The Impact of Google’s AI Mode Search Expansion in the UK
Raising the AI competition once again, Google is bringing its AI Mode search tool to the UK.
What’s unique about the feature is that it ditches the familiar list of blue links that have defined Google search for decades, instead serving up conversational AI-generated answers.
Built on a custom version of Google’s Gemini 2.5 model, AI Mode handles the kind of rambling, multi-part questions that would have left traditional search stumped.
It’s already live in the US and India, and now UK users will see it appearing as a new tab on their search results pages.
Hema Budaraju, Vice President of Product Management for Search at Google, points to a shift in how people approach search.
The days of carefully crafting keyword strings are giving way to natural, conversational queries that mirror how users actually think and speak.
Hema says in a Google blog: “For example, you can now ask questions like: 'Things to do in Edinburgh this weekend with friends. We’re big foodies who like music but also chill vibes and exploring off the beaten track.'
“Or: 'How do migrating birds know where to go?'”
This evolution shows the broader changes in user behaviour, with many people turning to ChatGPT and other AI chatbots for quick answers rather than wading through search results.
Capitalising on this consumer behaviour, enterprises are innovating to keep users on their own platform rather than lose them to OpenAI and other competitors.
Google’s Gemini 2.5 employs query fan-out technique
Under the hood, AI Mode uses what Google calls a “query fan-out technique” – essentially breaking down complex questions into smaller pieces and running multiple searches simultaneously.
This allows the system to dig deeper into web content than a simple keyword search ever could.
The tool also goes further than text, with supporting voice queries and image uploads.
Users can snap a photo and ask questions about what they see, tapping into the multimodal capabilities that have become increasingly important in AI development.
But while Google generates more than two billion AI Overview boxes daily across more than 40 languages, the feature remains notably absent from EU markets.
As a result, European regulators have created a more restrictive environment for AI deployment, leaving the bloc behind in this particular race.
The timing works as traditional search is facing growing pressure from AI-powered alternatives and Google needs to evolve or risk losing its dominance.
The company processes billions of queries daily, but that traffic increasingly competes with conversational AI tools that promise more direct, immediate answers.
How publishers are grappling with declining traffic from AI features
Google’s rollout into the UK comes as publishers wrestle with a harsh reality: Google’s existing AI features are already eating into their web traffic.
According to the BBC, The Daily Mail reports click-through rates have dropped by half since AI Overviews launched, a decline that directly hits advertising revenue.
Rosa Curling, Director of the campaign group Foxglove which commissioned the research, says she was concerned by what the increased use of AI might mean for news organisations.
The research suggests users click through to websites just once in every 100 searches when AI summaries top the results page.
Google disputes the research methodology, but the implications worry publishers across the industry.
Rosa says to the BBC: “What the AI summary now does is makes sure that the readers’ eyes stay on the Google web page.
“And the advertising revenue of those news outlets is being massively impacted.”
This means that if users get their answers directly from Google’s AI without clicking through to source websites, the entire ecosystem that funds online journalism faces disruption.
As a result, publishers fear becoming invisible middlemen, their content harvested to train AI systems that then make them redundant.
Google hasn’t yet revealed how advertising will work within AI Mode, leaving businesses in limbo about future revenue opportunities.
Traditional search allows companies to pay for prime placement in results, but it’s unclear whether similar paid placement will exist within AI-generated responses.
Hema argues that AI Mode opens up new possibilities rather than simply cannibalising existing traffic.
She says: “I would say that I think people are going to use these technologies to unlock newer information-seeking journeys.”
“These kind of questions didn’t happen before and now you made it really possible for people to express anything a lot more naturally.”
Google maintains that users actually visit more diverse websites when AI features are present and spend longer on the sites they do visit.
The company frames AI Mode as expanding rather than simply redistributing, though publishers remain sceptical.
The ethics and sustainability challenge
The system does include safeguards, falling back to traditional search results when confidence in AI-generated answers drops below certain thresholds.
Google has invested heavily in improving factual accuracy, though the company acknowledges the technology won’t always get things right.
Environmental considerations add another layer of complexity. AI systems demand enormous computational resources, housed in data centres that consume vast amounts of electricity and water.
As Google expands AI across its services, the environmental footprint grows accordingly.
