Breaking: Google's AI Mode is Live in NZ & Australia

Well, this has been a topic we’ve been talking about for many months now, and it has finally happened overnight, so we’re jumping on to do a very quick, unedited podcast this morning. A quick update for every business owner across New Zealand and Australia is that Google has switched on AI Mode in search. So this has been rolled out across 180 new countries across the world overnight, and this is a big, significant change on how people are going to be able to find information. And like I say, this is happening, it is rolling out right now. So as of right this second, I’ve jumped into Google, it hasn’t quite rolled out on my machine now, but I can expect that this is going to be happening over the next little while, so it is something we really need to prepare for.

Firstly, though, if we haven’t met, my name is Jordan McFadyen. Welcome to For The Daring Growth Seekers podcast, designed to help you navigate this cluttered world of marketing in the AI era. And this one feels a bit different, this podcast this morning, because it kind of feels like going back to the old days where I used to work on radio and used to have breaking news and things like that. We don’t typically do breaking news type podcasts in the past, but I just feel as though this one is quite an important one, especially because we have spent a lot of time looking at AI Mode and the implications and what this is actually going to do to search and discovery across the world.

So when I noticed that it had been launched live overnight, we just had to jump on the mic and go over this. And it is an important one, because it fundamentally means that we are moving away from those 10 blue links that we’ve been optimising our marketing for, for the last decade or over a decade. And instead, search is becoming more and more like a conversation. So obviously AI Mode in Google is very much like how we use ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini or Copilot, or any of those other type of LLMs, the large language models. But the big difference here is that it’s going to be starting to be incorporated into the Google search interface.

So like I said, those 10 blue links will start to become obsolete over the coming years now, starting from literally right now. And lucky for us, this has been live in the US for a while. So we got to watch, we got to learn and to alter our strategies already. But what I wanted to do today was just quickly have a bit of a recap. What is AI Mode? What have we learned from its impact overseas? And then let’s just go over that practical plan about what you need to be doing to make sure that you’re ready for it.

So the first thing is AI Mode. If so far you’ve listened to the podcast, you’re thinking, what the hell is this guy talking about? This is essentially not just that summary at the top of a Google search that we know is AI Overviews. This is a fundamentally completely different way of how people are going to be using Google. Now, it is an option that people can choose at the moment. I’m assuming this is going to become default the more and more that people adopt to it as well. So at the top of your Google search, it’s going to have the selection. Obviously you can choose things like News and Images, but there will also be AI Mode sitting right there, in a nice colourful button as well.

So that is the big thing. And as I mentioned at the start of the podcast, instead of showing you 10 blue links and matching keywords to websites, it is more built to understand the intent behind a user’s search. So the first big thing with AI Mode is that it is conversational. So think of it more like you are using ChatGPT right within the Google search interface. You don’t have to pay or anything like that. It’s literally built straight into Google search. So a user can ask a really complex, multi-step question. For example, you could go in there and ask for a three-day itinerary for a family trip to Queenstown that includes hiking and good food.

AI Mode is going to do all that heavy lifting for you, and it’s going to allow searchers to delve really deep into different topics in a more conversational type way. So that’s the first thing: conversational. You’re having a chat with it, instead of using potential keywords like we would have done with a normal Google search. It’s also using what’s called query fan-out. This is what Google is referring to it. So what query fan-out means is, when you ask one question, the AI is automatically starting to ask you dozens of related questions in the background, and it’s searching for things like reviews and pricing and opening hours, and combines all of those different queries into one comprehensive answer, instead of, again, seeing those 10 blue links.

So your website, just like that, has no longer going to become that primary destination. It’s just going to be one of the many sources for the AI’s answer. And the other big thing we know about AI Mode, and what you need to understand with AI Mode, is that it is deeply personalised as well. And this is really critical. The search response you get can be completely different to what I get for the exact same query. If we sat down together and did the same query, we’d get completely different answers. Because AI Mode is building a picture of you based on things like your Gmail inbox, your search history, what you’re watching on YouTube, even the documents that you house in your Google Drive, to tailor its results.

And this is making traditional ranking positions, so those top 10 blue links, again, making those more and more irrelevant. So that’s a bit of a look as to what AI Mode is. In the real easy sense, AI Mode is like literally picking up ChatGPT, chucking it into Google search. That’s the easiest way to explain it.

So what do we need to do right now? Based on what we’ve seen in the US and what we know about how these AI models actually work, the strategy we feel so far comes down to three core pillars. And I just want to remind you really quickly today: it’s about strengthening the foundations of your marketing. And it’s not about looking for any algorithm hacks or anything like that. So the first thing is just reinforce and get your house in order, get the fundamentals ready to go. Before you do anything else, you have to make it easy for the AI to actually find and understand your information.

