from other site owners seeing similar trends, as shared on Reddit’s SEO forums.

What’s driving these numbers? For many searches, everything a person needs is now presented right inside Google’s AI summary. There’s less need or motivation to scroll down and click. Even more, blue links from deeper in the results (often from page 2 or below) are suddenly getting cited if their content matches the search intent better, shaking up long-standing search traffic patterns.

Key impacts from AI-driven zero-click searches:

Users get their answers immediately, bypassing traditional websites.
Sites that relied on being “top of page one” face declines and must rethink how to get noticed.
Deeper, more specialised content can surface as cited sources, potentially giving less dominant websites a shot at visibility.

The reality is that sites now have to fight even harder for attention in an environment where Google is the one delivering the final word.

Conversational and Multimodal Search Preferences

How people search is changing just as fast as where their clicks go. Users no longer stick to typing keywords; natural language, voice queries, and images are becoming the norm. The entire process is more like chatting with an assistant than using a search box.

These trends are clear:

Conversational search is skyrocketing, with people using longer, question-based and chat-like prompts. Follow-ups are common, creating in-depth threads where the user refines questions rather than launching fresh ones.
Voice and image searches keep rising. Now, it’s normal to snap a photo or ask a question out loud and expect Google to understand the context and intent instantly. Learn more about how this shift is accelerating in resources like the “Multimodal Search in 2025” overview.
Interaction depth has jumped. Instead of punching in a search term and leaving, people interact with results, ask related questions, and dig into AI-powered summaries that compile insights from across the web.

The rise of multimodal AI means users expect to get information any way they want—text, image, video, or voice. Search platforms are now built around understanding and merging all these formats at once, powering a more flexible and dynamic search experience. LinkedIn’s analysis on the rise of conversational AI search explores why chat-like, intuitive search has become the new baseline.

For marketers and SEOs, these new preferences create unique challenges:

You must structure content so it’s understandable to AI for summarisation and citation.
Optimising for multimodal discovery means including high-quality visuals and clear, concise copy.
Engaging with a search experience that feels more like a conversation than a list requires a new approach to keyword research and content design.

In short, Google AI Mode is rewiring how people search, what they expect to find, and how information discovery works at its core. Sites and brands that adapt to this rapid shift will have the best shot at keeping their audience’s attention.

The SEO Impact: New Challenges and Generative Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Google AI Mode is throwing out the old SEO playbook. Traditional tactics like chasing top blue link rankings don’t carry the same weight now. As Google’s generative AI rewrites search results on the fly, marketers need a new approach to stay visible. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is quickly emerging as an essential practice, requiring brands to adapt content, structure, and reputation management for an AI-first search world. Here’s how to make sense of these changes and take action.

Content Strategies for AI-Driven Results

Winning in AI Mode starts with evolving your content approach for a search engine that thinks and speaks like a person. Google’s AI now values not just keywords but entire themes, context, and clear answers that match nuanced visitor intent.

To compete, focus on these proven best practices:

Boost Topic Coverage: Treat each topic as a well-rounded hub. Cover related concepts, FAQs, real-world applications, and common follow-up questions. Show Google’s AI that your site is a comprehensive authority, not just a one-hit wonder.
Update for Semantic Intent: Go beyond keyword matching. Analyse the words and phrases Google’s AI uses when explaining a topic, and rewrite your content to reflect these patterns, prioritising natural, conversational language.
Optimise for Conversational Keywords: Users talk to AI Mode like a friend. Add question-based headers, and answer in a way that mirrors human conversation. “What should I know about hybrid cars?” will perform better than robotic lists of features.
Build Third-Party References: AI Mode relies on citations from trusted sites—even those that haven’t topped page one before. Reach out for backlinks, guest posts, or earned media mentions to raise your authority. Every external reference increases the chance your brand will be cited directly in an AI summary.
Leverage Knowledge Graphs and Schema: Structured data, like schema markup, helps Google’s AI understand your site’s context and credibility. Add organisation info, product details, reviews, and FAQ schemas to make it easy for AI to pull accurate details.

Want a deeper dive on GEO? Check out this guide to generative engine optimisation best practices to help you structure your next move.

