Google's AI Mode Is Now the Default: What It Actually Means for Local Businesses

Google has made the biggest change to search in over 25 years. At this year's Google I/O, the company announced AI Mode — its ChatGPT-style, conversational search experience — as the default way people search. Instead of ten blue links, users get an AI-written answer with a handful of cited sources. The scary statistic doing the rounds: according to Semrush data, around 93% of AI Mode searches end without a click to any website. Some sites have reported losing 20 to 60% of their traffic since AI answers arrived. If you run a local business in Cambridge, Manchester or anywhere else, you've probably seen a headline like "SEO is dead" this month. It isn't — but it is changing, and local businesses are actually better placed than most. Here's the honest picture.

What is AI Mode, in plain English?

AI Mode is Google's end-to-end AI search experience, powered by its Gemini model. Ask a question and instead of a list of links you get a written answer, with a small number of cited sources alongside. Behind the scenes it runs a "fan-out" — issuing many related searches at once and synthesising what it finds. The crucial shift: you either get cited in the answer, or you're invisible. There's no page two.

Why local businesses are in a stronger position than most

The doom statistics mostly describe informational searches — "how to fix a leaking tap" doesn't need a website visit any more. But local and buying-intent searches still have to end at a real business. Someone searching for a PPC agency in Cambridge or the best coffee shop near the station needs an actual company: a phone number, a location, a website, a booking. AI Mode handles these by drawing on Google's local data — including your Google Business Profile — and linking out to real businesses. Being the business the AI recommends is the new page one. And there's an upside: research suggests brands cited inside AI answers earn substantially more clicks, both organic and paid, than brands that aren't. The searches may be fewer, but the ones that reach you are more qualified. Several large publishers have reported traffic falling while revenue rises, because AI filters out the browsers and passes through the buyers.

How to stay visible in AI search

The good news: AI Mode is rooted in Google's existing quality and ranking systems. Solid SEO fundamentals are still the price of entry — AI search just raises the bar on a few specifics.

Don't forget the ads

AI Mode isn't ad-free. Google is rolling out new ad formats inside AI answers — sponsored placements within the conversational results themselves. For businesses in competitive local markets, paid search remains the most reliable way to guarantee presence at the exact moment someone is ready to buy — arguably more so as organic real estate shrinks. A joined-up approach across Google Ads and SEO is the practical answer for most local firms.

Our take

AI Mode changes who gets seen, not whether people buy. Local businesses with clean local signals, specific pages and a sensible paid search strategy will take share from competitors who wait it out. If you'd like a straight answer on how AI search affects your business specifically, talk to Clicks — we're watching this shift weekly for our own site as well as our clients'.