Google AI Overviews and AI Mode: How Business Websites Should Adapt

When a customer searches for "best dentist near me" or "how to renew a trade licence", Google may now show a written summary above the usual links. Business owners worry that these summaries will take their visitors. This post explains the two features, where they are available in India, and what Google's own guidance says you should and should not change on your website.

Two features, not one

AI Overviews are short AI-written summaries that appear at the top of some ordinary search results, with links to the pages used. AI Mode is a separate tab in Google Search where people ask longer questions and follow up in a conversation, and Google answers with links alongside. Both draw on pages from Google's normal search index.

Where they work in India

• AI Overviews. Google announced in August 2024 that it would expand AI Overviews to India, in English and Hindi.
• AI Mode. It launched in India in June 2025. Hindi was added in September 2025, and on 8 October 2025 Google announced seven more Indian languages: Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, with the rollout starting within about a week.
• Search Live, a voice and camera conversation feature, started in India in English and Hindi in October 2025, with India the first country outside the United States to get it.

Availability can differ by device, account and time. These dates come from announcements, so open Google Search on a few customers' phones and see what they actually see before you draw conclusions.

What Google says you need to do

Google's Search Central page on AI features is unusually direct. To appear in these features, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. The page says there are no additional technical requirements, and that no special optimisation is needed beyond standard SEO fundamentals. It also says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI-specific text files or special markup.

The fundamentals it lists are plain: allow crawling, link pages to each other, give a good page experience, keep important content as text, support text with relevant images and video, and keep Business Profile and Merchant Center details current. Structured data should match what is visible on the page, and no special schema type is required for AI features. Be wary of anyone selling a secret "AI search" trick, since Google says there is none.

What this does to clicks

We could not find an independent figure for Indian small-business sites that we can verify, so we will not invent one. Google says clicks from AI Overviews tend to be higher quality, with visitors more likely to spend time on the site. Some publishers report fewer visits. The honest position is that effects differ by type of query: a simple factual question may be answered on the results page, while a purchase, booking or local decision still needs the business.

The measurement is now in your hands. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic is counted inside the Web search type of Search Console's Performance report, and in June 2026 it announced separate generative AI performance reports for Search Console. Check what your own account shows rather than trusting general claims.

What still works for a business site

1. Answer the real question on the page. A clinic page that states fees, timings, doctors and the booking route clearly is easier to summarise and cite than a page of slogans.
2. Show original expertise. Photos of your own work, real prices, local examples and named staff are things a generic summary cannot supply.
3. Use structured data honestly, only for details that appear on the page.
4. Keep your Google Business Profile current, because local questions often draw from it.
5. Write in the language your customers search in. With Tamil, Telugu and other languages now supported in AI Mode, a Tamil page for a Tamil query has more value than before. See our guide to multilingual websites in India.
6. Keep the site fast and crawlable. Slow, script-heavy pages lose visitors anyway; our post on website speed explains why.

What not to do

Do not mass-produce thin AI-written pages to chase these features; Google has separate guidance on generative AI content, and low-value pages hurt more than they help. Do not block Google to avoid summaries unless you have a reason: the controls are the nosnippet tag and related tags, but they reduce your normal search appearance too.

Where VS Tech Builders fits

We build business sites on Next.js with clean HTML, fast loading and correct structured data, which covers the fundamentals Google lists. If your site is slow, thin or out of date, fixing that helps all search, AI or not. See our corporate website development service, or contact us for a review of your current pages.

Sources

Checked on 3 November 2026. Technology changes quickly; always confirm details with the official source before you act on them.

• AI Features and Your Website — Google Search Central
• Supercharging Search for India: New Languages in AI Mode and Search Live debuts — Google India Blog
• Google Search to expand AI Overviews to India with English and Hindi languages support — Inc42
• Google's Search Live comes to India, AI Mode gets more languages — TechCrunch
• Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console — Google Search Central Blog

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between AI Overviews and AI Mode?

AI Overviews are short AI-written summaries shown at the top of some normal Google results. AI Mode is a separate tab for longer, conversational questions with follow-ups. Both link to web pages, and both use pages from Google's regular search index, so the same basic website quality matters for each.

Is Google AI Mode available in Hindi and Tamil?

Google's India blog says AI Mode was available in English and Hindi, and on 8 October 2025 it announced seven more languages: Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, rolling out over the following week. Availability can vary by device and account, so test on real phones.

Do I need special markup to appear in AI Overviews?

No. Google's documentation says there are no additional technical requirements beyond being indexed and eligible for a snippet, and that no special optimisation, AI-specific file or new markup is needed. Standard SEO fundamentals apply, and any structured data you add should match the visible text on the page.

How can I see AI traffic to my website?

Google states that traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode is included in the Web search type of the Performance report in Search Console. In June 2026 it also announced generative AI performance reports there. Open Search Console and compare clicks and impressions over several months before changing your strategy.