Evolving Ranking Factors and Metrics

The ranking game has shifted. Blue links matter less while new signals like clarity, trust, and completeness take the driver’s seat in AI Mode. Here’s what’s changed:

Reduced Importance of Blue Links: AI Mode drafts its summaries from many sources, not just the top links. Even sites on page two or deeper now get cited if their answers are strong and specific.
New Visibility Signals:
- Comprehensiveness: The more your content covers a topic in detail, the more likely AI Mode will use it as a source.
- Clarity: Clear, accessible writing cuts through. Short, direct sentences and well-labelled sections are easier for AI to process and quote.
- Trust: Cited sites often show strong expertise, accuracy, and updated information. Content that displays experience and authority gets referenced more often.
Role of Citations in AI Answers: Citations are now a visibility goldmine. When Google AI summarises an answer, each hyperlink or footnote becomes a direct pathway to your site. Optimising single paragraphs or fact-driven statements (not just whole pages) increases your likelihood of being referenced.

Google provides practical tips on how your content can perform well in AI-powered search and why covering intent and context beats just stuffing keywords.

Reputation and Multi-Platform Presence

Google’s new search model follows the wisdom of the crowd. Your site’s visibility depends on more than what’s on your site—it taps into your reputation wherever your brand is discussed or reviewed.

Key tactics to strengthen your profile:

Off-Site Reputation Matters: Reviews, forum mentions, and social conversations about your business get picked up and synthesised by AI Mode. Google’s system seems to prefer sites with a positive presence across the web, especially for commercial and service queries.
Encourage Strong Reviews: Trusted platforms like Google Business, Yelp, and industry sites have more influence as AI Mode pulls in sentiment from them. Encourage satisfied users to share their experience.
Build Brand Perception Broadly: Reach beyond your website. Contribute to community discussions, maintain active social profiles, and participate in expert roundups. AI Mode aggregates input from Reddit, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and niche communities.
Diversify Content Platforms: Third-party content isn’t just a “nice to have” anymore. Publish guides, answer questions on Q&A sites, and maintain profiles on business directories or professional networks.

For inspiration, Forbes offered practical ways to get started with generative engine optimisation that help build this broader footprint.

As Google’s LLM-powered search keeps evolving, it’s clear: being known, trusted, and cited everywhere online strengthens your place in AI Mode results. This means the best SEO tactics now blend on-site excellence with off-site reputation and influence.

Future-Proofing SEO: Strategies for the AI-Driven Era

To stay competitive as Google AI Mode reshapes the search ecosystem, SEOs and marketers need a modern approach. Google’s shift to AI-driven summaries, deep citation lists, and hyperlocal results is turning traditional search upside down. The playbook is changing quickly, but if you start preparing now, your site and brand can thrive as others get left behind. Here’s what you need to focus on to be ready for the future of AI-powered search.

Technical Steps for AI Mode Readiness

Think of technical optimisation as your foundation. With Google AI Mode, every edge counts if you want your pages to appear in cited results and summaries. Here are the key moves to make now:

Enhanced Structured Data
Structured data helps Google’s AI understand what your page is about. It’s not just a bonus anymore, it’s expected. Use schema types that match your content—like Product, Review, FAQ, HowTo, Organisation, and LocalBusiness—to give AI more context for citations. For a refresher on what structured data can do for your search presence, check out this intro to how structured data works.
Fast Site Speed
Google rates speed as a ranking factor, but now it’s also about user satisfaction in a world of instant-answer search. Slow sites are less likely to get cited by AI-generated results. Optimise your images, streamline scripts, and use caching to keep things fast. Top tips for 2025 include compressing files, removing bloat, and using CDNs. See more speed-focused advice from the experts in this collection of SEO tips for 2025.
Multi-Format Content: Text, Images, and Video
AI Mode prefers content that covers topics in many ways. A strong answer might combine written explanations, image examples, and even short video clips. Well-chosen, clearly labelled images (especially ones optimised for 82×82 px thumbnail cropping) can make your site stand out in citations.
Proactive Schema Usage
Expand your use of schema beyond the basics. Highlight key points and value statements using markup for things like pros and cons, authorship, recipes, and events. Use Google’s Structured Data Search Gallery to find schema types that can give your content an extra shot at being cited.
Mobile Optimization
AI Mode’s output on mobile often shows fewer citations than desktop, but those it does show get more clicks. Make sure every page loads quickly and looks great on a phone.

