What Is Google AI Mode and How It Affects Indian Brands

Google AI Mode is a conversational, multi-turn search interface inside Google Search, powered by a custom version of Gemini 2.5. It lets users ask complex, nuanced questions that would previously have required multiple searches — and get rich, cited responses with follow-up capability. It is not the same as AI Overviews. AI Overviews are the synthesized answer panels that appear at the top of regular search results. AI Mode is a dedicated tab — a full conversational experience where users can type, use voice, or use Google Lens to start a conversation.

For Indian brands, this matters because India is among Google's top 3 countries for AI Mode usage, and AI Mode has crossed one billion monthly active users globally (Google Marketing Live 2026). This is a new surface where brands are recommended, cited, or absent — and it behaves differently from both traditional search and AI Overviews.

How AI Mode Differs from AI Overviews

Understanding the distinction is critical because the two surfaces appear in the same product (Google Search) but work differently.

AI Overviews is a push experience — Google decides to show it. AI Mode is a pull experience — the user chooses to enter a conversation. This difference matters for brands because AI Mode users have higher intent — they're actively choosing a conversational search mode, often for purchase research or complex comparisons.

How Brand Mentions Surface in AI Mode

When a user asks a product or service question in AI Mode — "best CRM for small businesses in India" or "which sunscreen works for oily skin" — the response includes brand recommendations with cited sources. The mechanics are similar to ChatGPT or Perplexity: the model synthesizes information from multiple sources into a conversational answer.

But AI Mode has unique characteristics:

Google's search index is the retrieval backbone. AI Mode draws primarily from Google's search index, not from separate training data. This means Google SEO performance correlates directly with AI Mode visibility. Brands that rank well on Google organic have a built-in advantage — but the relationship isn't 1:1. Ahrefs found that only 38% of pages cited in Google AI responses also rank in the top 10 for the same query.

Multi-turn conversations shift brand mentions. In a traditional search, you get one SERP. In AI Mode, users ask follow-up questions: "What about their pricing?" or "How does it compare to [competitor]?" Each follow-up can introduce new brands or drop previously mentioned ones. This makes the initial mention less defensible — and means your content needs to handle comparison and follow-up queries, not just the primary question.

Commerce features are evolving. Google is building a Universal Cart that lets shoppers save products across Search, YouTube, Gmail, and the Gemini app. For Indian brands targeting broader markets, product catalogue discoverability through Google Merchant Center is becoming a new visibility layer.

Why India-Specific Traffic Patterns Matter

India's AI Mode usage patterns differ from other markets in ways that affect brand strategy:

Regional language queries are coming. AI Mode launched in English in India, but Google has signalled multi-language expansion. When Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and other language queries arrive in AI Mode, the brands with multilingual content will have an immediate advantage. Most Indian D2C brands currently have English-only websites — which limits their visibility as AI Mode expands.

Mobile-first usage. The majority of Indian Google users access Search via the Google app on mobile. AI Mode is prominently placed in the app's search bar. This means AI Mode adoption in India is likely to be app-driven, with mobile UX determining engagement patterns.

Price-sensitive queries dominate. Indian commerce queries frequently include price modifiers — "best laptop under ₹50,000," "affordable moisturizer for dry skin." AI Mode's advanced reasoning handles these nuanced queries well, which means brands that include pricing information, ₹ figures, and value comparisons in their content are more likely to surface.

What Indian Brands Should Do

1. Ensure Google SEO fundamentals are strong

AI Mode draws from Google's search index. The best GEO strategy for AI Mode starts with strong Google organic performance — rank for category and comparison keywords, build authoritative backlinks, maintain technical health.

2. Structure content for follow-up queries

AI Mode users ask multi-turn questions. Your product and category pages should anticipate follow-ups: include pricing, comparisons with alternatives, use case specifics, and FAQ sections. The deeper your content, the longer you stay in the conversation.

3. Add structured data

Gemini (which powers AI Mode) weights structured data more heavily than other AI platforms. Implement Product, FAQ, Review, and Organization schema on key pages. Use your GEO Score to check your current schema coverage.

4. Include ₹ pricing and India-specific context

AI Mode's reasoning handles price-modified queries well. Include actual pricing in INR, India delivery information, and India-specific product positioning on your key pages. Content that says "pricing available on request" loses to content that states "₹2,999/month, billed annually."

5. Monitor AI Mode separately

Cited's Pro plan tracks Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews as separate platforms. This matters because your visibility may differ significantly between the two surfaces — you could appear in AI Overviews but not in AI Mode conversations, or vice versa.