Google's Gemini reaches buyers in three places: the Gemini app, AI Overviews at the top of Google results, and AI Mode. AI Overviews and AI Mode are built from Google's search index and ranking systems. The Gemini app answers from its model's memory or grounds the answer in Google Search, and only the grounded answers show sources.
The two kinds of answer name different businesses. In our study, only 20.3% of the businesses Gemini named from memory showed up in live-search answers for the same questions. To be recommended, rank on Google for the narrow questions behind your buyers' question, keep your Google Business Profile complete, and don't block Google-Extended by accident.
Gemini app, AI Overviews and AI Mode: what is the difference?
All three run on Gemini models, which is why people mix them up. For a business, they are three separate places to show up.
| AI Overviews | AI Mode | Gemini app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where | Top of normal Google results | The AI Mode tab, or a follow-up from an AI Overview | gemini.google.com and the mobile apps |
| When it appears | Only when Google judges it "additive", so it often does not show | When the user chooses it, for longer questions and comparisons | Whenever the user chats |
| Where answers come from | Google's search index, with query fan-out | Google's search index, with query fan-out | The model's memory, or grounded in Google Search results |
| Shows links | Yes | Yes | Only when the answer used sources |
| How to opt out | Search generative AI control in Search Console | Google-Extended in robots.txt | |
| How to measure | Search Console's Generative AI performance report | GA4 AI Assistant channel, source gemini.google.com | |
The line between the Search features is fading. Since 19 May 2026 you can ask a follow-up straight from an AI Overview and "flow into a conversational back and forth with AI Mode", and Alphabet now calls it "one seamless Search experience". Both are covered in our guides to AI Overviews and AI Mode. This page is mostly about the Gemini app and about memory, which those guides do not cover.
What does Gemini say when it answers from memory?
We measured it. On 21 October 2026 we sent 500 real buyer questions (10 industries, English and Arabic, all about UAE businesses) to Gemini Flash-Lite through the Gemini API with no search, and the same questions to Claude with live web search. Gemini answered 478 of them. Four things stood out.
- Gemini almost always names someone. 93.9% of its answers named at least one business, 5.4 on average. "I can't recommend anyone" is rare.
- Memory is a short list of famous names. In home services, Gemini's five most-named businesses took 46% of all its mentions. In live search, the top five took 10%. Business setup was 39% against 13%, real estate 37% against 13%.
- Memory and live search barely overlap. Of the 2,405 business names Gemini gave, only 20.3% appeared anywhere in the live-search answers for the same industry: 25.0% in English, 14.8% in Arabic.
- Memory is not stable either. Asked the same 19 questions twice, about 20 minutes apart, the same Gemini model put the same business first only 4 times.
| Industry | Gemini's remembered names found in live search |
|---|---|
| Real estate | 50.7% |
| Business setup | 46.6% |
| Home services | 24.8% |
| Education and childcare | 21.9% |
| Law firms | 18.0% |
| Fitness and wellness | 16.9% |
| Aesthetics and dermatology | 16.8% |
| Dental clinics | 8.5% |
| Restaurants and cafes | 7.3% |
| Automotive | 6.1% |
Where a few big brands lead both the market and the web (brokers, company setup), memory and search agree more. Where the market is local and crowded (garages, restaurants, dental clinics), what Gemini remembers and what the web shows today are almost two separate lists.
AC repair near Al Barsha today?
Gemini from memory named Justlife, Mr. Usta and Urban Company. Claude with live search named seven local firms, starting with AtoZ Appliances Repair, Jabal Albaz Technical Services and Dubai Cool Experts.
Read this carefully. The two lenses were two different companies' models, so part of the gap is Gemini against Claude, on top of memory against search. On 10 dental questions, a bigger model, Gemini 3.8 Flash, had more of its names in the live answers (26%) than Flash-Lite (11%). The full method and the limits are in our memory vs live search report.
When does the Gemini app search Google?
Google's privacy hub for Gemini Apps says "some Gemini responses are grounded on Search results". Google does not publish the exact rule for the consumer app. Its developer documentation for the same feature describes the loop: the model "determines if a Google Search can improve the answer", and if so it "automatically generates one or multiple search queries", runs them and answers with citations.
So a Gemini app answer about your business is one of two things:
A grounded answer
- Shows a Sources button or in-line links.
- Built from pages Google's index returned for the queries Gemini wrote.
- Moves when your Google rankings move.
- Won with normal SEO for the narrow sub-questions.
A memory answer
- No sources. Google says "not all responses include related links or sources".
- Built from what the model learned in training.
- Favours businesses written about widely for years.
- Moves only when a newer model is trained.
