Google’s AI Mode: What We Know and What It Means for SEO

Google’s AI Mode is here, and it’s not just another search feature. It’s a new search logic.

Think of it as the moment Google stopped being a list-maker and became a teacher.
Instead of ranking results, it reasons through them using advanced models that fuse text, images, and video to build relevant answers.

Google insists that publishers need not do anything special to rank.
That’s true… if all you want is eligibility.
But ranking? That’s a whole different story.

What AI Mode Really Is

Launched publicly in May 2025, AI Mode combines multimodal reasoning with query fan-out — a technique that anticipates what users will ask next.

Ask Google, “What is a mechanical keyboard?”
AI Mode won’t stop there.

It also answers:

• What are mechanical switches?
  

• What materials are keycaps made from?
  

• What happens when a key is pressed?

That’s a query fan-out in action. That’s Google predicting and pre-answering your succeeding questions.

For SEOs, this means optimization can’t just target the initial query.
You need to think like Google does, in terms of clusters, context, and conversation chains.

The Shift: From Ranking to Reasoning

Duane Forrester, formerly of Bing, summarized it perfectly:

“You don’t need to rank — you need to be retrieved, fused, and reasoned over by GenAI systems.”

It is the essence of AI Mode. Traditional SEO signals (links, keywords, headings) make your content discoverable.

However, AI Mode utilizes FastSearch, a system that retrieves fewer pages more quickly, while grounding its AI responses with RankEmbed, a deep learning model based on search logs and human-rated data.

That means Google isn’t just matching keywords anymore.

It’s learning which content patterns best answer questions.

SEO, as we know it, gets you indexed. But semantics, clarity, and structure now determine if your content becomes part of the answer.

The Three Layers of Visibility

In AI Mode, content visibility happens in three stages:

1. Eligibility – Standard SEO ensures you’re crawlable, indexable, and technically clean.
   

2. Retrievability – FastSearch picks a small set of documents to ground responses.
   

3. Reasoning – The AI fuses your content with others to generate the actual answer.

Traditional SEO still handles stage one.

But stages two and three are entirely new territory.

If your page structure, clarity, or multimedia integration isn’t optimized for AI comprehension, you’ll never make it into FastSearch’s shortlist — no matter how strong your backlinks are.

How FastSearch Works

Google’s FastSearch technology pulls from RankEmbed signal embeddings trained on 70 days of search logs and human-quality ratings.

It’s fast, selective, and designed for grounding AI responses, not generating search rankings.

That means:

• Fewer documents retrieved per query.
  

• Ranking based on semantic relevance, not keyword match.
  

• Human-rated data helps the system “understand” quality patterns.

For you, this translates into one key rule:
Stop obsessing over keywords.
Start optimizing for meaning and structure.

Every heading, paragraph, and visual must clearly communicate what it is and why it’s useful.

AI Mode’s Multimodal Push

AI Mode doesn’t stop at text.

It’s multimodal, integrating videos and images as part of the reasoning process.

That means image and video optimization now directly influence your visibility in AI-driven search.

You can’t treat visuals as decoration anymore.

Your featured images, infographics, and thumbnails should be informational, descriptive, and distinct.

When displayed in AI Mode’s square or rectangular frames, they must visually stand out — not just look “on brand.”

“AI Mode is not just looking at your website content,” says Mordy Oberstein. “It’s also looking at how the web is talking about you.”

That includes your YouTube videos, your social citations, and even your sponsored content that Google can index and associate with your brand.

The End of Attribution (as We Knew It)

Mordy Oberstein and Michael Bonfils both highlight a harsh truth: 

You can’t track AI Mode in GA4 or Search Console, because it sits within the “Web Search” bucket.

That means zero attribution data.
No visibility on how many impressions your content gets in AI Mode.

We’re officially entering the post-attribution era, where brand resonance replaces click tracking as the actual metric.

This shift isn’t entirely new.
Before the Internet, brand visibility was measured based on awareness and trust, not by pixels and clicks.

AI Mode is taking us back to that.

What Publishers and SEOs Should Do Now

1. Think in Topics, Not Keywords
   

   • Google’s AI Mode understands relationships between ideas.
     

   • Create deep, well-organized clusters of content that relate semantically.
     

2. Write for Retrieval
   

   • Use clear, direct language.
     

   • Each section should serve a clear purpose: explain, compare, or conclude.
     

   • Avoid filler. Every paragraph should build toward an answer.
     

3. Use Multimodal Content
   

   • Integrate images and videos that reinforce your message.
     

   • Include descriptive alt text and captions.
     

4. Clarify Your Structure
   

   • Use predictable heading hierarchies (H2, H3).
     

   • Label sections with specific questions or outcomes.
     

   • Make it easy for AI to parse where one idea starts and ends.
     

5. Focus on Engagement, Not Just Clicks
   
   

   • AI Mode rewards content that sustains attention and answers follow-up intent.
     

   • Depth matters more than conversion CTAs.

My Take

AI Mode doesn’t mean SEO is dead.
It means SEO has grown up.

We’re no longer optimizing for spiders anymore.We're optimizing for understanding.
FastSearch and RankEmbed aren’t measuring backlinks and density; they’re measuring meaning, structure, and usefulness.

If SEO makes your page eligible, then clarity, depth, and multimedia context make it visible.

So here’s the question every brand should ask this week:

👉 If Google’s AI Mode read your page, would it understand it, trust it, and use it to teach someone else?

If not, that’s where you start.

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