Google AI Mode answers a question by running many related searches at once (Google calls it "query fan-out"), reading the pages its core ranking systems return, and writing one answer with links to supporting pages. Google says it is for questions that need "further exploration, reasoning, or complex comparisons".
A page is eligible if it is indexed, can show a snippet, and your site is included in Search Console's Search generative AI setting, which is the default. No special markup or llms.txt is needed. What wins is ranking for the narrow sub-searches behind your buyer's question, with facts other pages do not have.
How is AI Mode different from AI Overviews?
Google's documentation for site owners is direct about it: the two features "may use different models and techniques, so the set of responses and links they show will vary." The practical differences:
| AI Overviews | AI Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| When it shows | Only when Google's systems decide it is "additive to classic Search", so it "often" does not trigger | When the user opens it, or asks a follow-up from an AI Overview |
| Best for | Getting "the gist" of a question quickly | Nuanced questions, comparisons and follow-ups |
| Shape of the answer | A summary above normal results | A conversation with links; in May 2026 Google announced custom layouts built for each question |
| Default model | Not stated per feature | Gemini 3.5 Flash, worldwide, since 19 May 2026 |
| Same eligibility rules? | Yes: indexed, snippet-eligible, site included in Search generative AI | |
| Same report? | Yes: Search Console's Generative AI performance report counts impressions for both | |
The two are also merging from the user's side. Since May 2026, people can ask a follow-up straight from an AI Overview and continue in AI Mode, and Alphabet describes it as "one seamless Search experience". So a buyer may start with a quick overview and end in a five-turn AI Mode conversation that compares you with three rivals. Plan for the whole conversation, not only the first answer.
What is query fan-out, in Google's words?
Google has described it three times, each a little differently:
- March 2025, at launch: AI Mode issues "multiple related searches concurrently across subtopics and multiple data sources and then brings those results together".
- May 2025, I/O: it works by "breaking down your question into subtopics and issuing a multitude of queries simultaneously on your behalf". Deep Search takes this further and "can issue hundreds of searches".
- Search Central, 2026: fan-out is "a set of concurrent, related queries generated by the model". Google's example: for "how to fix a lawn that's full of weeds", the model might also search "best herbicides for lawns", "remove weeds without chemicals" and "how to prevent weeds in lawn".
Two more details matter. The data sources are wider than web pages: at launch Google named the Knowledge Graph, "info about the real world" and "shopping data for billions of products". And Google says that while the answer is being written, its models "identify more supporting web pages", so AI Mode shows "a wider and more diverse set" of links than a classic search. That is the opening for smaller sites: more slots, picked per sub-question.
Mapping the searches behind your buyer's question
Google never shows the real fan-out queries. You can still plan for them. Take one real buyer question and write down the sub-questions a careful person would search to answer it. This is our illustration, not Google's data:
The buyer's question: "Which accountant in Toronto is good for a two-person online store that also sells to the US, and what does it cost?"
Likely sub-searches: "accountant for e-commerce business Toronto", "Canadian sales tax on US online sales", "small business bookkeeping cost Ontario", "accountant for Shopify sellers Canada", "how to choose a small business accountant".
Illustration written by Adjoltz to show the method. Google does not publish the queries AI Mode runs.
Then, for each sub-search, check who ranks and what kind of page it is:
| Sub-search | The page that wins it | What a small firm can build |
|---|---|---|
| Service in a city | A specific service page, or a directory listing | One page per real service and area, with prices and who it suits |
| The rule or tax question | A clear explainer, often from a firm, not the government | A plain guide to the rule, with the official link and your example |
| The cost question | A page that shows real price ranges | Your actual fees, or honest ranges with what changes the price |
| The "how to choose" question | A checklist or comparison article | Your own checklist, written from real client cases |
Each row is a normal Google search. If your site has strong pages for three of the five, you have three chances to be a supporting link in the answer, and a good chance to be named in it.
Keep Google's warning in mind. Making separate pages "for every possible variation" of a search, including fan-out queries, "primarily to manipulate rankings or generative AI responses" breaks its scaled content abuse policy. One strong page per real question beats ten thin ones. Where two sub-questions overlap, we merge them into one better page.