A question about a named city, service or price is the kind where a search "can improve the answer", so grounding is likely. But Google does not say when it happens, and you cannot choose which kind your buyer gets, so plan for both.
The Google-Extended trap
Many sites block AI crawlers to keep their content out of training, and some block Google-Extended without knowing what it does. Google says Google-Extended controls whether content it crawls "may be used for training future generations of Gemini models", and also its use "for grounding" in Gemini Apps and Grounding with Google Search on Vertex AI. It "does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search".
That means a Google-Extended block can quietly remove you from grounded Gemini app answers while you still appear in AI Overviews. The reverse switch works differently. The Search generative AI control in Search Console removes you from AI Overviews and AI Mode, but Google says it "doesn't affect AI training".
Google-Extended is a robots.txt token, not a separate crawler. Crawling is done by Google's normal user agents, so you will not see "Google-Extended" in your logs. Check the robots.txt file itself:
User-agent: Google-ExtendedAllow: /
If Gemini never mentions you while Google ranks you well, look for a Google-Extended block before anything else. It takes a minute to check.
Location, Google Maps and your Business Profile
Local questions are where Gemini is most Google-shaped. Google's Gemini privacy hub says:
- By default, Gemini Apps use "the general area from your IP address or the Home or Work addresses" in the user's Google Account.
- With permission, they use precise location, for example to answer "where is the closest coffee shop to me?"
- Gemini Apps "may share your precise location data with another Google service, like Google Maps, to fulfill your request".
Google also says Business Profiles "can help your products and services to be visible in both AI responses and other Google Search results". For local ranking it names relevance, distance and popularity, says more reviews and positive ratings help, and adds that "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking". So the profile is part of your Gemini work, not a separate chore: the exact category, services with prices, real hours (holidays included), real photos and a steady flow of genuine reviews.
How do you get into what Gemini remembers?
Slowly, and not by asking. A model knows what was written about you before it was trained. The businesses that held up in both of our lenses, such as Shuraa, Fitness First and GymNation, were widely known and also had their own pages among the live answers' sources. Being well known got them into memory. Having pages that answer the question kept them in search.
- Describe your business the same way everywhere: website, Google Business Profile, directories, social profiles, press.
- Earn real mentions on the sites people in your industry read: lists that accept submissions, local press, associations, podcasts.
- Keep old facts from lingering. If your price, address or service changed, update every listing, because the next model will learn from what it finds.
How to measure Gemini traffic
- Gemini app visits show in GA4's AI Assistant channel, which names Gemini among its examples. Also filter by source gemini.google.com.
- AI Overviews and AI Mode visits count as Google organic search, not as AI Assistant traffic. Google's channel definition says it "excludes Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode".
- Impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode are in Search Console's Generative AI performance report, live for all sites since 31 August 2026, by page, country, date and device.
- Ask every lead how they found you. Many people read the answer and then call or message without clicking.
Checklist: getting recommended by Gemini
- Confirm your key pages are indexed in Google Search Console.
- Check robots.txt for a Google-Extended block, and decide on it on purpose.
- Leave Search generative AI set to include, unless you truly want out of AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- Ask Gemini your top 10 buyer questions in fresh chats. Note which answers show sources and which do not.
- For grounded answers, open the sources. Those pages, and the searches behind them, are what you need to rank for.
- Write one page per real question, with price, area, hours and who it suits, in plain text.
- Complete your Google Business Profile, and keep a steady flow of real reviews.
- Make your facts identical on every listing, so the next model learns one version of you.
- Publish real pages in each language your buyers use.
- Re-check the same questions every month, and change one thing at a time.
What we'd do for you
Our plans track your buyers' questions on ChatGPT and Gemini (Google AI), including Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, with traditional SEO included. It starts with a free AI check: 10 real buyer questions and the businesses AI names instead of you. The audit costs AED 1,950 (USD 549 outside the GCC, at adjoltz.com/us), and covers 30 buyer questions per language on four AI tools, with screenshots and a 90-day plan. Monthly plans are Foundation (AED 4,500 or USD 1,249), Growth (AED 8,500 or USD 2,349) and Authority (AED 16,000 or USD 4,399), month to month with no lock-in and no setup fee, and an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee (rules). We serve businesses worldwide in USD and UAE and GCC businesses in AED.
What we don't promise
- That Gemini's memory will change on our schedule. Only a new model changes it.
- That you will be named first, or in every run. Our own data shows the first name changes between identical runs.
- That one screenshot proves anything, good or bad. We judge progress on a fixed question list checked again and again.
- Anything that breaks Google's spam policies, such as pages made for every wording of a question.