AI Mode: How Google’s Search AI Impacts Content Visibility

Google’s new AI Mode redefines how content is evaluated and displayed in search, especially for sensitive, YMYL (Your Money Your Life) categories, like healthcare, that can impact a person’s well-being. The new feature heavily prioritizes content that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), a framework that Google uses to assess content quality. AI algorithms also favor content that appears across several formats (e.g., text, video, graphs, structured data, and more). Want to improve your brand’s discoverability and boost high-intent engagement in AI-generated results? We’ve got the playbook you need to level up. What Is AI Mode and Why Does It Matter? AI is designed to "surface a wider range of perspectives." For AI in healthcare marketing, this means your content must be technically discoverable and genuinely trustworthy. From AI Overviews to AI Mode Google’s AI mode is an extension of AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience or SGE). It represents a major shift in how users search for and access the information they need. How? It generates summarized answers, recommendations, and citations directly on the search engine results page (SERP), no clicks required. And, unlike SGE, AI mode is poised to become the default search experience for users. Multimodal Search and Evolving Expectations The AI search environment is natively multimodal. This means it pulls and interprets information across several content types, such as: Text Images Video Graphs Structured data Other rich media formats Content that’s flat, repetitive, thin, or limited to a single format won’t be able to compete for visibility. Why? Google uses a technique called “Query Fan Out Technique” (which we cover later in this article). This technique launches hundreds of related searches, compiles all relevant context, and delivers a comprehensive answer (in most cases). But before we explore how Google breaks apart queries behind the scenes, let’s talk about a key gatekeeper of AI visibility: trust. Trust, Accuracy, and the AI Preference for E-E-A-T Build Credibility With Sourcing and Authorship Healthcare consumers and AI want to know two things: Who is behind your content? Where did the information come from? If your brand isn’t sending the right signals, it’s invisible. Period. To ensure AI surfaces your content instead of your competition, build these trust signals into your content: Clear author bylines and bios. Medical reviewers with credentials. Citations from reputable sources (e.g., peer-reviewed or government health information). Clear data, frameworks, and structured answers. Medical disclaimers. Bonus: These trust signals also build brand authority and trust among patients and caregivers. Showcasing Clinical Expertise and Transparency Build even more authority by showcasing clinical expertise and transparency. Feed hungry AI search algorithms with things like: Media mentions or guest appearances. Patient and provider testimonials and reviews. Data. YouTube videos, provider explainers, or infographics. Participation in forums, webinars, podcasts, or third-party health platforms. This is crucial when sharing “frontier” information, like new research, methods, treatments, etc. The more ways you can show your expertise and engagement, the more attractive your content becomes to AI. Once your content is E-E-A-T-ing the competition, your next challenge is standing out in a sea of sameness, thanks to Google’s query fan-out technique. Google’s Query Fan-Out: Why Your SEO Competition Just Multiplied What Query Fan-Out Does and Why It Matters This new technique enables Google AI to break down a single query into multiple subtopics, explore a range of possible responses (much like beam search in AI), and select the more relevant and comprehensive results in real time. The result is more comprehensive, relevant, and nuanced responses faster than ever. Why does this matter to healthcare marketers? It means your content is no longer competing against just a handful of pages optimized for the same keywords. Competing on Context, Not Just Keywords This query fan-out technique drastically changes the healthcare SEO playbook, driving up the bar for content quality, depth, and relevance. As a result, measurement is more complex, visibility is more limited, and traditional SEO rules have been (and continue to be) rewritten in real-time. Why is this important? Your content must be detailed and multi-layered to address a broad range of user intents. Your content must compete with all relevant content across formats and topics. Your SEO metrics and ranking strategies are less predictable. Structuring Content to Address Multiple Intents How can your healthcare brand remain competitive in this brave new world? Two words: structured content. AI demands that content is easy for readers and algorithms to find and understand. Healthcare marketers must organize their content to answer a variety of related questions and needs all in one place (think symptoms, treatments, expert advice, etc.). How many times have you explored the “People Also Ask” section on Google’s SERP? My guess would be… A LOT. The same thinking applies here. By anticipating different intents and thoughtfully grouping answers, you make it clear and easy for users and AI to find, understand, and share your content. But that’s only half the battle. The real advantage comes from building a future-focused SEO strategy that puts these insights to work. Preparing for the Future of AI-First Healthcare SEO Build Topic Depth, Not One-Off Pages Stop thinking of your website as a destination or collection of isolated pages. Instead, think of it as a carefully organized, authoritative repository of clear, contextual, and medically reviewed content, designed to meet the expectations of AI-driven search algorithms. Don’t build one-off, keyword-rich pages. They’ll get buried. Instead, develop a comprehensive series of interconnected and in-depth subtopics that explore your core healthcare topics. By understanding your audience’s search behavior and intent, you can deliver high-quality content that satisfies them and AI’s preference for rich, well-structured content. This builds trust, improves discoverability, and future-proofs your healthcare SEO strategy. Diversify Formats, Unify Strategy Content may be king, but variety is queen and context is emperor/empress, especially in healthcare marketing. Your top-of-funnel audience is busy, often stressed, and consuming information in quick, fragmented moments. Some prefer reading, others listening, and many engage best with visuals or video. Diversifying your content across several formats like blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, and social media ensures your brand shows up where your audience spends their time. But you need more than variety. You need a unified strategy. Your messaging, themes, and medical expertise must build your brand’s trust and authority. To do that, your content must be reinforced across every format, touchpoint, and channel. Why? Google’s E-E-A-T framework rewards this approach, signaling to AI algorithms that your brand is credible, expert, and reliable, boosting your discoverability and visibility. Rethink Visibility as a Trust-Driven Metric In an AI-first search environment, credibility and visibility go hand in hand. To stand out, your content must be accurate, well-structured, and aligned with real user intent. It must answer real questions, reflect clinical expertise, and be quick and easy for your patients to read and understand. When you consistently publish high-quality, relevant content across several formats and platforms, AI will take notice. Trust is your golden ticket to visibility. Read the full series: