What Is the Difference Between AI Mode and AI Overviews?

AI Overviews and AI Mode are related but distinct features from Google. AI Overviews show a generated summary above the normal list of ranked links, still leaving the traditional search page mostly intact underneath.

AI Mode goes further, replacing the search page with a fully conversational interface where a user can ask follow-up questions and get continued answers in one thread, closer to using a chat assistant directly.

Google has positioned AI Mode as an option users opt into, while AI Overviews appear automatically inside regular search for eligible queries.

Optimizing content for both formats at once is part of the job LLM SEO software handles.