Why Google's AI Mode Changes 91% of Search Results Every Time (And What This Means for Your Business)

SEO / AI Search Trends

July 21, 2025

Bottom Line: Google's new AI Mode delivers completely different results 91% of the time for identical searches, fundamentally changing how businesses need to approach SEO and content strategy in 2025.

If you've been wondering why your website traffic feels more unpredictable lately, a groundbreaking study just revealed the answer. Google's AI Mode, their most advanced search experience, is serving up wildly inconsistent results, and it's reshaping the entire digital marketing landscape.

The Study That Changes Everything

SE Ranking just analyzed 10,000 keywords and discovered something shocking: when you search for the exact same thing twice in Google's AI Mode, you'll get completely different sources 91% of the time.

Watch the full study breakdown:

Video Credit: SE Ranking - "Google AI Mode Returns Largely Different Results Across Sessions

Think about that for a moment. The same question, asked the same way, pulls from an almost entirely different set of websites on each search.

Here's what the numbers actually show:

Only 9.2% URL overlap between repeat searches for identical queries
14% of AI Mode citations match the top 10 traditional search results
21.9% domain-level overlap when looking at entire websites rather than specific pages
17.9% of queries show zero overlap with traditional organic results

This isn't a small variation, it's a complete overhaul of how search works.

What Makes AI Mode Different from Regular Google Search

Unlike traditional search results that stay relatively consistent, AI Mode operates more like having a conversation with a research assistant. Each time you ask a question, it:

Pulls from an average of 12.6 citations per response
Uses primarily block links (90.8% of citations)
Operates independently from Google’s traditional ranking algorithms
Refreshes its source selection continuously

How do you know?

Google's own properties (mainly Google Maps business profiles) account for 5.7% of all AI Mode citations, meaning 94.3% comes from external websites, creating massive opportunities for visibility.

5.7%

of results come from Google's own properties

94.3%

of results come from businesses like yours

Why This Volatility Actually Creates Opportunity

While this inconsistency might sound alarming, it's actually creating new pathways to visibility that didn't exist before. Here's why:

The Playing Field Just Got Bigger
Traditional search results were dominated by a small group of top-ranking pages. AI Mode draws from a much wider pool, giving quality content more chances to be featured—even if it doesn’t rank in the top 10.
Fresh Content Gets More Chances
Since AI Mode constantly refreshes its citations, newer content has better opportunities to gain exposure compared to the entrenched top results in traditional search.
Expertise Matters More Than Authority
The study showed that niche, highly relevant content often gets cited over generic, high-authority pages. This benefits businesses with deep expertise in specific areas.

How Smart Businesses Are Adapting

Focus on Comprehensive Topic Coverage
Instead of targeting individual keywords, successful companies are creating content that covers entire topics comprehensively. AI Mode tends to cite sources that thoroughly address related questions within a single piece.
Prioritize Domain-Wide Authority
Since AI Mode pulls from various pages across your domain, building overall site authority becomes more important than optimizing individual pages for specific keywords.
Create Answer-Focused Content
AI Mode excels at finding direct answers to specific questions. Content structured as clear, actionable answers gets cited more frequently than general informational content.
Monitor AI Citations, Not Just Rankings
Traditional ranking positions matter less in AI Mode. Smart businesses are tracking mentions and citations across AI responses rather than focusing solely on SERP positions.

The Immediate Action Plan for Your Business

This Week:

Audit your content for comprehensiveness—identify topic gaps where you could provide more thorough coverage
Review your FAQ sections—AI Mode frequently cites direct answers to specific questions
Check your technical SEO—while rankings matter less, crawlability and site structure still impact AI discovery

This Month:

Expand existing high-performing content to cover related subtopics and questions
Create topic cluster content that demonstrates expertise across your entire service area
Start tracking AI mentions using tools that monitor citations across AI responses

This Quarter:

Develop a content strategy focused on becoming the definitive source for your niche topics
Build domain authority through consistent, expert-level content publication
Optimize for AI discoverability with clear structure and comprehensive coverage

What This Means for Different Types of Businesses

E-commerce Sites: Product descriptions and buying guides have new opportunities to be featured, especially for niche or technical products where expertise matters.

Service Businesses: How-to guides, process explanations, and industry insights are getting more visibility in AI Mode than traditional SEO might suggest.

B2B Companies: Technical expertise and detailed explanations of complex topics are performing exceptionally well in AI citations.

The Reality Check

While AI Mode's inconsistency creates opportunities, it also means:

Tracking performance becomes more complex
Traditional SEO metrics need supplementation
Content strategy requires more comprehensive planning
Results take longer to predict and measure

Looking Forward: What to Expect

Google is rolling out AI Mode to all US users, with international expansion planned. As adoption grows, businesses that adapt their content strategy now will have significant advantages over those waiting to see what happens.

The companies thriving in this new environment aren't trying to game the system, they're becoming genuinely better resources for their audiences. They're creating the kind of comprehensive, expert content that AI systems naturally want to cite.

Your Next Move

The businesses winning in AI Mode aren't necessarily the ones ranking #1 in traditional search. They're the ones creating content so valuable and comprehensive that AI systems consistently want to reference it.

Start by auditing one piece of your top-performing content. Can you expand it to answer related questions? Can you add expert insights that make it more comprehensive? Can you structure it to better serve as a definitive resource?

That's where your AI Mode strategy begins.

Ready for Google's AI Mode?

Calla Creative helps businesses navigate these changes with data-driven strategies that work in both traditional and AI-powered search. Let's talk about future-proofing your digital presence.