Google’s AI Mode in Search aims to provide comprehensive, conversational answers by leveraging information from Google’s Knowledge Graph, Shopping Graph, Google Maps, and Google Business Profiles.
Google’s AI Mode in Search
Google’s AI Mode in Search aims to provide comprehensive, conversational answers by leveraging information from Google’s Knowledge Graph, Shopping Graph, Google Maps, and Google Business Profiles.
Today, Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Multitask Unified Model (MUM) are rewriting how search works entirely. These models don’t just match keywords—they predict user intent, evaluate content quality, and, frankly, decide whether your site deserves traffic at all.
It’s hard to believe, but it seems like the traditional method of searching for info on Google, MSN Bing, and Yahoo by clicking on website links from search results is nearly done… and we’re specifically talking about Google search.
A thought-provoking piece from Barron’s in mid-June 2025 delved deeply into how users’ growing familiarity with artificial intelligence has shaken up online search.
SimilarWeb published a blog article emphasizing how, “.. AI is no longer a distant trend. It’s already transforming how people discover information online. Popular GenAI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are quickly becoming go-to sources for answers, reshaping the way users (search for and) engage with content and make decisions.”
According to SimilarWeb, referrals from AI search engines are compensating for about 10% of the losses in traditional search, and this trend in growing.
Various industries are experiencing drops in organic search traffic. For instance, US search traffic to Schwab dropped by 14% in May 2025 – marking the first decline in at least two years and a stark contrast to the 179% increase it experienced during the same time in 2024.
Here's What SEO Strategist Need To Do
“…a massive change in web users’ behavior, noting how roughly two-thirds of all searches now end without a click.
AI is just giving us the answer, without us having to go dig through multiple websites to find it. So, in theory it’s a much better user experience for all of us,“ Samantha Russell said in an email. “But should RIAs abandon SEO? No, but they must evolve it.” – Samantha Russell, chief evangelist at FMG Suite.
- Work on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): this involves customizing online content so that AI systems can better understand, process, and suggest it to users who have questions.
Flashback: Traditional SEO Ranking Factors (the top 10 most important)
- Webpage Quality - The overall quality of your webpage content and its relevance to the search query.
- Core Web Vitals (CWV) - which encompasses website speed load times and mobile-friendliness.
- Website Security - One of the biggest requirements is to ensure your site is using HTTPS protocol, as this encrypts the data between your website and a user’s browser. In 2014, Google confirmed that HTTPS is a ranking signal.
- On-Page Keywords - that match the search terms users type into search engines.
- On-Page Meta-data: Five important elements come into play here. Title Tags, H2 Meta Descriptions, Image Alt Text (e.g. Since Google cannot read images, you can add your keywords in the image alt text section to tell what the visual is about.), Anchor Text – Google uses anchor text to find out what the page is about, so you can use your keywords for anchor text when linking your pages, LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords. LSI keywords help Google to figure out what your content is about even more precisely. These words also indicate to Google that you’re covering a topic thoroughly.
- Domain Authority (e.g. trust factors).
- On-page Experience/User Experience - Search engine algorithms take into consideration the following KPIs; (a) CTR (click-through-rate) – The percentage of users that click on your website link in the search results. When you improve your CTR with better titles and meta descriptions, you’re sure to get a boost in your rankings. (b) Bounce Rate – Having a high bounce rate isn’t good for your site. If a high percentage of people click through to your site and then hit the back button without interacting, Google judges that page as not relevant to searchers and drops its rank.(c) Dwell Time – This measures how long a visitor stays on your site after coming from Google search results.
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Schema Markup Structured Data - Schema markup—also known as structured data—is a powerful yet often underutilized SEO tool. Schema markup is a type of microdata incorporated into your website's HTML that aids search engines in comprehending the content more efficiently. It adheres to a vocabulary standard established by leading search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex, referred to as Schema.org. These enhanced search results are known as rich snippets.
Rather than depending solely on keywords and meta tags, schema offers clear context for your data. Schema markup communicates directly with search engines in their own terminology, assisting them in grasping not only what your content conveys but also its significance.
This semantic context is becoming increasingly vital as AI search engines progress beyond mere keyword matching to understanding user intent and contextual relationships.
SEMrush published an interesting piece of research on their March 2025 blog, "...fewer than 33% of all websites utilize schema markup, yet pages that implement schema markup tend to rank an average of four positions higher in search results compared to those that do not." - Source: https://www.semrush.com/blog/schema-markup/