Hi, yes, are you seeing declines in your referral traffic from Google? Maybe stop reading if this is something that upsets you.
Today, Google has announced that it’s expanding access to its AI Mode in Search Labs to more than 180 additional regions.
As per Google:
“We’ve continued to receive incredibly positive feedback around AI Mode in Search, especially for its ability to handle longer, more complex questions. We’re seeing first-hand how it’s empowering people to tackle complicated tasks, from comparing products and planning trips to understanding how-tos.”
To be clear, AI Mode is not the same as Google’s AI Overviews, which appear in all Search results, and already available globally. AI mode is its more advanced AI search feature, powered by its latest Gemini models, which aims to provide more comprehensive results, by factoring in various elements of your request.
AI Overviews are more likely what’s impacting your search referrals, with a growing number of people reporting that they’re now far less likely to tap on a website from search results when AI overviews are present. Google has refuted this, saying that, overall, Search referrals have remained steady, though it is sending traffic to a wider range of sources as a result.
Which means that even though Google says it is driving the same amount of clicks to sites, your specific site might be seeing less of them (and probably is).
AI Mode is another variation on this, which will also have an impact on search behavior over time.
In addition to this, Google says that it’s also adding more agentic capabilities in AI Mode, in order to help searchers get more done from Search.
AI Mode’s expanded features enable Google’s system to call businesses for you, in order to get more info for a query as required.
And now, you’ll be able to use that to find things like restaurant reservations, service appointments, and events.
So now, AI Mode will be able to search across multiple platforms and websites to find the best matches for a query, like booking a table for dinner, then present you with a curated list of restaurants with available reservation slots to choose from.
Google’s also adding expanded personalization elements to AI Mode, based on your previous engagement, while it’s also added a new share option, so you can link other people to your AI Mode conversations.
Some interesting elements, which are going to have a significant impact on discovery behavior over time, and change SEO as we know it.
So how do you align with this new shift in search? No one really knows as yet, though some have already put together some best practices to align with AI discovery.
But really, it’s a developing experience, with variable impacts. The best you can do is conduct your own searches in these advanced AI tools and see what elements they look to highlight, while eventually, Google will also be able to provide more insights into common queries via AI that may help you better align your listings.
Google says that this updated agentic experience is rolling out for Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. through the “Agentic capabilities in AI Mode” experiment in Labs.
