Content strategies for Google's AI Search Mode

In 2025, Google I/O announced a hundred new things, the majority of them being updates of the already existing or the launch of new AI products in the Google ecosystem. The most influential addition to Google’s evolving search experience is AI Mode, now being rolled out across the world, starting with the US and UK.

What is it, and how does it change search and search engine optimization? How to create an AI content strategy? This article will walk you through it.

What is Google's AI Search Mode: a brief overview

Earlier, Google released AI Overviews that are now generated for many informational searches. They’re shown above the organic search results and present an AI-generated answer to the search query based on several online sources.

It typically works well with long-tail keywords, but can’t process a question in a conversational style like many LLMs do.

AI Mode takes that concept a step further. It’s accessible in a separate search tab and lets you ask larger, more complex questions and get answers from Google search with the help of Gemini AI.

It can answer conversational questions, but not in a way most generative AI does. AI Mode first breaks down the sentence a user provides into a series of search queries, searches for them on Google, generates an answer for each, and then compiles all of them into one coherent answer.

Google’s AI Mode can do more than search. You can ask it to do deep research, create custom graphs, search with Google Lens, and use its agentic capabilities to find tickets, reservations, and products.

Initially rolled out as an opt-in in Google Labs, AI Mode is available for all English searches in the US, UK, and India since July 2025. It’s being tested as a search option in the Chrome address bar on desktop and Android devices, and as a default option in Google’s home page search bar.

How to adjust your content for Google’s AI Mode?

AI Mode can change the way people use Google search and contribute to the decline of organic traffic as more people get their questions answered by the AI. It also produces an opportunity for improving brand visibility and recognition by getting your content listed in AI Mode sources.

Let’s explore a few options for doing that.

Audit your current content

The first thing you need to do is audit your content to find strong areas and areas that can be improved. Mainly, you’ll be looking at content formatting and parts of text that can be quoted by the AI.

You want your content to be highly readable with semantically named headings and subheadings. It should also contain lists and tables where relevant. This helps AI navigate your content and understand it.

Look for fragments in the text that can be quoted or taken as a source of information by the AI. You’re looking for sentences or paragraphs that answer a particular question clearly, without any fluff. Ideally, they should cover the full semantic scope of the question, not just contain the right keywords in content.

You should also audit content visibility in the AI search results. Use a tool like an AI visibility tracker by SE Ranking to understand where, when, and how AI tools already mention your content. It’s helpful for AI visibility research in general, but if you want to gauge the potential for AI Mode visibility, look at AI Overviews and Gemini because those would be the closest models to it.

Research keywords and optimize content beyond traditional SEO

AI Mode is quite an advanced tool for search, but its core function is breaking down long conversational questions into several search queries. Being visible in AI search for those queries is key to having a lasting presence in AI Mode.

You don’t have to think about every possible complex question users can ask; that would be nearly impossible. Instead, you need to think about what the possible components of those questions might be.

For instance, a user question like “How to build a sales funnel for a web design agency that specializes in serving mid-sized HVAC professionals and contractors” can be broken down into several long-tail keywords:

• What is a sales funnel
• How to build a sales funnel
• Agency sales funnel
• How to sell web design services
• How to sell to contractors

You can find potential queries in several ways:

• Use a keyword analytics tool to find questions related to your main or supporting keywords.
• Investigate Google’s People Also Ask section.
• Use an LLM to generate potential keywords.

If you’re using an LLM for research, you can use a structured prompt like this.

Role: Lead generation agency assistant.

Ideal client profile: CEO or upper management of a mid-sized company interested in generating more leads for their business.

Task: Develop 30 possible long-tail keywords that people who match the ICP would use to search for information related to lead generation. Focus on niche questions, related to the little details of the process, not the high-level basic questions.

Output format: List.

Here’s an example of the output for this prompt.

Ideally, vet the keywords an LLM comes up with by running them through a keyword research tool.

Incorporate these topics into existing and new content, and your site will have higher chances of being quoted by AI Mode.

Establish core concepts across all channels

The concept of topical authority used in Google search also extends to LLM search, and AI Mode specifically. The more your website is encountered talking about a particular concept or topic, the stronger the association between the two.

Establish core concepts for your content and cover each of them in detail. To understand what core concepts fit your business, brainstorm with the team to develop an understanding of where your expertise and the interests of potential clients intersect.

Develop content that covers each larger topic and its many subtopics across every channel that can be accessed by the AI tools.

You can use an LLM to find subtopics for each concept with a prompt like this.

Role: Lead generation agency assistant.

Ideal client profile: CEO or upper management of a mid-sized company interested in generating more leads for their business.

Topic: Lead magnet copy.

Task: Develop 10 possible subtopics for the given topic.

Output format: List.

Here’s an example of the output.

Focus on content depth, topical authority, and credibility

When AI Mode and other methods of LLM information search can answer the basic questions, your best bet is producing content that provides depth, unique details about the topics you cover, and personal data-based opinions and credibility.

Focusing on a content strategy that improves quality and depth can get you more quotes in AI search instruments. It might be very hard to replace an already established source for basic knowledge because most LLMs already value it and link to it.

When it comes to more niche questions or new information that you add to the topic, even smaller brands can compete with established authoritative sources. Become the only source of a piece of information, and it will bring you AI search visibility. You can do that by:

• Providing proprietary research.
• Providing examples.
• Providing your own analysis.
• Talking about old topics from a new angle.
• Providing thought leadership content.

Content like this might also prompt more clicks and reads due to its quality and uniqueness.

Ensure a user- and machine-readable structure

Optimizing for readability is key to making your content easily understandable by AI. Here are the best practices.

• Use plenty of clever subheadings to divide the content into separate fragments.
• Use comparison tables and lists where appropriate.
• Design each paragraph to answer a question directly.
• Design content that can be quoted from each subheading without the surrounding context.

Use structured data to give more information explicitly to the search algorithm. There are multiple options you can try to use in your content. For instance, you can tell Google who your article mentions or what it teaches by creating the corresponding fields in an “Article” Schema. This might help get visibility in related AI Mode searches.

You can create detailed, structured data documents about your content with the help of LLMs. Make sure to validate it before submitting.

Earn high-quality brand mentions and backlinks

Creating high-quality, structured content is only one part of the puzzle. The other, arguably just as important one, is building up your website’s reputation and authority.

Google AI Overviews quote articles that rank in the top 10 more frequently than others. Articles that don’t rank in the top 50 almost don’t get quoted. If AI Mode is to continue this trend, doing off-page SEO is going to continue being important for AI visibility.

Here are a few options for doing this.

• Running a digital PR campaign.
• Providing expert quotes to journalists and writers.
• Developing content for established blogs.
• Creating and distributing content worth linking to, like proprietary research.

Earning content-based links is also a potent content strategy for Google search, so you’re improving both organic search and LLM visibility by investing in it.

Summary

Google’s new AI search experience, AI Mode, has the potential to draw even more traffic back from organic search. It also provides opportunities for brand awareness enhancement and content discovery.

To get more visibility in AI search, work on improving website authority by link building and creating niche, high-quality content.

In the meantime, explore other traffic sources to supplement a possible drop in organic traffic.