Understanding Google AI Mode in the UK and SEO Impact

What is AI Mode and how does it work?

Google’s AI Mode is a new feature in Search that answers using artificial intelligence. Rather than listing links, it summarises content from multiple sources into one coherent response. It’s designed to feel more like a conversation than a traditional search. Especially useful when you’re trying to unpack a topic and not just find a page.

It’s powered by Google’s Gemini 2.5 model and includes follow-up prompts, visual content, and even PDF or image input in some cases. Results are now faster and more dynamic.

It builds on earlier AI Overviews, which typically appear for long-tail queries but don’t necessarily trigger for every query. Meanwhile, AI Mode encourages users to ‘ask anything’, generating concise answers along with a list of useful links- at least what it considers useful given the query supplied by the user.

Why is Google rolling out AI Mode?

Given the popularity of tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity with their seemingly more ‘human’ conversational tone, expectations around how information is delivered have shifted.



Users now expect concise, human-like answers that are supported by facts and ideally, real user reviews. This is where long-tail queries shine: users are asking more complex questions, expecting detailed responses. Hence, Google’s introduction of AI Mode. A more intelligent and interactive way to search, built to handle these users’ complex or multi-step queries that would usually require several clicks and comparisons. It’s also a way for Google to keep users within its ecosystem while improving response quality. Both AI Overview and AI Mode utilise the query-fan-out method, where the AI system breaks down the original request into multiple sub-queries. This allows them to delve deeper into a user’s intent and provide more comprehensive and contextually relevant answers than traditional search methods.

AI Mode launches in the UK

As of 28 July 2025, AI Mode is available to all UK users. That makes us the third region to access it, following the US and India. If you're wondering how to enable AI Mode in the UK, it's actually simpler than you might think. From the traditional search view, you can now switch to AI Mode on both desktop and mobile. AI Mode it’s just one click away!

What does this mean for SEO?

SEO isn't dead with the arrival of AI Mode, however, with search behaviour changing, SEO strategies must evolve. At Hookflash, we track via third-party tools AI Overview visibility, so naturally, the question arises: how do we measure traffic from AI Mode?
 
At the moment, there is no clear tracking tool that cleanly separates AI Mode traffic from traditional search clicks. This makes attribution difficult, especially when visibility might still benefit the brand even if no click occurs.
 
We expect analytics platforms such as Google Search Control to eventually introduce this. In the meantime, the smart move is to optimise for presence, not just performance. Being referenced by AI Mode means your content has to be clear, authoritative, and useful on its own terms. We urge businesses, especially in sectors like travel, food, finance, and health, to take this seriously. These are industries where AI Mode already provides rich, tailored responses. If your content isn’t structured for AI visibility, you risk disappearing from the conversation altogether. 

Curious about the future of SEO? Read with our dedicated blog on Is SEO dead in 2025?

SEO Considerations for AI Mode

Zero-click search is rising

Some users may get everything they need from an AI summary, without ever visiting any site. This is where your brand should aim to be visible, appearing within the “useful links” cited by AI, typically displayed on the right-hand side of the search interface.

Visibility shifts from ranking to referencing

It’s no longer just about page one, it’s about being cited in generative results. Your content needs to be clear, authoritative, and referenceable. The E-E-A-T framework by Google remains a key ranking signal. Updating your content to reflect this can significantly improve visibility and provide more value to users. Page one is, of course, still very important.

Structured data matters more than ever

AI Mode is multimodal meaning that it reads and references not just text, but images, tables, PDFs and structured data. So, it’s not just what you write, it’s how you present it.  While content that follows Google E-E-A-T best practices remains crucial, implementing structured data, especially on key pages, helps Google understand and surface your content more effectively.
 
Want to dig deeper into structured data? Read how we used structured data to increase visibility within Google’s AI Overviews.

In summary

AI Mode changes the game. Beyond traditional AI Overviews, there are now additional features competing for user attention, which are effectively stealing clicks from organic results.



This shift challenges us to play Google’s game by ensuring content is optimised to appear in these new features, particularly AI-cited links and summaries. But our core goal as SEOs remains unchanged: to improve visibility, boost rankings, and help businesses achieve their KPIs. Over the past year, Google has doubled down on user-centric content. That means if you create helpful, well-structured, and trustworthy content, you're still playing to win .

Looking to get your site AI-ready? Put data at the centre of your SEO strategy with Hookflash SEO services.