Google's AI Mode in the UK: what it means for your local business

Nobody types "Sunday roast Bury St Edmunds" into Google any more. Well, some people do. But more and more people type something like this:

Somewhere near Bury that does a proper Sunday roast, has room for a pram, and won't mind a dog.

That's not a search. It's a request. And it's exactly what Google's AI Mode was built for.

If you run a local business, AI Mode changes what "being found on Google" means. The good news: most of what helps is in your hands, and a lot of it is free. If you want to see where you stand first, our free AI check is a quick place to start.

What AI Mode actually is

There are two AI features in Google Search now, and people mix them up.

AI Overviews are the short AI summaries that sometimes appear at the top of normal results.

AI Mode is a separate tab in Google Search. You ask a question, it writes a fuller answer with links, and you can keep asking follow-up questions like a conversation. Google launched AI Mode in the UK in July 2025.

The difference that matters for you: in AI Mode, people ask longer, more specific questions, and Google answers with a small handful of businesses rather than a page of ten blue links. Fewer places on the shortlist. That's the whole challenge, and it's the reason we built our full AI audit around how these tools read a business.

It doesn't just answer. It books.

In April 2026 Google added restaurant booking to AI Mode in the UK. You ask for a table for four on Friday somewhere with outdoor seating, and AI Mode looks across booking platforms for real availability and links you straight through to book.

Read that again if you run a restaurant, café or pub. The customer may never visit your website. They pick from the options Google shows, then book.

Restaurants are the start, not the end. At its I/O conference in May 2026, Google talked about AI agents doing more tasks inside Search. It's sensible to assume the same pattern (ask, compare, act) will reach more kinds of business. Ours included. Yours probably too.

If you take bookings, check that your booking system is one Google works with and that it's connected to your Google Business Profile. If you're not sure, your booking provider's support team will know. It's a five-minute email. Booking links and online actions like this are one of the 16 areas in what we check.

How AI Mode decides who to show

Google's own guidance on AI features and your website is refreshingly plain: there's no special trick or extra markup needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. The same things that make a site good for normal search apply.

In practice, for a local business, that comes down to three sources:

1. Your Google Business Profile. Your categories, hours, services, photos, attributes and reviews.
2. Your website. What you do, where, for whom, and the answers to common questions.
3. Everything else written about you. Reviews, directories, local news, social profiles.

Now go back to that Sunday roast question. Pram space. Dogs. Those details only help you if they're written down somewhere Google can read. A pub that's lovely with dogs but never says so online is invisible to that question. That's the part most businesses miss, and it's exactly the kind of gap our free check and full audit are designed to catch.

Five things worth checking this month

None of these cost money.

1. Fill in every attribute on your Google Business Profile. Those little options like wheelchair access, outdoor seating, dog friendly, free Wi-Fi, accepts card payments. They're tedious. They're also exactly the details long AI Mode questions are made of. You can manage your profile at Google Business Profile.

2. Put your opening hours everywhere, and keep them right. Including bank holidays and Christmas. Wrong hours are a fast way to lose trust, with people and with AI tools.

3. Answer the fussy questions on your website. Do you have parking? Can you do gluten-free? Do you cover Stowmarket? A plain FAQ page does more here than a beautiful homepage. Our own FAQ page shows the format.

4. Ask for detailed reviews. "Great service" helps a little. "They fitted us in on a Saturday and the kids loved the play corner" helps far more, because it answers questions other customers will ask. You can ask customers to mention what they liked. You can't write reviews for them, and fake reviews are illegal in the UK.

5. Check your website can actually be read. If your hours sit inside a photo, or your menu is only a PDF, or your site blocks Google's crawlers by mistake, AI Mode has less to go on. Our free AI website check tests 17 of these basics in under a minute.

Will AI Mode cut my website traffic?

Possibly, for some kinds of question. If AI Mode answers "what time does the Abbey Gardens café close?" straight away, fewer people need to click.

But look at what's left. The people who do reach you have usually already compared you and chosen you. A booking, a call, a visit. For most small businesses those are worth more than casual clicks anyway.

The risk isn't fewer clicks. It's not being on the shortlist at all. And if your current website makes that hard to fix, it might be time for a rebuild. Our website plans start small and include all of this from day one.

Frequently asked questions

Is AI Mode the same as AI Overviews?

No. AI Overviews are short summaries at the top of normal Google results. AI Mode is a separate tab where you have a back-and-forth conversation with Google's AI, and it gives longer answers with links.

Can I pay to appear in AI Mode?

Not in the answer itself. Google does show adverts around its AI features in some places, but they're labelled as ads. Appearing in the AI-written answer depends on the information Google can find about you.

Does my business need special code to appear in AI Mode?

Google says no special markup is needed for its AI features. Structured data still helps Google understand your details, such as your address, hours and type of business, so it's worth having.

My restaurant uses a booking system. Will it work with AI Mode?

AI Mode books through partner booking platforms, not directly through your website. Ask your booking provider whether they work with Google, and check the booking link on your Google Business Profile works.

How do I see what AI Mode says about my business?

Open Google, choose AI Mode and ask the questions your customers would ask, in full sentences. Try a few versions and different times of day, because answers change. Note what's missing or wrong, then fix it at the source.