Google has started rolling out two new AI tools in Search: AI Mode and Web Guide. Both are designed to help people find what they need online in a faster and more organised way, especially when searching for something complex or unusual.
AI Mode is now live in the UK. It lets people ask longer and more detailed questions than before. According to Hema Budaraju, Vice President of Product Management at Google Search, early users have been typing questions that are two to three times longer than usual. For example, someone could ask for food and music recommendations in Edinburgh for a weekend trip and get a clear, direct answer, along with web links for more detail.
The tool uses Google’s Gemini 2.5 model and can break down long questions into smaller pieces. It runs several related searches at once and then presents results that match what was asked. People can also use voice or photos to ask questions thanks to the tool’s multimodal setup.
How Does Web Guide Work?
Web Guide is another AI-powered tool Google is testing in Search Labs. It groups links on the search results page based on topics that match the question asked. This makes it easier to explore different sides of a topic, especially if the original question was broad.
Google’s Group Product Manager Austin Wu explained that Web Guide runs multiple related searches at once to spot useful pages and group them. For example, a search on solo travel in Japan might bring up different groups like safety tips, visa info, and hostel reviews.
The Web Guide feature is available to people who have opted into Labs. It appears under the Web tab in Search, but Google plans to test it in other places too, like the main “All” tab.
What Does This Mean For How People Use Google?
Google is trying to change how people use its search engine, especially when dealing with questions that are hard to answer or tasks like trip planning. With AI Mode and Web Guide, it wants to support people who ask messy or detailed questions and prefer to dig deeper into a topic.
The tools also help people find web pages they might not have seen before. Google has seen that people using AI Overviews are now clicking on more types of websites, and they stay on those sites longer. It hopes this will help people access better matches for their questions and give content creators more attention.
How Will The Future Of Search Impact Businesses And SEO?
Experts share their thoughts on how an AI search future will impact businesses online, as well as SEO.
Our Experts
- Pavel Buev, SEO & SEM Expert, Pynest
- Ben Duffy, Client Development Manager, Quirky Digital
- Ben Gibson, UK CEO, Labelium
- Rich Pleeth, Co-founder & CEO, Finmile
- George Mastorakis, Founding SEO Lead, DualEntry
- Leury Pichardo, Director of Digital Marketing, Digital Ceuticals
- Alexandra Johansen, Account Manager, Carnsight Communications
- Crawford Warnock, Founding Director, Firstname Communications
- Maria Levitov, Co-founder and Managing Director, Snow Hill Advisors
- Greg Bortkiewicz, Account Director and Digital Lead, Magenta Associates
- Chloe Singleton, Channel Director, eight&four
- Rich Harper, Head of Digital Marketing, Brew Digital
- Petra Smith, Founder, Squirrels&Bears
- Lee Dobson, Head of Client Services, Bulldog Digital Media
Pavel Buev, SEO & SEM Expert, Pynest
“AI search forces you to write for synthesis, not clicks.”
The most surfaced content isn’t always the longest or most optimized — it’s the clearest. Pages that explain, illustrate, and answer directly are more likely to be cited by models. That means shifting from marketing copy to explainers, use cases, and expert Q&A. It’s SEO without the fluff.
“Author identity and brand trust signals now matter more than backlinks.”
AI systems don’t just look at content — they look at who’s speaking. Real names, published thought leadership, GitHub presence, interviews, public talks — these all feed into what LLMs choose to surface. For tech companies, having visible, credible experts is now a ranking factor.”
Ben Duffy, Client Development Manager, Quirky Digital
“Despite some skepticism surrounding the rise of AI search engines, their growing use presents a significant opportunity for businesses.
“Tools like ChatGPT are now key in how people discover products and services online, especially in local SEO searches such as ‘best [service] in [location].’ We’ve already seen this on our own website, with new clients coming through AI engines, and we’re seeing similar trends across our clients’ websites.
“While traditional search engines like Google may see reduced traffic, the overall demand for services isn’t decreasing. In fact, this evolution makes SEO even more crucial as brands need a broader, more strategic approach to visibility across both traditional and AI platforms.”
