AI Mode: one question becomes several searches.
Google describes AI Mode as dividing a question into subtopics and searching each one. Which searches are run for a given question is not published.
AI Mode is described by Google as its most powerful AI search experience: a question receives an AI-powered response, with follow-up questions and links to the web. For site owners, the conditions are the same as for AI Overviews. Google documents query fan-out for both; what its help page adds for AI Mode is follow-up questions.
Documentation last checked: October 4, 2026. It is re-checked every quarter, and each check is entered in the change log. These pages can change; the statements below are quoted or paraphrased from the sources linked, as they read on that date.
What is documented
| Statement | Source |
|---|---|
| "AI Mode is Google's most powerful AI search experience." | Google Search Help, AI Mode |
| It uses a "query fan-out" technique: the question is divided into subtopics and each is searched | Google Search Help, AI Mode |
| Responses include links to the web | Google Search Help, AI Mode |
| "AI Mode doesn't always get it right." | Google Search Help, AI Mode |
| AI Overviews and AI Mode "may use a 'query fan-out' technique — issuing multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources" | Google Search Central, AI features |
| No additional requirements; a supporting link must be indexed and snippet-eligible | Google Search Central, AI features |
What the cited sources do not cover
- Which sub-queries are generated for a given question.
- How links are chosen among the pages retrieved.
- A separate report for AI Mode in Search Console.
Where the documentation is silent, this page says so and does not fill the gap.
Access and controls
The controls are those described for AI Overviews: the snippet controls and noindex. There is no AI Mode-specific tag in the documentation cited here: Google's AI-features documentation covers both surfaces in one page and lists no control that applies to AI Mode alone.
A test protocol for Google AI Mode
This is a procedure to follow, not a result. No test of Google AI Mode is reported on this page.
- Write questions as a person would ask them, including long ones with several conditions.
- Ask each one in AI Mode, where it is available to you, and keep the response and its links.
- Ask one follow-up question per test, the same each time, and keep that response too.
- For each link shown, note the subtopic it answers. This is your own classification; it is not a record of the searches Google ran.
- List the subtopics for which none of your pages is linked.
- Repeat, with the same wording.
What to record for each run is listed in what is recorded; how many prompts a reading needs is in how many prompts make a reading. The rules a measurement must meet before it is published on this site are in the research methodology.
What to do with the result
- You are linked for the main question and not for the subtopics The gap is in coverage: which sub-questions does your site not answer?
- You are linked for a subtopic only That page is doing the work; check that it says who you are.
- The response describes you wrongly See inaccurate or outdated AI answers.
- Others are named for the category See competitors recommended by AI.
No one can guarantee a mention, a citation or a position in Google AI Mode. What can be worked on is access, the clarity of the entity, the evidence on the page and the independent sources. The method is The Authority Architecture System.
Frequently asked questions
Is AI Mode the same as AI Overviews?
No. Google presents AI Overviews as a snapshot with links, and AI Mode as an AI search experience with follow-up questions. Google's documentation for site owners treats the two together: same eligibility, same controls.
Can I see which sub-queries AI Mode ran?
The documentation cited here does not describe a way to see them. What can be observed is which links are shown, and for which part of the question.
Do I need different content for AI Mode?
Google states that there are no additional requirements. Covering the sub-questions around a subject is ordinary editorial work, not a special format.
Other platforms
- ChatGPT OAI-SearchBot, the referral parameter, and what OpenAI does not publish.
- Google AI Overviews Eligibility through Google Search, and the snippet controls.
- Gemini Google-Extended, a control separate from those of Google Search.
- Perplexity PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User and the recommendation to allow the first.
- Claude Three Anthropic crawlers with three different effects.
How the engines differ, and why each is measured separately, is set out in AI visibility. Related analyses are collected in Insights.
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