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Scott Sinclair is Google’s head of Search+ for the U.K. He leads a team of Search and apps specialists who help some of the largest and most complex advertisers get the most out of Google AI.
It’s here: AI Mode has launched in the U.K.
AI Mode offers a new way to search on Google. People can search with text, images, or audio, and receive in-depth responses that are context-aware — powered by Google’s most advanced reasoning, thinking, and multimodal capabilities.
For marketers, this represents a new way to reach audiences in moments that matter, as search evolves from keywords to rich, interactive responses.
Understanding AI Mode, in context
We see over 5 trillion searches on Google annually.1
AI Mode is now playing a growing role in providing responses to longer, more complex, and more specific searches in the U.K. and around the world.
AI Mode quickly surpassed 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. and India alone,2 and it has since expanded to over 180 countries in English.
Here is an example of a complex query that AI Mode can expertly handle:
“I’m looking to understand different coffee brewing methods. Make a table comparing the differences in taste, ease of use and the equipment needed.”
AI Mode is also designed to answer follow-up questions like this:
“What’s the best grind size for each method.”
These searches show how people can ask Google almost anything these days, and expect tailored, thoughtful responses that cater to their individual circumstances.
An example of a search on AI Mode, asking for information about different coffee brewing methods.
What AI Mode means for marketers
For marketers, when you look at these searches above, it’s clear that your potential customers are providing far more context that exists beyond the keywords. These complex searches present an opportunity for marketers to deliver even more helpful, relevant content and ads that are aligned to customer intent.
With that in mind, here’s what you can do next to show up in the right moments, with the right messages:
Building upon your SEO strategy
As Google Search evolves, the core goal remains the same: help people find authentic, original content that adds unique value. Google wants to highlight content that fulfills peoples’ needs.
From a marketing perspective, continue to focus on providing people with helpful, satisfying content on your website.
Content should anticipate follow-up searches. For example, after searching “different coffee brewing methods” a person might follow up with “are they easy to use” or “what’s the return policy?” Brands that provide clear, detailed information designed to answer customer questions are more likely to be surfaced in Google’s AI-powered responses.
Ensuring your content is up-to-date, accurate, and trustworthy is especially important, as AI Mode surfaces responses that reflect your brand, helping build credibility.
Building for voice and visual
Brands should ensure they have a rich library of high-quality product images, each paired with clear, specific metadata that accurately describes what’s shown. This makes it easier for AI systems to process, surface, and showcase your content in search results. This can boost your brand’s discoverability as people search with their phone cameras and voices.
And if you have a Merchant Center and Business Profile, make sure all that information is up-to-date.
Building easy site navigation
It’s also important to ensure your site is easy to navigate and people can find the information they are seeking. Even the best, most detailed content can be disappointing if people arrive at a cluttered page that loads too slowly.
Building for technical considerations
From a technical perspective, structured data is useful for sharing information about your content in a machine-readable way that our systems will consider. If you’re using structured data, be sure to follow our guidelines, such as making sure that all the content in your markup is also visible on your web page.
These suggestions should all complement your pre-existing digital marketing and SEO work, helping your brand deliver helpful content and information to customers across Google’s Search results, including AI Mode.
New opportunities to take your marketing further with AI Max
Rich, structured content and assets don’t just improve organic discoverability. They can also help you deliver more relevant ads.
AI Max for Search is a powerful option to extend your reach across Google Search, including AI-powered experiences.
AI Max for Search automatically expands your reach to discover new, high-value queries, boosting incremental performance and revenue.
AI Max is now available across the world in beta, and it goes beyond the Search keywords you’ve manually selected to find untapped, relevant searches. Then, it adapts your ad copy — and can even direct users to the most relevant landing page — for that exact moment. AI Max for Search will dynamically generate and optimise ad copy from your pre-existing website assets to match customers’ search intent.
Simply flick the switch in your Google Ads account to turn on AI Max and it will be one of the best ways for your ads to show up in AI Mode and AI Overviews. (We’re currently testing ads in AI Mode in the U.S.)
Advertisers that adopt AI Max for Search campaigns are seeing 27% more conversions at a similar CPA or ROAS compared to campaigns that mostly use exact and phrase match keywords.3
Make the most of the AI Mode opportunity
For marketers and advertisers, this is your opportunity to respond early and gain a first-mover advantage.
In a world that asks anything, your brand can show up and be part of the answers that people are seeking on AI Mode and beyond.