Ben Gibson, UK CEO, Labelium
“Search has always been a one-way transaction: you ask, it delivers. Now it’s becoming a two-way interaction. The opportunity for businesses and platforms is to become findable and genuinely useful.”
Ben Gibson also gave five shifts that signal just how deep the changes go and where the opportunities now lie:
Browser wars – and browsers reborn
“OpenAI’s quiet release of a web browser, with few details so far, is likely to be a significant behaviour play with rumours that it will change how we browse. Same with Perplexity’s clean, conversational interface. These tools know they’re catching users at a critical inflection point, where habits are up for grabs.
“For two decades, the browser was neutral territory. Now, it’s becoming the destination. One where answers are summarised, personalised, and more often than not, don’t link anywhere else.
“The winners in this new space will be the stickiest – the ones that build trust and routine in this new flow of discovery.”
The ‘death of Google’ headlines aren’t hype
“The CMA’s investigation into Google’s ad dominance and ranking practices has landed at the worst possible time for the company. Add in user confusion over “AI Overviews,” delays to rollout, and a wave of bad press about hallucinated answers.
“Meanwhile, ChatGPT’s monthly users now eclipse Google’s Gemini. Perplexity is reportedly in talks with Apple. And Google’s core revenue engine – Google ads – is under pressure in a ‘zero-click future’ where users get what they need without ever leaving the search page.
“The spell is breaking. And as ranking algorithms come under regulatory scrutiny, Google’s long-standing edge is becoming a liability.”
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Amazon, meet your next threat
“ChatGPT Shopping has launched, with plans to expand. It’s conversational, helpful, and for now, not pay-to-play. For brands, that creates a golden window to show up organically before the inevitable monetisation kicks in.
“This is generative AI going after the next tech giant and once again, it’s powered by behaviour. Shoppers seek clarity, smart choices and ease.
“For marketers, this is the time to test, learn, and land early. Once users build new shopping habits, they’re hard to shake.”
Social media is drowning in AI slop
“Meanwhile, social platforms are facing a growing credibility crisis. AI-generated content is being used widely to create fast content, and a lot of it isn’t real. The rise of convincing fabrications has exposed just how quickly misinformation can spread and how little control platforms have over it. As users become increasingly sceptical of what they see, brands must rethink their digital presence.
“Performative content won’t cut it. Authenticity, usefulness, and earned trust will be the new algorithm.”
The arrival of ChatGPT agents
“The rise of ChatGPT agents could fundamentally reshape customer journeys. These agents do more than search, they decide, compare, filter, and execute.
It’s no longer about marketing to a human, but to a human’s assistant. Brands will need to build trust with machine-led decision-makers, and find ways to stay relevant in agent-driven flows that bypass traditional touchpoints entirely. That’s a massive shift.”
A new era of brand discovery is here
“Today, brand presence is less about being everywhere, more about showing up meaningfully in the moments that matter.
“The brands that thrive in this new world will be the ones that think beyond traffic and start designing for behavioural change and real-time human need.”
Rich Pleeth, Co-founder & CEO, Finmile
“AI search isn’t coming, it’s already reshaping the web. Traditional SEO was about keywords and backlinks. But with AI search engines like ChatGPT and Gemini, discoverability is now about authority, clarity, and context. It’s not just about ranking, it’s about being the answer. That means online businesses need to rethink their entire content strategy: speak like a human, show domain expertise, and design for machine readability.
“At Finmile, we’re already adapting our SEO playbook. We’ve moved beyond classic keyword stuffing and focused on what I call GEO — Generative Engine Optimization. That means structured, conversational content that answers real user intent. Think: rich FAQs, clean schema, and value-dense whitepapers. If your content isn’t LLM-friendly, you’re invisible in the next wave of search.”
George Mastorakis, Founding SEO Lead, DualEntry
“The real shift with AI search isn’t about losing clicks—it’s about losing presence. In the old model, visibility meant ranking. Now it means being part of the answer before someone even clicks.
“That’s changed how I think about SEO. It’s not about optimizing for the next visit—it’s about building semantic presence around the topics you want to own. If AI systems consistently see your brand in context—across publishers, transcripts, content, and citations—you become part of the knowledge graph. That’s the game now.
“We’re not chasing search traffic. We’re building recognition at the language level.”
