Alvaro Peña de Luna 
Google AI Mode is a conversational search experience inside Google Search, opened from its own tab, where a Gemini model answers your query in full, cites the web pages it used and lets you ask follow-up questions without starting a new search.
Where an AI Overview adds a summary on top of the classic results, AI Mode replaces the results page with an answer.
How Google AI Mode works
Google opened AI Mode as a Search Labs experiment in March 2025 and made it available to all users in the US in May 2025. You reach it from the AI Mode tab next to the other search tabs, and it has since reached more countries and languages.
Google describes AI Mode as using query fan-out: it breaks your question into subtopics, runs many searches at once and combines what it finds into one answer. The answer usually mixes prose, lists and links to sources, and it keeps the context of the conversation, so a follow-up like "and which one is cheaper?" is read against the previous answer.
Google AI Mode vs AI Overviews
| AI Overviews | AI Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it appears | Above the classic results | In its own tab |
| When it appears | Only for some searches | For almost every query |
| Format | Short summary | Longer answer with follow-up questions |
| Sources | A few links | Its own, often wider, set of links |
Because the two draw on different searches, the brands and pages they cite for the same keyword can differ. Measure them separately.
Why AI Mode matters for brands
AI Mode behaves more like ChatGPT or Perplexity than like a results page. Users write longer questions, compare options inside the conversation and often leave with a shortlist of brands instead of a list of links. If your brand is not in that shortlist, a strong organic ranking does little for you in that session. It is also a Google product, so it reaches people who never open a separate AI assistant.
For marketers, AI Mode is part of the shift towards conversational search: the unit you compete on is the answer, not the position.
How to measure your presence in AI Mode
Since AI Mode answers almost every query, the useful question is how often it names you, not whether it answers. Use a mention rate over the queries you track:
AI Mode mention rate = answers that name your brand / answers checked × 100
Worked example: you track 50 prompts in AI Mode, checked weekly for 4 weeks, so 200 answers. Your brand is named in 60 of them, a mention rate of 30%. If a competitor is named in 110, its rate is 55%, and the prompts where it is named and you are not are the ones to study first.
Also read how you are named. A recommendation and a passing reference in a long list both count as a mention, but they do not carry the same weight for the user.
How to improve your visibility in AI Mode
- Answer the follow-ups. Pricing, alternatives, use cases and limitations are the sub-questions AI Mode searches for. Pages that answer them clearly give it something to cite.
- State who you are for. Answers often qualify a recommendation ("for small teams"). Say plainly which audience and use case each product fits.
- Be named by others. Comparisons, reviews and press coverage give the model independent sources that mention you.
- Keep the basics. A page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet to be cited, as Google's AI features documentation explains.
Common mistakes
- Assuming that AI Overview results tell you what AI Mode says.
- Tracking only short keywords when AI Mode users type full questions.
- Reading one answer as the truth: the same question can get another answer the next day.
How Mencoro tracks Google AI Mode
Google AI Mode is one of the engines Mencoro checks, alongside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview and Google SERP. Each prompt runs in the country you choose, and you can ask for 1 to 3 passes per check to smooth out answers that vary. Every brand the answer names is classified by type (recommendation, comparison, listing, example or reference) and tone, and every link to your domains is recorded with its position among the sources. That feeds your Coverage, Favorability and Share of voice for AI Mode, which you can compare with your AI Overview and SERP results for the same topic. AI Mode is not available in France or Cuba, so it cannot be checked there. See the Google AI Overview and AI Mode tracker, the methodology, or run a free check with the AI Overview checker, which also shows the AI Mode answer for the same search.
Related glossary terms
- Google AI Overviews: the AI summaries shown above some Google results.
- Query fan-out: how one question becomes many searches.
- Conversational search: searching through a dialogue instead of keywords.
- AI search engine: search engines that answer with generated text.
