AI Mode

AI Mode is Google’s conversational search experience: a full-page generated answer that can run several searches behind one question and cites web pages as sources. Unlike an AI Overview, which sits above the ordinary results, AI Mode replaces them for that query and lets the user ask follow-ups.

Why it matters for site owners

Google documents that AI Mode may issue multiple related searches for one question (often called query fan-out) and then draw on pages that answer each sub-question. A page that answers one narrow question well can therefore be cited for a broad prompt it would never have ranked for on its own.

Eligibility and controls

The same rules as AI Overviews apply: the page must be indexed and snippet-eligible, and nosnippet or max-snippet limit what can be shown. There is no AI Mode-specific markup.

Measuring it

Search Console’s Generative AI performance report counts AI Mode and AI Overviews together and has no dimension that separates them. The Lab samples prompts to record whether a site is mentioned, cited and described correctly.