Leury Pichardo, Director of Digital Marketing, Digital Ceuticals
“As someone who builds and monetises websites for a living, I believe the panic around AI search misses the massive underlying opportunity for true experts.
“Everyone fears AI search will eliminate clicks, but they’re missing the point. AI search is actually a massive filter for expertise, and its primary impact will be to reward deep topical authority over shallow, keyword focused content. Your new goal isn’t just to rank, it’s to become a citable entity.
“With our clients’ and our own sites, we’ve shifted focus from winning individual keywords to owning the entire conversation around energy deregulation.
“We build comprehensive content hubs that answer every conceivable question, making our site the most logical and authoritative source for an AI to reference.
“The future of SEO isn’t about tricking an algorithm (kind of), it’s about making it undeniably clear to an AI that your brand is the definitive answer for a specific domain.”
Alexandra Johansen, Account Manager, Carnsight Communications
“Search engines are increasingly pulling from earned media (like press coverage and mentions in trusted publications) for information and authority rather than advertorials and owned media sources. This shift is a credit to the growing importance of PR, editorial online content, and organic third-party validation for brand visibility.
“We’re seeing the same thing with users switching to platforms like ChatGPT and Copilot to search and sort through information, and even Google’s own AI Overviews feature, displacing Google SERPs. Forbes reported earlier this year that nearly 41% of consumers trust Gen AI search results more than paid search results, while only 15% trust AI less than search ads.
“So, even from a trust perspective, there’s been a big shift in how people are perceiving search results, as well as the mechanics of how they’re being sourced and reported. The takeaway for businesses is that earned media is making a comeback.
“It’s always been powerful for reputation and word of mouth, but now it’s pulling even more weight with AI-powered search and SEO. So, maybe don’t spend ALL of your budget on commercial activity.”
Crawford Warnock, Founding Director, Firstname Communications
“AI has given the Day One List – that all important list of potential suppliers that is the Holy Grail of search and marketing – the facelift to end all facelifts – it is the same structural idea, but looks profoundly different
“First of all, consider how much Google’s AI game has improved and how so much of that is mobile.
“60% of Google searches are zero clicks – a big part of this is that the ‘AI overviews’ now define how people look at complex issues. Politics. Religion. Technology investment.
“One click or tap on the ‘read more’ button’ is enough to constitute the enquirer feeling involved – that they have made input into a decision-making process.
“These ‘overview+1 moments’ are killing search clicks. Which kills further research – and thus opportunities to influence – because it is so easy to feel that ‘read more’ is ‘enough’…Especially if someone has done a bit of proper prompt development.
“And against this is the backdrop of growing evidence that AI returns a lot of info based on media – ‘LLMs feeding on media’ has been the recent great hope of the PR industry.
“Smash the three together and you get a future where potential large scale investments are framed by an AI search and a single tap on a screen.
“Owning that overview window is now the sniper shot for marketing, PR or any form of outreach to have maximum impact…”
Maria Levitov, Co-founder and Managing Director, Snow Hill Advisors
“The way people search for information is evolving quickly, as typing queries into AI-based tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity rather than Google becomes the new normal. This change has important ramifications for communications and marketing professionals, many of whom have come to rely on sponsored links and paid advertorials to get key messages across to their target audiences via Google search results.
“Research shows that the main difference between AI-generated results and traditional SEO is that sponsored articles and other paid marketing materials rarely make it into the answers generated by AI. A research report published by MuckRack in July found that earned media published within the past 12 months carries the largest weight within AI-generated search results with major media outlets like Bloomberg or Reuters assigned the largest weight, followed by more niche trade media and industry websites for industry-specific queries.
“Owned content like thought leadership, fact sheets or corporate blogs also make it into the research and analysis produced by AI bots, so these tools still have a lot of value for companies, aiming to gain greater visibility and differentiate themselves from competitors. So, refocusing on traditional media relations and producing higher-quality owned content will become a strategic priority for all corporate communications professionals in this new era of AI-based search.”
