What Google Chrome’s AI Mode Means for Brands
Google Chrome released a major update involving AI. The update integrates Gemini, its AI agent, into your regular browser experience — on both desktop and mobile.
AI is revolutionizing how we use the internet, but what does it mean for brands?
What’s in the Google Chrome Update?
Let’s start with the facts. Google Chrome is going “AI mode” by default. Gemini will be integrated into every browser experience, helping users find information, answer complex questions, identify security threats, and even book appointments.
Of the ten features detailed by their VP of Product in a recent blog post, there are three that will likely have the biggest impact on brands’ marketing strategies:
Where AI Search Happens: Users can engage Gemini right from Google’s traditional search box. No additional platform or tool necessary. This is likely a play to attract users away from relying on ChatGPT and other competitors. If all goes according to Google’s plan, expect to see AI platform usage data begin to balance...and maybe a future antitrust issue similar to Microsoft’s in 2000 when they got blasted for embedding Internet Explorer into Windows.
Discovery, Right on the Page: Users can now ask questions about the webpage they’re currently visiting, compare and summarize information across tabs, and find pages that they have visited before without remembering the URL. This means that the consumer might not even have to remember your brand name to purchase. In this new world, you may be better served for how well you’re identified with specific product descriptors, like “best mattress for a side sleeper with lower back pain” as opposed to the painstaking and costly process of building a brand.
Agentic Browsing Assistant: Gemini can operate as a shopper. According to Google, the update can order products for you and even book appointments. It’s hard to understate what this means for ecommerce brands. Forget targeting the next generation of consumers with purchasing power. Your next biggest audience segment is Gemini.
What Brands Need to Do Now
This update is rolling out to every user. It means a new way of searching and shopping, all guided by Gemini. By Google’s own admission, SEO will dramatically change:
Brands need to help the helper. Stop wasting time trying to rank in a zero-click search world. Create highly targeted content that will show up with valuable information when the Gemini assistant is tracking down information for its user. If you don’t, your brand may simply vanish from sight in the new zero click world.
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