What Google says makes a page eligible
- Indexed and snippet-eligible. A page "must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet". Stray
nosnippettags and tinymax-snippetvalues remove you. - Site included in Search generative AI. Since 31 August 2026, every site has this control in Search Console. Include is the default. Exclude removes your links and content from AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative features in Discover.
- Crawlable, through the firewall too. Google asks that crawling is allowed "in robots.txt, and by any CDN or hosting infrastructure".
- Facts in text. Google lists "making sure that important content is available in textual form". A price inside an image cannot be quoted.
- Business and product data current. Google says Merchant Center feeds and Business Profiles help your products and services be visible "in both AI responses and other Google Search results".
- No extras required. "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown". Google Search ignores llms.txt.
Eligibility is not a promise. Google says plainly that meeting every requirement "doesn't mean that Google will crawl, index, or serve its content."
Why AI Mode answers differ from person to person
- The conversation. Every follow-up changes the fan-out. "Which of those is cheapest?" triggers new searches.
- Personal Intelligence. People can connect Gmail and Google Photos, and soon Google Calendar, so AI Mode can tailor answers to them. Google expanded this to nearly 200 countries and territories in 98 languages in May 2026, with no subscription needed.
- Location and language. AI Mode runs in many languages, including Arabic since 8 October 2025. A buyer in another city or language sees a different set of local pages.
- Live data. Prices, availability and opening hours change, and AI Mode reads them as they are.
So one screenshot from your phone proves very little. We check a fixed question list in clean sessions, from the buyer's location and language, and save every answer.
Agents, bookings and the official-site test
AI Mode is starting to act, not only answer. In August 2025 Google began testing restaurant reservation finding with US subscribers, searching "across multiple reservation platforms and websites" for open slots. In May 2026 it announced booking for local experiences and services, and said that for "select categories like home repair, beauty or pet care" Google can call businesses for the user, rolling out in the US first.
Two things follow for a business. First, your booking, pricing and availability details need to be readable by machines and people: on your site, on the booking platforms you use, and on your Business Profile. Google's guide points site owners to web.dev's "agent-friendly website best practices". Second, on 15 October 2026 Google said it will test a section at the top of AI responses that surfaces the "official places on the web" to complete a task, "with context about why each link is useful". If buyers come to you to book, pay or check a status, make that official page clear, fast and obviously yours.
How to measure AI Mode
- Open Search Console's Generative AI performance report. It counts impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, grouped by page, country, date or device.
- Check clicks for those pages in the main Performance report. Google includes AI feature traffic in the "Web" search type.
- In GA4, AI Mode visits count as Google organic. Google's AI Assistant channel "excludes Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode", so do not look for them there.
- Re-ask your question list on a schedule, with follow-ups, and save every answer.
- Count leads. Alphabet says AI features in Search send "billions of clicks to websites every week", but many buyers read the answer and call. Ask every lead how they found you.
What we'd do for you
For each client we write down the buyer questions that matter, map the sub-searches behind each one, and build or fix one strong page per real question, with your prices, areas and facts in plain text. We check eligibility (indexing, snippets, the Search generative AI setting, firewall rules), tidy your Business Profile, and track the same questions every month on ChatGPT and Gemini (Google AI), including AI Overviews and AI Mode. It starts with a free AI check. The audit is AED 1,950 or USD 549 (prices for clients outside the GCC are at adjoltz.com/us). Monthly plans run from Foundation (AED 4,500 or USD 1,249) through Growth (AED 8,500 or USD 2,349) to Authority (AED 16,000 or USD 4,399), month to month, no setup fee, with an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee (rules).
What we don't promise
- That AI Mode will show your link on a given question. Google says serving "isn't guaranteed", for anyone.
- The fan-out queries themselves. Nobody outside Google sees them, and any tool that claims to is guessing.
- Pages for every wording of a question. That is the scaled content Google penalises.
- That your Search Console AI numbers will look like your leads. Impressions are not customers, so we report both.