Mastering these technical steps gives your content a better shot at being highlighted by Google’s AI, even if you’re not on classic page one.

Brand Authority in an AI-First World

AI Mode is rewriting the rules for what gets seen. Strong, unique, and well-branded content gets rewarded with citations—sometimes from deep within your site and sometimes by referencing your presence elsewhere online.

Build Deeper Topical Hubs
Don’t just publish basic answers. Create content clusters with in-depth guides, FAQs, how-tos, and case studies around every core topic. When Google’s AI pulls together answers, it looks for sites that have covered every angle.
Establish Brand Authority
Reputation is now a major ranking asset. Google’s AI loves established brands and long-trusted sources, but it also seeks out rising stars with up-to-date, relevant info. Publish on your site, contribute to trusted forums, and get mentioned by authority domains. Your brand’s off-site reputation directly impacts how often you get cited.
Use Clear, Conversational Language
AI Mode usually summarises with clarity in mind. Write your content using simple, direct sentences and answer questions in an approachable, human style. Break up text with headers and bullet points. The goal: make your content easy for an AI to scan and quote, and for users to trust.
Optimise for Citations, Not Just Rankings
Short, fact-packed sections with strong opinions or data often become source material. Aim for your paragraphs or mini-sections to answer specific questions crisply—think like you’re feeding the AI with snippets.
Add High-Quality Visuals
Images are critical in the new AI search. Around 85% of citations display thumbnails, and those with a standout image get more attention. If your pages lack relevant images (or they’re low quality), you’re at a disadvantage. Choose or create visuals specific to your topic and put them near your key points.
Tap Into Current Trends and Updates
AI Mode values fresh content. Update your most cited or competitive pages regularly, signalling to Google that you’re the go-to authority on timely subjects.

Content is still king, but in the AI era, it’s about being the best possible source—clear, trusted, well-cited, and easy for an algorithm to parse.

Continuous Monitoring and Adaptation

Staying visible in search now means you can’t set it and forget it. AI Mode is new, and Google is still refining how it chooses, cites, and displays content.

Track AI Mode Outputs

Regularly check how your main keywords appear in AI Mode. Are your pages being cited? Are your images picked as thumbnails? Are you missing from summaries where you previously ranked? Keeping a spreadsheet of your target terms and AI-mode visibility is smart.
Analyse Citation Patterns

Some keywords generate long AI responses with many citations, while others show blue links only. Watch for which intents (informational, transactional, navigational) your content wins or loses. Brands appearing at the top for “best,” “top,” and “reviews” are often those with the most off-site authority.
Benchmark Against Competitors

Keep an eye on competitors who now make it into AI Mode when they didn’t before. See what they’re doing differently—maybe they adopted schema, improved speed, got more reviews, or updated their content for 2025 trends. Tools and tips in this guide to SEO priorities for 2025 can give you a starting point.
Respond Quickly to Changes

AI Mode introduces more unpredictability, from local intent “noise” to sudden shifts in citation logic. Act fast when you notice gains or drops. If an important page stops being cited, update it or add supporting content quickly.
Stay Educated

Google releases frequent updates on supported schema types and ranking factors. Visit resources like the complete list of Google’s ranking factors and watch for changes that affect your sector.

Adjusting on the fly isn’t just smart, it’s now a must. The AI Mode era rewards those who track what’s working, revisit their sites, and keep learning.

By focusing on technical excellence, content depth, and constant monitoring, your brand will be positioned to earn citations and clicks, even as AI Mode becomes the new standard for search.

Conclusion

Google AI Mode rewrites the playbook for anyone serious about search. Success now relies on understanding how AI Mode chooses what to feature, prioritising content that’s trustworthy, helpful, and easy for AI to cite. Relying on old tactics or fighting for page one blue links won’t cut it. Brands that experiment, update fast, and focus on being a valued resource will earn visibility, even as quick, direct answers reduce clicks. This shift rewards those willing to try new approaches, track their results, and keep learning.

These changes are here to stay, and they’re levelling the field for sites that might have been overlooked before. If you want to keep your business relevant and resilient in the face of AI-powered search, start building smarter, more complete, and better-supported content now.

Thanks for reading. Think about how you’ll adapt your strategy, and share your experience in the comments—what experiments are you testing as AI Mode becomes the new normal?