Greg Bortkiewicz, Account Director And Digital Lead, Magenta Associates
“AI-powered search is changing the game. While impressions are rising as content appears in AI overviews, actual website traffic is falling off a cliff because people get their answers (not necessarily the right ones) directly from tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI overviews. That’s a huge issue for businesses – less traffic means fewer new client leads.
“This shift makes brand awareness more important than ever. If people already know and trust your brand, they’re more likely to seek you out even without clicking a search link. PR has a big role to play here – building a reputation that stands out beyond the search results.
“But the way PR is delivered will have to change as businesses rethink how they connect with their audiences. That could mean more in-person events, highly personalised content or subscription services that deliver real value. The decline in organic traffic isn’t coming – it’s already here, and companies need to start adapting their strategy now.
“As for SEO, the fundamentals haven’t changed. Helpful, insightful and unique content is still critical – but presentation matters. Content needs to be easy to digest, genuinely useful and written for people, not just algorithms. That type of content performs best in both traditional and AI-driven search.”
Chloe Singleton, Channel Director, eight&four
“AI search results aren’t necessarily better. They’re easier. They provide a safe space for long-tail queries, with less friction and a flow that feels more intuitive to how we explore ideas – not just hunt for answers. While there’s warranted hysteria around the idea of a traffic apocalypse, the reality is that brands just need to shift their content approach to match how users think; curiosity, problems, inspiration.
“If your content only answers direct questions, it might get left behind. The shift to AI search isn’t going away. Just look at Google; AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perspectives. This is happening, fast. But SEO isn’t dead, it’s just had a makeover. It’s no longer just about ranking and keywords. It’s about value, authority, and digestibility. These are the new expectations. Online businesses that adapt to this new behaviour – not just the new tech – are the ones that will keep showing up in all the right places.”
Rich Harper, Head of Digital Marketing, Brew Digital
“AI isn’t just changing how people search, it’s changing what they see. With AI-powered search engines delivering hyper-personalised results, no two users will get the same answer. That means traditional keyword rankings matter less than ever. Instead, search success hinges on contextual relevance, trust, and AI-friendly content structures.
“This shift rewards brands that focus on authority, expertise, and engagement. First-party data, well-researched insights, and structured content will be the key to appearing in AI-generated results. It’s no longer about chasing high-volume keywords; it’s about ensuring AI recognises your content as the most relevant answer.
“With AI curating highly personalised search experiences, standing out is harder than ever. Brands need to take a multi-channel approach, ensuring they show up where it matters most. Also, AI-driven insights are crucial for understanding user intent, trending topics, and shifting behaviours. The brands that leverage these insights will create content that’s not only seen but acted upon, turning searchers into customers.”
Petra Smith, Founder, Squirrels&Bears
“Whilst historically we searched for information, we now search for answers. AI can provide a concise summary from a variety of sources, but these sources go far beyond your own website or social channels. The traditional crawling approach is now replaced by analysis to build the full picture.
“AI’s job is to provide the most accurate answers, and for that it looks for external, independent validation through trusted media sources, making PR coverage a key element in digital discovery. AI searches are also not reliant on backlinks – a big shift compared to traditional PR and SEO objectives. Unlinked mentions in authoritative sources are recognised as signals of credibility and will appear AI searches as part of a wider enquiry, if relevant.
“On the other hand, for businesses and individuals this also highlights the responsibility to control the narrative and ensure that mentions online are in line with the brand perception they are looking to build.”
Lee Dobson, Head of Client Services, Bulldog Digital Media
“AI search is reshaping SEO, but it’s not the apocalypse. We’re seeing a shift in how people search for information with AI Overviews now appearing in over 13% of searches, and zero-click searches have grown to 69% since AI Overviews launched.
“What’s happening is that people are increasingly getting their answers without ever clicking through to websites. Reports suggest users already find AI-powered search more helpful than traditional search engines so businesses that ignore this shift do so at their own risk.
“The key insight here is that while AI search currently drives less than 1% of traffic to most websites, the growth trajectory is clear. Companies need to start optimising for what I call ‘reference-ability’, creating content that AI systems want to cite and reference when answering user questions.
“The winners in this transition will be the ones who recognise that visibility now happens in multiple places simultaneously. You still need Google traffic, but you also need to be the authoritative voice that AI systems turn to when answering questions in your space.”