Google has officially announced the global expansion of AI Mode, its new artificial intelligence-powered search experience, to over 180 countries, including Mexico and much of Latin America. The Mountain View company confirmed that this modality, also known as AI Mode, is now available to English-speaking users in key regional markets and, as of today, in the rest of the countries.
ALSO READ. How does Google AI Mode affect SEO? A study reveals its real impact on SEO
With this move, Google has implemented what is considered the biggest change to its search engine, aiming for a conversational, multimodal experience deeply integrated with Gemini, its generative AI model. Although the tool is still not available in European Union countries due to possible regulatory reasons, its arrival in Latin America marks a significant shift for the SEO industry and the digital ecosystem.
What is Google’s AI Mode and why is it a turning point?
The AI Mode from Google is the most advanced search experience developed so far by the Mountain View company. This modality, powered by Gemini, its multimodal AI model, transforms how users interact with search: it’s no longer just about links, but about structured summaries, contextual links, citations, images, voice, and even using your mobile camera.
As Google defines it: “AI Mode is Google’s most powerful AI search experience. You can ask anything and get an AI-powered response, with the ability to go deeper through follow-up questions and helpful links to the web.”
This new mode breaks down each query into subtopics, analyzes them in parallel through the query fan-out technique, and builds an enriched answer from various trustworthy sources across the web.
In which countries is Google’s AI Mode available?
After an experimental phase in just three countries (United States, India, and the United Kingdom), Google’s AI Mode is now available in over 180 countries, including most Latin American nations. Among them:
For now, Spain and the rest of the European Union still don’t have access to this mode. Google hasn’t offered an official explanation, but it is assumed to be due to regulatory issues related to data privacy.
How to access Google’s AI Mode?
If you already have access, you can activate AI Mode in three ways:
- Go directly to google.com/aimode.
- Type a question into Google Search and tap on the “AI Mode” option.
- From the Google app on your mobile device (Android or iOS), tap the magnifying glass icon with the “+” sign.
Keep in mind that although availability is now global, AI Mode currently only works in English. Google has promised to add support for more languages and regions soon. Also, the activation may take a few days to reach all accounts.
What features does AI Mode offer?
AI Mode enables a richer and more interactive search experience. Its features include:
- Asking with text, voice, images, or camera.
- Asking follow-up questions.
- Viewing AI Mode History.
- In the United States, new features are being tested, like sharing answers with links or making restaurant reservations from a detailed text prompt, currently available only to AI Ultra subscribers (USD 250/month).
According to Google: “AI Mode expands what AI Overviews can do with more advanced reasoning and ways of interacting. It divides your question into subtopics and searches for each one simultaneously.”
How does Google’s AI Mode work?
AI Mode is based on:
- Gemini 2.0, Google’s advanced AI model.
- Real-time information systems, like the Knowledge Graph and Google Shopping product data.
- The “query fan-out” technique, which performs multiple related searches at the same time, explores subtopics and various sources, and organizes the results into a clear and accessible response.
What’s the difference between AI Mode and AI Overviews?
AI Overviews are already a very popular feature within Google Search. According to the company, over one billion people have used these summaries that combine web results with AI-generated explanations.
However, AI Mode goes a step further. While AI Overviews appear in selected searches to provide a quick summary, AI Mode is a full AI-assisted search environment, where you can:
- Ask complex or multifaceted questions.
- Get detailed reasoning and comparisons.
- Explore topics in-depth with follow-up queries.
- Receive helpful links and verified content.
Essentially, AI Mode is closer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
What are the implications for SEO?
Unlike traditional searches or even AI Overviews, Google’s AI Mode directly generates a miniature article that answers user queries in a structured and detailed way. It also uses advanced reasoning and parallel search techniques (query fan-out), breaking down each question into subtopics to deliver an integrated response with links and citations.
A study by SE Ranking has raised alarms in the web positioning world. The report offers the first comprehensive analysis of how Google AI Mode truly works and how it differs from the traditional search engine and AI Overviews.
The research, conducted by SE Ranking, analyzed over 10,000 keywords from U.S.-based searches, where Google has already implemented this mode. The aim was to understand how AI Mode behaves in practice, what sources it uses, how its responses vary, and how it relates to organic results and AI Overviews.
The conclusions sparked intense industry debate:
- Only a 10.7% URL match between AI Mode and AI Overviews.
- Overlap with Top 10 organic results is just 14% at the URL level and 21.9% at the domain level.
- High volatility: even repeating the same search multiple times a day produces varied results. Only 9.2% of URLs match across three attempts.
- On average, each AI Mode response includes 12.6 links, though the number can exceed 50 in rare cases.
The arrival of Google’s AI Mode to the region marks a turning point for SEO strategies. It’s critical to understand how artificial intelligence processes, selects, and cites content.
Key points to consider:
- Content can feed AI answers without users needing to visit your site.
- Organic traffic may drop as users get answers directly in the search engine.
- Click Through Rate (CTR) might decrease in key sectors like media, health, travel, or commerce.
- AI Mode prioritizes trustworthy sources, which benefits domains with strong reputations.
- Google strongly integrates its own ecosystem (Maps, Travel, Finance), influencing which content is shown.
