Gemini 2.5 Pro Comes to Google AI Mode
Google is rolling out Gemini 2.5 Pro and Deep Search inside AI Mode, plus an AI-powered phone-call agent that rings local businesses on your behalf.
For marketers and publishers, this changes the search game on five fronts: ad visibility, traffic flows, user intent, SEO strategy and commercial-query volume.
Key Facts
| Feature | What launched | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Pro in AI Mode | Google’s best reasoning, code & math model replaces Gemini 1.5 in the AI tab. | Higher-quality answers keep users in the AI interface longer, reducing traditional SERP clicks. |
| Deep Search | One-click expansion that digs for nuanced info across the web. | Creates longer “scrollless” sessions with fewer outbound clicks. |
| AI Overviews Ads | Paid placements now injected into conversational answers. | Brands gain new high-intent exposure; positioning & copy must adapt to dialogue form. |
| AI Business Calling | Google Voice agent calls local businesses, asks questions, returns answers in chat. | Early signal of true agentic search; removes another click path. |
| Subscription Tiers | AI Pro / AI Ultra users get bigger limits & faster Deep Search. | Paid power users may skew commercial intent even higher. |
Why It Matters — Five Questions Answered
| Question | Risk / Opportunity | Agency Solution |
|---|---|---|
| 1. How will ads inside AI answers impact brand visibility & trust? | Ads appear in the answer box—great for exposure, risky if copy feels intrusive. | Craft conversational ad creatives (FAQ tone + rich snippets) and use Performance Max with AI-assets to qualify for placement. |
| 2. What happens to publisher traffic & revenue? | AI summaries cannibalise clicks; CPM & affiliate revenue decline. | Help publishers add schema-rich excerpts and first-party newsletters; negotiate rev-share on AI snippets. |
| 3. Will fewer but more motivated users change bidding strategy? | Overall CTR drops, but those who click convert more. | Pivot to value-based bidding and ROAS targets; test lower-funnel keywords while trimming broad match. |
| 4. How does AI Mode reshape SEO & content creation? | Ranking factors shift from 10-blue-links to citation fitness in AI summaries. | Build entity-rich, expert-authored content; mark up with HowTo, Product, FAQ, and gemini-friendly JSON-LD. |
| 5. Could AI Overviews drive more commercial queries? | Users ask “best running shoes under $120” and get shoppable answers. | Launch conversation-ready product feeds (Merchant Center Next) and YouTube Shopping ads tied to AI intents. |
Impact by Channel
| Channel | Immediate Effect | Agency Playbook |
|---|---|---|
| Search Ads | Impressions shift into AI box; legacy text ads wane. | Migrate to Performance Max for AI Overviews, add conversational sitelinks, monitor new impression-share metric. |
| Programmatic / DV360 | High-intent audiences pool in Google’s first-party signals. | Build Custom Intent segments around AI-query terms; retarget Deep-Search users with topic=g.ai.deep_search. |
| Social (Meta) | Less top-funnel discovery in classic SERP → more reliance on UGC & Reels. | Use Meta Advantage+ Shopping to capture users who bypass SERP and land on socials for reviews. |
| E-commerce (Amazon) | Google AI answers push direct-to-cart links; marketplace share threatened. | Sync Sponsored Brand Video copy with common AI Overview questions (“Is X dishwasher-safe?”) + instrument Amazon Attribution tags. |
Long-Term Implications
-
Measurement Blind Spots
Traffic from AI Mode often shows up as Direct or Unknown. Implement server-side tagging + content signed-exchange (SXG) to recapture attribution. -
Content Worth Paying For
Fewer clicks mean publishers must sell subscriptions, data products or events. Agencies can broker commerce-content partnerships between brands and niche media. -
Agentic Commerce Surfacing
Google’s call-a-business agent foreshadows checkout-capable agents. Start prototyping voice RAG agents that book demos, schedule test drives or place small orders.
What Agencies Should Do Next
- Audit AI-Exposure — Map client keywords and creative to AI Overviews; flag gaps.
- Schema Sprint — Add
CitationandPros/Consstructured data to top-performing pages. - Ad Creative Refresh — Rewrite copy as answers, not slogans; test “Why choose us?” variations.
- Pilot Deep-Search Retargeting — Use DV360 first-party signals once available; compare ROAS vs. standard retargeting.
- Educate Stakeholders — Publish monthly AI-Mode impact reports (CTR, conversion rate, SEO share-of-voice).
Further Reading
- Google announcement — https://blog.google/products/search/deep-search-business-calling-google-search/
- Pilot Digital on AI Overviews ads — https://pilotdigital.com/blog/how-will-ai-overviews-and-ai-mode-affect-google-ads/
- MonetizeMore on publisher traffic — https://www.monetizemore.com/blog/google-ai-mode/
- eMarketer analysis — https://www.emarketer.com/content/google-adds-ads-ai-mode—reshaping-search
- Gravity Global strategy brief — https://www.gravityglobal.com/blog/google-ai-mode-search-strategy
Prepared by Performics Labs — bridging frontier AI and marketing execution.