Key Takeaways

AI Mode isn’t coming – it’s here and defining how customers will find your business moving forward.

Traditional SEO metrics are becoming obsolete. We’re not focusing on positions one, two, and three anymore. We’re focusing on authority metrics, personalization metrics, and driving high-intent users to your website.

Content quality over quantity. Expertise and originality matter more than ever in a world where you can create unlimited blog posts instantly.

Diversification is key to survival. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. We need “search everywhere optimization” – not just search engine optimization.

AI is changing customer behavior, not just search results. This isn’t doom and gloom – it’s an opportunity for smaller businesses to show their authority and compete with bigger players.

Read the full article:

Google has disrupted the same search experience you’ve been optimising for, for years.

At Google I/O, their tech conference just a few weeks ago, they announced “AI Mode” – a complete replacement for traditional search that’s rolling out across the US right now.

And while you’ve been worrying about your rankings on page one, Google has been building a system where there is literally no page one anymore.

No little blue links that we’ve been optimising for year after year, and potentially no clicks to your website either.

Just AI Mode answering questions directly in search, changing how businesses will be found forever.

AI Mode Is the Future of Search

Google I/O wasn’t just another tech conference.

Elizabeth Reid, Google’s Head of Search, stood on stage and declared that AI Mode IS the future of search.

Not might be – IS.

This matters because AI Mode isn’t built to improve the search experience; it’s literally replacing it.

Instead of showing different websites with blue links like we see now, it works more like how we use ChatGPT. It reads all the different websites and gives you contextual answers.

When customers are looking to do business with you, your company, product, or service, they potentially won’t click through to your website anymore because they won’t need to.

And the challenge we’re facing is that some brands are already invisible to AI search, while others are getting found more than ever.

How AI Mode Actually Works

So let’s first take a look under the hood.

AI Mode is essentially the end of the “blue links” that we see on Google today.

When you Google something right now, we get different listings, links to websites. You choose a website, click through, see if it answers your question, bounce back if it doesn’t, get your answer if it does.

But AI Mode is more conversational.

It uses what Google calls “query fan out” – which essentially means that when you ask one question, it automatically asks dozens of related questions and searches for all those answers at once.

It then doesn the heavy lifting – reading through all those results to give you one comprehensive answer based on different sources, information, and websites.

Exactly like what you’d get now on ChatGPT.

Think of it like this: you search for “best CRM for small business.” AI Mode will simultaneously search for:

• CRM pricing
• CRM reviews across the internet
• CRM integrations
• What needs small businesses might have

Then it combines all that information into one response and potentially asks you more questions to help you make a better decision.

The Personalisation Factor

This is where things get tricky for marketers (and better for users).

The search response you get on “AI Mode” could be completely different to what I get, even if we search the exact same query.

Why?

Google AI Mode builds a picture on YOU and your preferences based on:

• Your gmail inbox
• Your search history
• Your behavioral data
• Your Google Drive files and business data

It builds a picture of whether you’re a small business, part of a marketing team, or leading a marketing team in a large organisation. It knows your purchase history, what items you purchase etc.

It then pulls all these nuances into its results.

From a marketing standpoint, It’ll be much harder to find out what search queries people are putting in to access our content, our business, or our product.

“Personalisation” will be your new marketing superpower you should focus on – how much your strategy and business understands perfectly who you’re trying to reach.

It won’t be “I need to serve all small businesses” anymore.

Instead think, “I need to serve all small businesses that work in engenieering, within this geographic location, with this many team members, with no marketing team, with a large sales team.” etc etc

The Immediate Impact on Your Business

So know we know the details – what about the impact?

Lucky for us, Gogole rolled AI Mode out with a days notice in the US.

But we get to watch, learn and start to alter our strategy in preperation.

Here’s what we already know:

Clicks will likely decrease significantly across your website. We’re already seeing this with AI Overviews in New Zealand and Australia – clicks are starting to decrease from organic search, and this will likely continue as AI Mode is released.

Higher intent visitors, but less volume. Clicks will go down, but hopefully they’ll have higher intent. This goes back to personalisation – understanding who your typical client or customer is, but also understanding their intent. Are they searching for information or actually looking to purchase?

Traditional ranking becomes less relevant due to personalisation. Whether you have a number one, two, or ten spot disappears. What matters now is how personalised your marketing is and how much you know about that particular client you’re trying to reach.

So Do You Need to Do Differently

Depends on your current strategy – but keep to these guardrails and you should stay in a good position:

Focus on E-E-A-T Principles

Google’s principles of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) are now non-negotiable. All your content – not just blog or website content, but your entire online ecosystem – needs to demonstrate these principles while aligning perfectly to your target customer.

This is about real experts creating real content versus fake authors and ChatGPT-written content.

We need to stop with the AI slop.

If you’re still doing that, this needs to be the end of it.

Diversify Beyond Google

If your strategy is very search-focused, start thinking about other places where your target customer is.

This goes back to your new marketing superpower – understanding every nuance about your audience.

Are they on TikTok in the evenings to chill out?

Are they watching long-form videos on YouTube?

Are they reading industry publications?

You need to be where they are and strengthen your authority in those places through:

• Original research you’re creating
• Media mentions
• Industry thought leadership

Local Business Considerations

Google Business Profiles are crucial. Keep optimising those profiles, building familiarity with your brand, and building up local reputation through reviews.

This is one sure-fire way to show Google that you’re trusted and authoritative in your market.

Your customers are already using AI to find businesses, products, services and advice.

The question is whether they’re finding yours when they search on AI.

So stop optimising for yesterday’s Google and start preparing for tomorrow’s reality with search and discovery.