How to Optimise for Google AI Mode (7 Steps)

Most AI Mode advice just repeats what worked for AI Overviews.

That's half right.

AI Mode shares the foundations, but people use it differently. They ask longer questions, add follow-ups and upload photos.

So the job shifts from "rank this page" to "be useful at every turn of the conversation".

Here are the seven steps I use, plus what Google has actually confirmed.

What Google Has Confirmed About AI Mode

Everything in this table comes from Google's own pages, checked in October 2026: the generative AI optimisation guide, the AI features documentation and the AI Mode help page.

Google's guide also makes a pointed remark about the new acronyms.

It says that from Google Search's perspective, optimising for generative AI search is optimising for the search experience, "and thus still SEO".

I agree. The steps below are SEO, pointed at a conversation.

Step 1: Check Your Search Generative AI Setting

Start with the switch most site owners don't know exists.

Since August 2026, Search Console has had a Search generative AI control under Settings. It decides whether a property's links and content can appear in AI Mode, AI Overviews and generative AI features in Discover.

There are three options:

• Include: the default for a property with no parent setting
• Exclude: removes your links and content from those features
• Inherit from parent: follows the closest parent property that has been set by hand

Check each property you own.

Why bother if include is the default?

Because inheritance catches people out. A domain property set to exclude by one person can quietly pull every subfolder property with it.

Google says excluding a site does not act as a ranking signal for the rest of Search, and that it does not affect AI training. Training is controlled separately through Google-Extended.

While you are in Search Console, run your key pages through URL Inspection. Google's other requirement is that a page is indexed and allowed to show a snippet, so a stray nosnippet or noindex rule still shuts you out.

Step 2: Read the Generative AI Performance Report

AI Mode finally has data of its own. Sort of.

The Generative AI performance report sits with the other Performance reports. Google says it has been available to all sites worldwide since 31 August 2026.

Here's what it gives you:

Small sites may not see the report at all until they have enough impressions in these features.

Use it for direction, not precision:

1. Sort pages by impressions. These are the pages Google already treats as useful sources.
2. Compare them with your money pages. If your service pages never appear, that is your gap.
3. Check the multimodal filter. Impressions there mean people are reaching you through image questions.

Pro tip: Export the report monthly. The interface has the usual Search Console row limits, and a monthly export makes trends far easier to see.

Step 3: Map the Conversation, Not the Keyword

This is the biggest mindset change.

A classic search is one question.

An AI Mode session is a thread.

Someone planning a garden room might start broad, then narrow down three or four times:

Each turn can trigger fresh searches across subtopics.

Each search is another chance for your page to be linked.

So for every core service, write down the questions that come next.

Your sales team already knows them. So does your inbox.

Search Console queries and People Also Ask boxes fill the gaps.

Then check you have a clear, findable answer for each turn. Gaps usually show up at turns three and four, where the questions get specific.

Understanding the intent behind each question helps you decide whether it needs its own page or one strong section.

Step 4: Build Pages That Help People Compare and Decide

Google describes AI Mode as most helpful for exploration, reasoning and complex comparisons.

That tells you which content to invest in.

Most service sites I audit have plenty of "about us" copy and almost nothing that helps a buyer choose. AI Mode rewards the opposite.

Content worth building:

• Option comparisons. "Timber vs steel frame", "fixed fee vs hourly", with a real table.
• Criteria pages. What to check before choosing a provider, written honestly.
• Cost guides. Price ranges and what moves them, with your actual numbers.
• Who it's not for. A plain statement of when a buyer should go elsewhere.

Write each section so it names its subject and answers in its first line. That is what makes a passage easy to link from inside a longer answer.

Google's guide warns against the opposite extreme, though.

Churning out a page for every query variation can fall foul of its scaled content abuse policy. More pages do not make a site better.

If your content plan needs rebuilding around decisions rather than keywords, that is a content strategy question.

Step 5: Make Images and Video Do Real Work

AI Mode takes photos and files as input, and the Search Console report has a separate filter for image-based searches.

That changes what "content" means.

Google lists supporting your text with high-quality images and video as a best practice for its generative AI features.

In practice:

• Use your own photos. Real projects, real products, real premises. Stock images tell Google nothing.
• Describe them in text. Alt text and nearby copy should say what the image shows.
• Keep the key facts in text. Google also lists making important content available in text form. A price list inside an image is invisible to most systems.
• Add video where it explains a process. A two-minute walkthrough of an installation answers questions text can't.

For product sellers this matters most. Someone photographs a part and asks what fits. Your product page needs the specs written out.

Step 6: Keep Product and Business Details Current

AI responses can include product listings and local business information.

Google's guide says Merchant Center feeds and Business Profiles help products and services appear in those responses, and lists keeping them up to date as a best practice.

So treat them as part of your AI Mode work, not a separate admin task:

• Business Profile: same name, phone, hours, services and service area as your site
• Merchant Center: prices, stock and shipping that match the product page exactly
• Site pages: the same facts again, in plain text

Mismatches create doubt.

If your site says Saturday opening and your profile says closed, any system pulling those facts has to pick one.

Local businesses should run through the Business Profile and local signals work before anything fancier.

Step 7: Skip the Hacks and Track a Prompt Set

Google's guide has a section listing what you do not need to do.

It's worth reading in full, because most AI SEO sales pitches live there.

According to Google, you can ignore:

• llms.txt and similar files. Google Search does not use them. More on that in my explainer on what llms.txt is.
• Chunking content into tiny pieces. Google says its systems can find the relevant part of a longer page.
• Rewriting just for AI. There's no special writing style required.
• Chasing inauthentic mentions. Google says this isn't as helpful as it might seem, because spam systems are built to block it.

Then measure what the report can't.

Keep a fixed list of 20 to 40 conversation starters from Step 3. Run them in AI Mode once a month, add one or two follow-ups each time, and log which sites get linked.

Answers vary by person and session, so look at the pattern over several months. My guide to tracking brand visibility in AI search covers a repeatable setup.

Prepare for the Follow-Up Question

AI Mode is not a new channel with new rules. It's Google Search holding a longer conversation.

To recap: check the generative AI setting, read the new report for direction, map the follow-ups, build decision content, and keep your business facts identical everywhere.

Your first action today: open Search Console, go to Settings, and confirm every property is set the way you intend.

Then compare it with how Google AI Overviews choose their sources, since the two overlap but show different links. For spoken queries specifically, read my guide to voice search optimisation.

If you want the whole job planned across Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity, my AI search optimisation service starts with exactly this audit. You can also see how I measure and improve AI visibility before deciding anything.