Google AI Mode is Here What Does It Mean For Your Business

Things are changing quickly with Google, and I want to make sure you know about it so that you can stay relevant, continue to be visible, and get traffic to your website.

We have to adjust our SEO strategies to accommodate Google’s AI Mode, or our visibility will likely drop. People are searching in different ways today than they did even a few months ago so we need to adjust in order to show up where they’re searching.

Personally,  I think Google’s AI Mode is a direct response to ChatGPT and its search abilities. It looks similar and works similarly. The good news is that we can rank in AI Mode, AI Overviews, and on ChatGPT the same way we can in traditional Google Searches.

What is Google's AI Mode?

AI Mode is a new tab on Google that returns an AI summary for your search query, rather than gives you websites to visit to find more information. It’s trying to answer your question right in the search results, without you having to visit a website.

You may already be familiar with AI Overviews, which rolled out in 2024 and gives an AI based summary at the top of the search results page for many queries. This is an expansion upon that. It’s a new tab that’s entirely AI rather than a small section at the top of the search results page.

We don’t know yet which will be more popular with consumers. For some queries, it seems that people are finding what they need in the AI Overview or AI Mode. However, we’re also seeing people use the AI-generated summary for initial research and then clicking through to the websites that are referenced in the AI Overview or AI Mode to learn more.

Will Google’s AI Mode Hurt Website Traffic?

In all honesty, it’s possible. Research studies are showing that a lot of the queries are being answered by AI without someone clicking through to a website. However, I’m not super worried about this, like it’s going to be the end of website traffic or anything.

I think we’re going to see a shift in website traffic trends, and we need to adjust our strategy based on that. But I don’t see traffic going away completely.

AI Overviews and AI Mode Remind me of Direct Answers

AI Overviews and AI Mode are, honestly, pretty similar to Direct Answers that Google launched back in 2012. Direct Answers were designed to give an answer to a query that didn’t really need to lead to a website click to find the information. My favorite example of this is how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon. It’s 3. It’s always been 3. It will always be 3. There’s no need to read a blog post to find out that 3 teaspoons are in a tablespoon. Having the information in a direct answer at the top of the page is absolutely fine. While Direct Answer keeps people from clicking through to a website, it’s not really an issue because if all they need is the base information, they’re set, and if they want to know more, Google has linked the website they got the information from, so they can visit it easily.

I have blog posts that rank in the Direct Answers, and they still get traffic to them every month.

What Content Might Be Hurt By AI Overviews and AI Mode?

We’ll likely see traffic decrease for content that’s more top of the funnel – general, how-to, and basic information, because an AI summary is fine. But, more involved topics, more detailed queries, more in-depth questions, they’re going to be harder to answer sufficiently in an AI-generated response, and I think we’ll continue to see traffic to those types of pages.

In some ways, this could be good news for us because the more detailed, more in-depth query is from someone with more interest or desire to learn about a subject, and they’re likely closer to the point of conversion.

How to be Included in AI Overviews and AI Mode?

Your next question is likely, how do I end up in AI Overviews or AI Mode? If not, it should be. You’re going to want your website to be on that AI engines reference and share in order to stay visible as search changes.

The good news is that what we’re seeing is that our traditional SEO best practices are not only important to traditional Google search results but also impact our site’s ability to show up in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and on ChatGPT and other AI based search engines.

You want to continue to follow SEO best practices. If you’re not sure what they are, get a copy of my Beginner’s Guide to SEO here and find out. It will walk you through what to do so that your website is SEO-friendly.

Format Your Content for AI Inclusion

Once you create your content and follow SEO best practices to optimize it, you’ll want to make sure it’s formatted for AI search visibility. AI search engines work slightly differently from Google, though they rely heavily on the same information Google does to understand your content.

You want to create content pieces that answer specific user questions. Answer one question on each page or post. Go in-depth, provide value, be helpful. Don’t just give information at the surface level. Be unique. Be different. Add your insights and information that no one else can.

Use short paragraphs. Add extra white space between paragraphs. Break up your text so it’s easier to scan and understand. Consider using the headings from Google’s People Also Ask section in your header tags if they’re applicable. Add a small FAQ section at the bottom for maximum skimability (AI search engines like this).

Can Your Old Content Rank in AI Mode?

Yes, the content that’s already on your website can show up in AI Overviews, AI Mode, on ChatGPT, and more. You don’t have to start over to be included in AI searches. Your content that’s SEO friendly and ranking on the first page of Google has a good chance of showing up in AI Search too. I’ve seen it happen for my students and my own website. I have a blog post from 2017 that’s showing up in AI Mode and AI Overviews both. It was written years before AI search existed, but because it’s a good post that’s super helpful, it provides value, is well optimized for SEO, and is updated regularly, so that while it’s old, it’s still current and relevant, it is shown by AI search.

How do you Decide What Content to Update First for AI Mode or AI Overviews?

Start with your most popular (most traffic) or highest-ranking content pieces and focus on them first. Refresh the SEO, if necessary. Look at the formatting and decide if you need to make any changes to help the AI search engines understand the information better.

What Should You do for AI Mode for Your Business?

Choose one existing blog post and start by refreshing the SEO and updating the formatting for AI inclusion, or write a new one. You don’t need to do everything at once. Spend an hour or two a week adjusting your content so that it’s SEO and AI SEO friendly and your business should be OK. You want to stay visible, and my friend, you’re going to have to focus on being visible in AI search to do that. Things are changing. We have to keep up.

If you want to have me walk you through how to do this, join me in Simple SEO Content, and I’ll show you how step by step. 

How Google AI Mode Impacts Your Business FAQs

What is Google’s AI Mode? It’s an AI-based answer shared on a new AI Mode tab within Google, where the information on the web is summarized to answer questions and help searchers without them having to go to another website to find it.

Will Google’s AI Mode Hurt Website Traffic?

Honestly, it’s possible. We need to adjust our content strategy to create more content that’s less likely to be answered by AI Mode or AI Overviews alone so that people still have reason to come to our websites. We also need to format our content that’s more likely to be answered by AI to hopefully be included in the results.

We can both adjust our content strategy and format our current (and new) content for AI inclusion. We need to do both to stay relevant and visible.

If you do nothing today, your website traffic will very likely drop. You have to be proactive to survive this change.

What Content Is Most Likely to be Answered by AI?

AI answers are most likely to be served up for simple, easy topics. More in-depth or nuanced topics will likely still need more detail than an AI overview.

If your website has a lot of how-to or beginner-friendly content, you need to update it for AI inclusion because that seems to be the type of content that’s often in AI Overviews and AI Mode.

How do you Show Up In AI Overviews or AI Mode?

Follow SEO best practices on your website and format your content for AI search. Use short paragraphs, include extra white space, use questions and phrases in your header tags, and answer one question in each post. Stay very focused on the topic at hand.