Kuldeep Paul

Search feature · Google

Google AI Mode

Google Search's index, queried with query fan-out (many sub-searches per prompt).

Compiled by · Updated Oct 29, 2026

Operator
Google
Launched
Mar 5, 2025
Search index
Google Search's index, queried with query fan-out (many sub-searches per prompt).Sources: developers.google.com, corecited.com
Crawlers
Googlebot — blocked by 2.4% of top sites
Referrer in analytics
google.com
UTM tagging
None added
Ads
Yes. Google has extended Search ads into AI Mode.
Citations
Inline link chips and a sources rail.
Official docs
developers.google.com

What this means for visibility

Search Console folds AI Mode clicks into Web performance; there is no separate filter.

Usage, as stated

As ofMetricValueStated bySource
Jul 2025Monthly active users (US and India)100 millionSundar Pichai, Q2 2025 earningstechcrunch.com
May 2026Monthly users1 billion+Elizabeth Reid, Google I/O 2026blog.google

Google AI Mode users over time (millions)

Jul 2025: 100; May 2026: 1,000100Jul 20251,000May 2026
Monthly active users (US and India) / Monthly users Source: Google, as stated

Questions

What search engine does Google AI Mode use?

Google Search's index, queried with query fan-out (many sub-searches per prompt).

Which crawlers does Google AI Mode use?

Google AI Mode relies on Googlebot. Search Console folds AI Mode clicks into Web performance; there is no separate filter.

How do I track Google AI Mode traffic in analytics?

Clicks from Google AI Mode arrive with the referrer google.com. Add it to an AI channel in GA4 using a source regex.

Does Google AI Mode show ads?

Yes. Google has extended Search ads into AI Mode.

Analysis using this data

  1. The opt-out asymmetry: you can block the small AI engines, not the big oneThe AI surfaces with the most users are the ones publishers can't refuse and can't measure.

Other AI engines

ChatGPT · ChatGPT Atlas · Google AI Overviews · Gemini · Perplexity · Comet · Claude · Microsoft Copilot · Meta AI · Grok · DeepSeek · Le Chat · You.com · Brave Search (Ask Brave) · Kagi Assistant · DuckDuckGo (Duck.ai & Search Assist) · Amazon Rufus (retired)

How to cite this data

This dataset is free to use, including commercially, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The one rule is attribution:

  1. Credit the source as “Kuldeep Paul, kuldeep.cc” wherever you use a figure, chart or table from it.
  2. Link to this page (https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-mode), not to the download file, so readers can check the source of every number.
  3. Include the date. These figures change; say “as of Oct 29, 2026” or link to the version you used.
  4. Mark changes. If you filter, recalculate or chart the data yourself, say so (“analysis based on data from…”).
  5. Cite the original source for single figures when you quote one reported number; it is linked in every row.

In running text: according to Kuldeep Paul's Google AI Mode — AI search engine reference (kuldeep.cc). More in the methodology.

APA

Paul, K. (2026). Google AI Mode — AI search engine reference [Data set]. kuldeep.cc. https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-mode

MLA

Paul, Kuldeep. "Google AI Mode — AI search engine reference." kuldeep.cc, 29 October 2026, https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-mode.

Chicago

Paul, Kuldeep. 2026. "Google AI Mode — AI search engine reference." Dataset. kuldeep.cc. Updated Oct 29, 2026. https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-mode.

BibTeX

@misc{paul2026googleaimode, author = {Paul, Kuldeep}, title = {Google AI Mode — AI search engine reference}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {\url{https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-mode}}, note = {Dataset, CC BY 4.0, updated 2026-10-29} }

HTML link

<a href="https://kuldeep.cc/data/ai-search/google-ai-mode">Google AI Mode — AI search engine reference</a> (data: Kuldeep Paul, kuldeep.cc)