Google AI Mode: what it changes for shops and clinics

What AI Mode is

AI Mode is a tab in Google Search, next to "All", "Images" and the rest. Instead of ten blue links, you get a written answer with links to sources on the side or inside the text. You can ask a follow-up question, like in a chat.

It is different from AI Overviews. AI Overviews are the short AI summaries that sometimes appear at the top of normal results. AI Mode is a full page of AI answers that you choose to open.

In October 2025, Google expanded AI Mode to more than 35 new languages and over 40 new countries and territories, bringing it to more than 200 in total. Google said people ask questions about three times longer in AI Mode than in traditional search. To Vima reported that AI Mode went live in Greece on 8 October 2025, with Greek support, both on the results page and in the Google app.

How AI Mode builds its answers

Google's guide on AI features explains that AI Mode is meant for questions that need "further exploration, reasoning, or complex comparisons". It may use a method called query fan-out. In simple terms, Google takes your question, splits it into several smaller searches on related subtopics, runs them at the same time, and writes one answer from what it finds.

Take a question like "which clinic in Nicosia treats lower back pain and is open on Saturday?". Fan-out could mean separate searches for back pain treatment, clinics in Nicosia, Saturday opening hours and reviews. A page can be linked because it answers just one of those pieces well.

That has a clear lesson. You do not need one page that does everything. You need pages that answer specific parts of a customer's question clearly.

What happens to clicks

This is the part business owners care about most, and the early data is not good for clicks.

In August 2026, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University published a field experiment with 1,100 US adults. A browser extension gave people either normal Google with AI features hidden, Google's default experience, or AI Mode. According to TechWyse's summary of the paper:

AI Mode reduced clicks to outside websites by 18.8 percentage points.
Removing AI features increased clicks by 8.8 percentage points.
People placed in AI Mode were 11.2 percentage points more likely to also search on Bing, DuckDuckGo or Yahoo.
People in AI Mode spent more time per session, but ran fewer search sessions overall.

The study has limits. It is from the US. A Google code change meant AI Overviews were hidden in only about half of the "no AI" cases. And it looks at search in general, not at local or shopping searches on their own.

It is also worth knowing how small AI Mode still is in daily use. SparkToro's 2026 data found that only 0.34% of US Google searches moved into AI Mode between January and April 2026. The same article notes Google's claim that AI Mode has passed 1 billion monthly users, and expects use to grow fast.

So the honest summary is this: AI Mode is not yet a big share of searches, but where it is used, fewer people click through. Plan for it growing, without panic.

What shops and clinics should optimise

Google is clear that there are no extra requirements and no special tricks for AI Mode. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. Beyond that, these are the things that help a page be one of the links:

For shops and e-shops

Category pages with real content. A short intro that explains the range, who it is for and what to look for helps answer comparison questions.
Product pages with full facts. Size, compatibility, warranty, delivery times and stock in plain text. These are the details a fan-out search looks for.
Clean product data. Structured data that matches what is on the page, and a Merchant Center feed if you sell online.
Comparison and "how to choose" content for the products where customers usually ask you for advice.

For clinics and local services

One page per treatment or service, with what it is, who it helps, how long it takes and how to book.
Clear location details: area, parking, opening hours and languages spoken, written in text on the page.
A complete Google Business Profile with correct categories, services, hours and recent reviews.
Who is behind the clinic. Names, qualifications and photos of the people who treat patients. Health is a topic where trust matters.

What this means for businesses in Cyprus and Greece

AI Mode is already available in Greek, so your customers in Greece can use it today. To Vima's report does not mention Cyprus, and Google's announcement does not list countries one by one, so check it on a Cypriot phone before you assume anything.

In both markets, many small business sites have the same gaps: services listed in one long paragraph, opening hours inside an image, and no Greek version of key pages. These gaps hurt in normal search, and they hurt more when an AI is looking for one specific fact. When I build sites for clinics in Nicosia, I give each service its own page in Greek and English, with the basic facts in the first few lines. That is the kind of page AI Mode can pick up.

For e-shops, delivery details matter. Cyprus, mainland Greece and the islands have different delivery times and costs. Write them clearly, because "do they deliver to Paphos?" or "how long to Crete?" is exactly the kind of sub-question fan-out can create.

Questions people ask

Can I opt out of AI Mode?

Google points to the same controls it uses for normal Search, such as nosnippet, max-snippet and noindex. They also limit how you appear in normal results, so use them with care.

Will AI Mode replace normal Google results?

Not today. It is a separate tab, and in early 2026 only a small share of searches moved into it. Its use is growing, so it is worth preparing for.

Is AI Mode available in Greek?

Yes. It launched in Greece with Greek language support in October 2025.

Want help with this? Book a free 30-minute call.

Sources

AI Mode is now available in more languages and locations around the world, Google, October 2025
AI Features and Your Website, Google Search Central, December 2025
Google's AI Mode Goes Live in Greece with Greek-Language Support, To Vima, October 2025
AI in Search Reduces Publisher Referrals Without Improving User Experience: Experimental Evidence, arXiv, August 2026
Academic Study Finds Google AI Mode Cuts Publisher Click-Through Rates and Drives Users to Competing Search Engines, TechWyse, September 2026
In 2026, Less than One Third of Google Searches Still Send a Click, SparkToro, June 2026