What Is Google’s AI Mode Search and How Will This Impact SEO?
Entry Date: May 26, 2026
On May 19th, Google unveiled their biggest change ever to what they do they best, internet search. With AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity competing with each other, and with Google, for their own shares of the search market, Google announced a revolutionary way for users to search for and discover information. Google is calling this new process “AI Mode Search.”
AI Mode Search is a unique hybrid model that blends classic search and artificial intelligence. Users of Google can still perform basic search as before, like searching for “auto repair near me” that will yield a list of local auto repair shops. However, the artificial intelligence component seamlessly ingests long-form detailed questions and conversational inputs. For example, asking Google,“How can I prevent my rose bushes from drying out in the Summer?” will yield an AI summary of advice pulled from a variety of online sources, with the ability for users to ask follow-up questions. Beneath the “Ask Anything” box is a list of YouTube videos for visual guidance and below that a list of familiar blue links to websites on gardening. From this same results page, at the very top, you can switch to AI Mode which is fundamentally a pure play AI interface reminiscent of Gemini, where users can engage Google’s artificial intelligence without any web search results. These UI functions have been available for some time. So, what is the really big news from Google?
This new evolution of global AI Mode Search didn’t arrive without a cosmetic change. After 25 years of never altering its UI or iconic search bar, Google rolled out a fresh new interface, and search bar with built-in AI functionality. Behind the new search bar, Gemini 3.5 Flash is ready to ingest queries, run a deep internet search, process the query results through artificial intelligence reasoning, and produce a detailed summary in a natural language format.
On the left side of the desktop search bar, Google has added a plus (+) that when clicked will provide a drop-down menu. This drop-down menu begins with suggested search prompts, informed by recently viewed open tabs in Chrome. The next option under the (+) provides the ability upload images or PDF files as supporting documentation for AI processing. The third option is a section called “Tools” which has the option to either create an AI image or use Canvas, each one with example prompts to get you started. Google Canvas is a new service that generates a visual itinerary based on restaurant or travel prompts, for example, and includes agentic booking capabilities.
On the right side of the desktop search bar, Google has added (next to its voice to text search function), a feature called Google Lens, which initiates an internet search via uploading a photo or by pasting an image url. Next to Google Lens is a button signified by a magnifying glass called “AI Mode.” Clicking on AI Mode drops down the search bar for users to enter a more detailed question like “How can I make tiramisu?” which takes you to a link-free AI environment with a list of ingredients and steps to prepare the dessert, and web sourcing displayed on the right, like old school ad banners.
For those of us who have been using Gemini from the start, this integration will feel natural, as it brings together the power and usability of the tool, and blends it with standard internet search with some minor adaptation to toggle between standard browsing or AI Mode Search within in the same UI.
One of the coolest features is coming this Summer, when you will be able to setup Google AI Search Agents to keep you informed of specific topics. These AI Search Agents will continuously scour the web, based on the parameters it has been given, and send push notifications on any updates it finds that fits the original prompts. These AI Search Agents, in a sense, will work like Google News Alerts, whereby breaking information is immediately served up to you.
So, what do all these changes from Google mean for internet search and SEO? As we’ve seen in the previous example of “auto repair near me,” local business search and listings are unaffected. Ultimately, what this means is that keywords are still very much in play for standard traditional querying, albeit the real estate at the top of page one will appear different based on the keywords or long form prompts the search bar receives.
For AI search and summaries, there is a nuance arising from longer, more thoughtful search intent, with dependencies stemming from website content that is structured to be included within AI results. Since NOBLE SEO has been studying Google’s algorithm, using its tools, and closely watching its AI evolution in real time, we have previously published posts in our Knowledge Base section, covering topics to help you prepare for this migration. Please refer to last year’s Knowledge Base entries for more information, to help guide your website planning and design for AI readiness:
“What is GEO and How Can I Prepare My Site for AI?”
“What are AIO, AI Search & AI Overviews?”
“How Do I Optimize My Website for AI?”
“What is Google EEAT and Why Does It Matter for SEO?”
In short: subject matter authority, website trust, and useful structured content coupled with your website’s technical performance and agility still matter, and are now more important than ever for indexing and extraction for AI summaries and organic search results.
What is GEO and How Can I Prepare My Site for AI?
What is now called GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, was briefly (and at the very beginning of 2026) referred to in the search engine community as AIO, or Artificial Intelligence Optimization. NOBLE SEO published a Knowledge Base entry on this emerging trend of AIO in January 2026.
GEO is now the agreed-upon acronym for the process of optimizing and perhaps even redeveloping your website to be read by AI algorithms like Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini and cited by these Large Language Models (LLMs). What that web optimization looks like can be read in a previously published Knowledge Base entry entitled, ‘What are AIO, AI Search & AI Overviews.’
