# AI Overviews and AI Mode, what is the difference? | Illia BizTech

> Google documents the two features separately. They may use different models and so show different links, and neither one needs special markup.

Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/forum/was-ist-der-unterschied-zwischen-ki-ubersicht-und-ki-modus

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# What is the difference between AI Overviews and AI Mode?

One agency says one thing. A week later somebody says the opposite.

* ##### Asked by  
BrightHarbor598
* ##### Asked on  
September 15, 2026

One agency told us to optimise for the AI overview.

A week later somebody else explained that AI Mode is what matters now and that overviews are finished.

We build staircases and railings. Is this one job or two?

#### Answers

![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png)

##### Illia Belichenko · Founder & Technical Lead

✓ Accepted answer September 16, 2026 

They are two features, and Google's documentation covers them separately. It says there that AI Mode and AI Overviews may use different models and techniques, so the responses and links they show may differ too.

Overviews are not finished. One appears on its own above the regular results, though only when Google's systems judge it additive to classic Search, and Google writes that it therefore often does not trigger at all. AI Mode is a tab of its own, opened by the user, and it allows follow-up questions.

For your site it is still one job. Both features read the same website, and in the same documentation Google says that neither one needs new machine readable files, AI text files or special markup.

What is left open after that appears in no documentation. Whether your business gets named in answers like these is what the [AI visibility report](https://illia-biztech.de/en/ki-sichtbarkeitsbericht) checks, across nine conversations with ChatGPT, Gemini and Google.

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**Topics** 
* KI-Sichtbarkeit
* Google

Anyone running a website hears both names in the same week, often from different advisers. An AI Overview appears on its own above the regular results and only triggers when Google's systems judge it additive to classic Search. AI Mode is a separate tab in Google search that the user opens, and it allows follow-up questions.

For your own website the difference changes little. Google states that neither feature requires new files or special markup. Anyone who wants to know whether their business appears there measures it in real conversations and then reads the transcripts. Guessing which feature matters more is no substitute for it.