So this goes back to some of those fundamentals we’ve had. These are the critical things that we’ve been doing for years and years and years. It’s like using your structured data. Now, this is quite technical, so you may have to get someone to look at this, but it is non-negotiable. It’s like using schema markup on your website to be able to plainly tell Google what your content is actually about. That’s all that basic stuff, like your services, your hours, your prices, and that’s just going to remove any of the guesswork for the AI.

The second one is starting to think about your content, your website content, your social media content, starting to get conversational with that content as well. So review your site, review and rewrite your content to match more natural language and long-tail keywords. Gone are the days of trying to stuff a page on your website just with keywords to try and rank on those 10 blue links. Instead, think about creating those FAQ pages that directly address real questions your customers are actually asking. And this is going to make it really easy, like answer-ready content that AI can easily grab and add to their overviews as well.

And the other one is just thinking about making sure, obviously, accessibility: that your website is fast, it’s easy for crawlers to actually access. Slow sites, we’ve seen, are going to get pushed down that list. So make sure that you are auditing the site there as well.

The other big thing, the other big pillar I want you to think about, is that you need to start or continue to build that trusted visibility outside of your website. So this was a massive thing we’ve learned from the States so far: the AI is learning about you from what other people are saying about you, not just about what you’re spouting about yourself on your website. So what we saw was that less than 25% of AI citations, so it’s 25% of answers on Google’s AI and ChatGPT and all those other LLMs, less than 25% of AI citations actually come from your own website.

Because your reputation is now your most valuable asset you need to be thinking of. In an easy sense, this is encouraging reviews, getting people to go to your Google My Business profile, actively encouraging customer reviews more often. These are really powerful. They’re independent signals of trust. Also, the other big one is trying to actually earn genuine mentions on other people’s websites, and other people’s websites that your customers actually trust. Okay? Not just going to any random website and being seen on there. Actually getting genuine mentions on sites that your customers are actually looking at and trusting. This is like industry publications, or being interviewed on a podcast which is designed and created for your target audience. Guest articles on websites like that as well.

That’s the other big one. The other big thing I’d focus on is focus on your niche. So become that real go-to expert in that really clear, defined area. And when you’re seen as that authority, you are more likely to then be mentioned and be cited in that niche as well. So that’s the third thing, is really trying to focus on being authoritative.

Then the last little piece I just really want to remind you on as well is from a paid media perspective: AI-powered campaigns in Google Ads. This is like AI Max, for example, Performance Max. They’re going to be the best way to try and get visibility within these new AI-driven experiences. So if you’ve been getting great results in your traditional search campaigns over the years, I would suggest you need to be jumping into your Google Ads and starting to play and test with AI Max.

Google’s AI Max campaigns are built for this. They’re built for things like AI Mode. They’re using keywordless search, looking for more of the intent behind a search, not just the words. So it’s actually going to help you find your customers that you didn’t even know were actually looking for you as well. So that’s the other big thing: really start to test some of those paid media experiences as well.

But finally, look, the best thing you can do is really just to get hands-on with it. Like I said, open up Google. I haven’t seen it on my machine just yet. We’ve only just seen the announcement come out. But open up Google. Switch on AI Mode. You’ll see the little tab at the top. Start playing. This is exactly what we did when it came out in the US, using VPNs to try and understand how this all works as well. And think about what type of questions you’re asking. Ask it for complex questions that your customers might be asking you. See what it spits out. Most importantly, see what sources it’s actually using to generate its answers as well. And this is going to give you a really clear picture of where you stand and what you need to be working on there as well.

Because this is a shift. And it’s a bit of a shift from chasing just short-term traffic to your website. We’re going to start to see website traffic continue to decline over time. And you need to start more thinking about how can you build long-term brand equity. So don’t try to do everything at once. As I mentioned before, try to get your fundamentals in order. Try to review your content. Make sure it’s ready for conversational search. And then start to really focus on building your authority. Make that a bit of a priority today, is building that authority, thinking about your Google reviews, thinking about what other ways can you be seen that’s not just your website.

Remembering that startling fact that less than 25% of your website content is going to be used in these AI Overviews. So we really need to be thinking about that as well. And if you do need help working through any of this, you just want a bit of an audit, you want to figure this all out, obviously that’s what our team is ready to do as well. You can get in contact with us anytime, donebynine.com. We’ve also done a whole heap of articles and podcasts on this particular topic, about AI Mode and AI search and how it’s all changing, and obviously why today is such a pivotal day for New Zealand and Australian marketers.

So you can go to our website and look at all of our other content at donebynine.com as well. But the main thing I want to get across here is the way that people find your business is changing. And your goal today and moving forward is to become the most credible and helpful source of information in the industry. And you focus on that, you’re going to be in a strong position for AI Mode.