The definitive criteria for your website’s eligibility to be included in, or referenced by, AI models is still being developed. It is not universally clear, nor is it being made public. To identify some clues, it’s always a good idea to follow the moves of Google. For example, Google is moving away from indexing an entire site to a selective crawl and indexing process. This is a data storage sustainability decision made by Google, and it makes perfect sense. Also for page indexing, Google is using what it calls “Mobile-First Indexing,” which primarily uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking. This is why it is important to build your website using responsive design.
The most critical update from Google, as of the first week of May 2026, is that they stopped supporting the display of rich results from website FAQ schema markup (FAQ structured data) in order to de-clutter their own search engine results pages. FAQs are useful components to any website, and should remain in place. The only difference is Google will not be reading and displaying that structured data in its SERPs. Google has, however, not abandoned their EEAT program. So, we know that website authority and trust will not disappear any time soon. Learn more about Google’s EEAT program in the Knowledge Base entry: ‘What Is Google EEAT and Why Does It Matter for SEO?’
At this point, we are not that far off from where we began. Really, the only significant change is what we are calling AI preparedness, the acronym is now GEO (for Generative Engine Optimization), and Google’s preference for fast loading mobile pages. Since we are dealing with LLMs, it is important that website content be written in a natural language or conversational style that helps its visitors answer questions, since users of AI are using it primarily to gain insight and get their inquiries resolved. You can read more about how to prepare your website for AI in our Knowledge Base entry entitled, ‘How Do I Optimize My Website for AI?’
What is SEO?
The acronym SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
Optimization is just another way of saying “tune up,” “ready up,” or stage your website the best you can to be included in search engine results. This optimization has rules, and NOBLE SEO can help guide you through the process with its SEO Strategy Service.
What is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO looks at your organization’s website performance as an indicator of the website’s backend health. Technical SEO include optimizing site speed, having a modern website architecture, ensuring mobile performance, including structured data, fixing broken links, and auditing backlinks. These components all play a part in your website’s health and overall performance, and influence how AI and traditional search engine algorithms detect, crawl, and index your site. The better a website’s health and performance is, the better chances it can be included in AI summaries and present in organic search engine results.
What is Organic SEO?
Organic SEO is a strategy where you leverage your website content such as web copy, articles, photos, and videos to build trust and authority for your organization. Website content that informs and educates is regarded as valuable content and this helps to establish your organization as a subject matter expert in the field. This typically results in greater traffic, awareness, and visibility for your organization’s website. Think of it as things you can do to promote the brand or mission that are much lower cost compared to paid advertisements. Every organization needs its own organic SEO roadmap. NOBLE SEO can help you build yours.
What is SER?
SER, or Search Engine Results, are the website listings and advertisements we see on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Brave, etc. after entering a search topic.
Because information, news, and social media are traveling at light speed, packaged up as easily digestible sound bites, this rapid delivery and consumption has shortened our attention span and conditioned many of us to primarily look at page one search results.
This ‘look at a glance’ tendency of page one search results has created a highly competitive environment, with advertisers vying to get their website and advertisements positioned on page one.
AI Overviews have become the new norm atop page one search results competing with advertisers for impressions.
What is SEM?
SEM is Search Engine Marketing.
If you are here reading this, marketing your organization’s website through search is most likely your primary objective. The SEM landscape is complex and highly competitive, as consumers only have so many impressions and time to give. The best we can do is develop a clean web tech stack, build a compelling content library, and tune them up to attract the right audience.
What are Search Engine Algorithms?
Search Engine Algorithms are the secret sauces Google and Microsoft have cooked up to steer us to the websites they believe we are seeking, via the search parameters we entered into their single-line search boxes.
Search engine algorithms are complex predictive data processes driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), based on the billions of data inputs from around the world have entered into these companies’ data repositories.
In theory, the process is simple. Search algorithms fetch and display content based on the words we entered in the search bars. That is called search intent, and algorithms get more refined and sophisticated based on the quantity of inputs provided, our geolocations, and search intent history.
Typically, search intent means a user’s internet search behavior enacted for the purposes of seeking information. One kind of intention, for example, is seeking to purchase branded products or services. A second intention could be directed towards trying to solve a specific problem, like how to repair leaky plumbing or replace a head gasket. Lastly, users could be conducting general online research to broaden their understanding and knowledge about their own personal interests, for example cooking, traveling, religion and world cultures.
Search engine algorithms work in a similar way as physical book libraries; information is stored or indexed, then retrieved when someone requests it. Search engine results that appear on search pages following an executed search are influenced by paid advertising and organic content marketing.
To learn more about improving your organization’s search engine results, read the Knowledge Base entry ‘How Do I Optimize My Website for AI?’
