Google AI Mode
Google AI Mode is a conversational search experience inside Google Search that answers a question with a longer AI-generated response, links to its sources, and accepts follow-up questions. Google describes it as running many related searches behind one question and composing the answer from the results, a technique it calls query fan-out.
How it differs from AI Overviews
AI Overviews are a summary placed above the regular results for some searches. AI Mode is a separate mode the searcher chooses, where the AI answer fills the page and the conversation continues with follow-ups. The two produce different answers to the same question, so a brand absent from the overview can still appear in AI Mode, and the reverse.
Why it behaves differently
Because one question becomes many searches, the sources an AI Mode answer cites come from the fanned-out queries, not only from the results for the words the user typed. Pages that answer a narrow sub-question well, such as pricing, a comparison or a specific use case, can be cited even when they do not rank for the original question.
How it is measured
Google offers no public API for AI Mode, so measurement means reading the answer the product shows for a fixed prompt set on a schedule. Follow-up turns depend on what a person asks next, so a fixed prompt set measures the first answer to each question.