Google AI Mode Ushers in the Era of Conversational Search

As of July, AI Mode has started rolling out to Google Homepages across the U.S., U.K., and India, following months of testing since its initial launch as an experiment in Google Labs in March 2025. The button, located on the right side of the search bar, opens a new tab when clicked. It’s confirmed to be accessible on most major browsers, including Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge, whether the user is logged in or out of their Google account.

Within AI Mode, users can interact with conversational AI using more complex queries and follow-up questions than would be expected with traditional search. Since it’s now accessible from the Google homepage, conversational, AI-driven search is likely to become even more common. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, AI Mode has already garnered over 100 million monthly active users, a number that is expected to continue growing as it expands to more countries and platforms.

Beyond the homepage, AI Mode can also be accessed from Circle to Search, a feature available on over 300 million Android devices that enables users to gain insights from across the web by simply drawing a circle around the image or text they want to learn more about. Additionally, AI Mode is integrated with the Search Live feature in the Google app, which allows real-time voice conversations with an AI assistant. With AI Mode expanding to these touchpoints, Google is showcasing its AI capabilities to more users than ever before and signaling ongoing confidence in AI’s growth and adoption.

Google handles 9.5 million searches every minute. Making AI Mode accessible from its most valuable real estate will encourage more users to try out AI-powered chat tools. However, a current challenge for advertisers is measuring the traffic driven by AI Mode, as impressions and clicks from AI Mode cannot be distinguished from those from traditional search in Search Console. One thing we do know is that AI Mode uses the same methodology as the traditional SERP when it comes to recording impressions, clicks, and position. Therefore, proven optimization strategies still apply. Nonetheless, there are additional considerations that advertisers may want to adopt to improve visibility on AI Mode.

Conduct test searches: While Search Console cannot report on AI Mode traffic, advertisers can perform test searches to gain insight into their brand’s visibility in AI Mode. Changing a search by submitting the same query on different devices and browsers, refreshing the same query multiple times, and slightly varying the query can help advertisers understand how their brand appears across various surfaces.

Go beyond keywords: AI Mode is conversational and driven by natural language rather than keywords. Advertisers can stay relevant in AI environments by capturing the semantic relevance, sentiment, and search intent behind users’ queries. In paid search, broad match keywords and search themes can help capture these user intent signals. Opting into Performance Max and AI Max can also allow paid ads to serve in AI Mode.

Think multimodal: There are many ways to search—via voice, text, or images. Advertisers can make their content more discoverable by LLMs and suitable for different search modes by diversifying content formats to include imagery, videos, and structured data. 

Prioritize Nonbrand: Numerous studies show that AI Overviews mainly appear for informational keywords, such as questions and long-tail queries. AI Mode supports similar search behaviors due to its ability to answer follow-up questions. Therefore, AI-optimized strategies for Nonbrand should be prioritized. In paid search, this could involve testing Performance Max or AI Max for Nonbrand.

The launch of AI Mode across many of Google’s interfaces indicates ongoing growth in the AI search landscape, and expanded features mean AI search tools will become more common and useful, shaping user expectations over the long term. Advertisers who test and adapt their search approach—from keywords to conversation, single-mode to multimodal, and static to personalized—by following these considerations will be best positioned to stay visible and relevant in the changing landscape.