The short answer is (despite what others believe): not yet. Maybe soon. Maybe never.
Even though most of us SEO-types have been using Google’s AI Mode for a while, it was officially unveiled at Google I/O 2025.
What is Google AI Mode?
AI Mode is a significant new feature rolling out to Google Search, initially available to all users in the U.S. This mode leverages Google’s latest Gemini models to make search more intelligent, interactive and personalized. One standout capability is its integration with online shopping: users can now virtually try on clothes using AI-generated images of themselves, streamlining the shopping experience and making it more immersive.
AI Mode also introduces agentic features, enabling the AI to take actions on behalf of users, such as generating images or executing tasks online. This reflects a broader industry trend toward autonomous AI agents that can plan and act based on user intent, further blurring the line between search engines and digital assistants.
The read between: In order to remain competitive in the AI chatbot race, Google is essentially embedding Gemini into its core search product.
Is AI Mode replacing classic search?
AI Mode is currently supplementing standard search results with AI Overviews and is accessible as a feature, with a dedicated tab alongside other features like Images, Videos and News. The classic search experience is still default, but AI-powered features are increasingly front and center.
- AI Mode is an Expansion, Not a Replacement: AI Mode builds on Google’s existing AI Overviews feature, enhancing it with more advanced capabilities like handling complex, multi-part queries, generating images and supporting follow-up questions.
- Integration with Standard Search: AI Mode will now power AI Overviews in the standard search interface, meaning that for many queries, especially complex or nuanced ones, users will see AI-generated summaries and answers at the top of their results.
- User Choice Remains: While AI Mode is becoming a central part of the search experience, users still have access to the traditional list of blue links and can choose to use the AI Mode tab for a more conversational, chatbot-like interaction.
AI Mode is not fully replacing standard search, but it is becoming the default for many types of queries and is deeply integrated into the overall search experience. The traditional interface remains, but AI-driven features are now central to how Google delivers information.
How will AI Mode impact traditional search results?
AI Mode is fundamentally transforming how users interact with Google Search, shifting the experience from a list of links to direct, conversational answers and actionable insights. Here’s how this change is expected to impact traditional search results:
Fewer clicks to external websites
AI Mode delivers natural language answers, summaries and multimodal content (such as images and videos) directly on the search results page, reducing the need for users to click through to external websites for information.
Early data from AI Overviews shows significantly lower click-through rates compared to traditional search results, suggesting that as AI Mode becomes more prominent, organic traffic to websites could decline further.
More personalized and contextual results
AI Mode leverages advanced models to provide highly personalized and context-aware responses, factoring in user preferences, past interactions and real-time information.
This personalization could create “echo chambers,” where users are shown content that aligns with their previous behaviors and interests, potentially limiting exposure to diverse viewpoints.
Shift in SEO and content strategy
With AI Mode, optimizing for AI-generated answers becomes crucial. Businesses and publishers will need to focus on structured, entity-rich and explainable content that is easily understood and cited by AI.
Traditional keyword-based SEO will become less effective, as AI Mode emphasizes semantic understanding and answer-level relevance over simple keyword matching.
AI Mode is poised to reduce organic clicks, increase the need for AI-centric SEO and make search more conversational and personalized, while also raising concerns about content diversity and publisher visibility.
From rankings to citations
Although AI referral traffic has a long way to go as a viable traffic source, AI Mode is ushering in an era where SEO is less about chasing traditional rankings and more about building structured, authoritative and machine-readable content that AI trusts and cites. Future SEO strategies must prioritize clarity, depth, modularity and semantic precision, while continuously monitoring how content appears in AI-generated answers and adapting to new user behaviors in search.