What are AIO, AI Search & AI Overviews?
AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization) is the process of designing your website content to be read or crawled by artificial intelligence - namely AI driven search, for example, displayed as part of Google’s AI Overviews. This process is fundamentally similar to SEO with respect to refining your content so that it meets the requirements of being a “go to” reference source for a specific subject matter. AIO also means scaling your website content so that it can be sourced and integrated into more complex summary outputs from LLMs such as Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and ChatGPT [1].
AI Search refers to the evolving search algorithm process that uses natural language processing (NLP) (where search first started) and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc. (where search is now heading) to understand user search intent and serve up very detailed content, specific facts, and insightful information that satisfies that person’s need to answer a question or solve a problem. AI search behaves very much like enterprise statistical data mining software because of its magnitude of asset querying. This big data approach to database querying, once a private endeavor, has now been made public on a free or subscription-based consumer model in AI search.
AI Overviews represent the summarized search results Google and other search engines display above top ranking websites and advertisements. This AI summary is sourced and pulled from a variety of online sources, including discussion boards like Reddit and public websites that publish content related to a user’s specific search parameters.
Think of AI overviews as a time saving mechanism from visiting multiple websites, reading through the various webpages, and synthesizing all that information to develop a takeaway. While not exhaustive, AI Overviews are a convenience feature for conducting quick at-a-glance high-level online research.
See corresponding Knowledge Base entries:
“What are LLMs?”
“HowDo I Optimize My Website for AI?”
“What is Google EEAT & Why Does It Matter for SEO?”
What are LLMs?
LLMs is the acronym for Large Language Models, or iterative large data models, developed and built using billions of user search parameters, and millions of pieces of content from websites that are logically connected to a specific search intent from a subject matter perspective.
LLMs are big data on steroids, using mathematical computational processes engineered to summarize complex queries into a relatively quick and simple output.
How Do I Optimize My Website for AI?
Since the goal of search in general, and AI search in particular, is to serve up highly specific and individualized content to its users, the short answer is to design and build your website with useful content for the people you want visiting it. This means providing web visitors (your target audience) with information and subject matter they can identify with and use in their everyday lives.
This is a major shift from old school top-down web blogging to bottom-up content creation. Back in the day, it seemed like web bloggers wrote whatever came to mind on subjects they wanted to explore without taking into consideration an audience interest perspective. While this type of writing has its place, it is indeed more creative in nature. As the internet evolved into a more commerce-oriented platform for consumer goods and services, so did the design and purpose of search. Consequently, as more products and services became available online, search engines followed suit and became more focused on connecting consumers with those goods and services.
This shift in the logic of search had a profound impact on how website content is now evaluated by search algorithms. Think of it, as aforementioned, as connecting consumers with goods and services. It is really no different than that. Search engines like Google and Microsoft, through their proprietary algorithms, want to do a better job at connecting their users to useful content. The more informative and useful content a website has, the better chances search engines will see it as such and point people in that direction to find that site and consume that content.
This may seem a little unclear, even complicated, but NOBLE SEO can help your organization devise a targeted SEO Strategy and make sure your website is communicating with these algorithms with our SEO Performance Service.
For additional information, read the next Knowledge Base entry on Google’s EEAT framework.
What is Google EEAT and Why Does It Matter for SEO?
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
This is Google’s criterion or framework for evaluating your website content, and it’s a good idea to follow this roadmap the best you can for a chance to be included in Google’s search results and AI Overviews. In short, Google wants your organization’s website to be a reliable and trustworthy source in the field related to the content you created and published. For authors or single service providers, Google would expect that person to be a subject matter expert in their specific field. Better content means a better chance at being displayed. EEAT is like your website’s resume broken down into these four sections.
Experience: This pertains both to the organization and the single service provider. In other words, has the organization or service provider worked in the field that the website’s mission or service is advertising?
Expertise: This is a measure of the experience. For example, does the organization or service provider have sufficient and appropriate skills and experience in the field?
Authoritativeness: This part can be a bit subjective inasmuch as it asks us to form an opinion about the organization or service provider based upon us reading up on their experience and expertise. For instance, is the organization or service provider a solid “top of mind” source?
Trustworthiness: Finally, all three categories of experience, expertise, and authoritativeness come together into a larger qualitative judgment that determines whether an organization or service provider is a reliable, credible, and trustworthy source.
The trust value of a website, in terms of its content, is a big thing and can impact your search results. In essence, Google wants quality and trustworthy content for its users just like streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime want high quality movies and television shows for their subscribers. These companies want to attract and retain eyeballs, and content is the lure. Think of it this way, and you’ll start to understand and demystify the groundwork for SEO 2.0.