Are AI Mode and AI Overviews Just Different Versions of the Same Answer? (730K Responses Studied)

ByVMware Cloud Hosting

Google’s AI Mode generates responses that are 4x longer than AI Overviews (on average). When we first noticed this, the natural assumption was that AI Mode simply expands on the same information, taking AI Overview’s concise answer and adding more detail from the same sources.

But after analyzing 730,000 response pairs, we found something unexpected: AI Mode and AI Overviews reach very similar conclusions (86% semantic similarity) while citing different sources (only 13.7% citation overlap).

This matters because it suggests these aren’t just a “short version” and “long version” of the same answer. They’re two distinct systems that happen to converge on similar conclusions through different paths.

For marketers and SEO professionals, this raises critical questions:

  • If your brand is cited in AI Overviews, will it appear in AI Mode too?
  • Do you need separate optimization strategies for each?
  • What does it mean when two AI systems agree on what to say but not where they found it?

We analyzed citation patterns, content similarity, and entity mentions across hundreds of thousands of queries to find out. Here’s what we discovered.

Brand Radar, examining 540,000 query pairs for citation and URL analysis, and 730,000 query pairs for content similarity analysis. For each query, we captured both an AI Mode response and an AI Overview response.

We measured citation overlap by identifying how many URLs appeared in both AI Mode and AI Overview responses for the same query. We also tracked domain preferences to see which websites each platform cited most frequently.

For content similarity, we used two metrics: Jaccard similarity to measure word-level overlap (calculated as unique words in common divided by all unique words), and cosine similarity to measure semantic overlap on a scale from 0 (completely different) to 1 (identical meaning).

We also analyzed entity overlap by counting how many people, organizations, and brands were mentioned in both responses.

Sidenote.

This analysis compares single generations of AI Mode and AI Overview responses. Our previous research showed that 45% of AI Overview citations change between generations. This means the citation pools available to each system may overlap more than our single-snapshot comparison suggests. However, the low overlap we observed (13.7%) indicates that even when multiple sources could support an answer, AI Mode and AI Overviews often select different ones in practice.

Brand Radar. Run a blank search and check the Cited domains report.

Ahrefs' Brand Radar Overview dashboard when performing a blank search.

Filter by AI Overview and AI Mode separately to see their preferred sources.

Selecting various AI indexes, including AI Overviews and AI Mode in Ahrefs' Brand Radar.

You can also filter for your target topics or specific brands if you want to analyze a more specific segment of the data. Check out our guide to the best filter combinations to try.

AI Mode and AI Overviews use “query fan-out” to help display a wider and more diverse set of helpful links.

An excerpt from Google documentation on how AI features work in search confirming both AI Overviews and AI Mode may use the "query fan out" technique.

Query fan-out is a process that runs multiple related searches to find supporting content while responses are being generated. Since AI Mode and AI Overviews use different models and techniques, they can easily cite different sources even when reaching similar conclusions.

This explains why they agree on what to say while disagreeing on where they found it.

Think of it like two experts answering the same question.

They might use completely different words and reference different studies, but if they’re both knowledgeable about the topic, their answers will convey the same core information. That’s what’s happening here; the systems are drawing from a consistent understanding of each topic, even as they express it differently.

Brand Radar.
  • Focus on semantic authority, not exact wording: The 86% semantic similarity shows both systems look for the same themes, just expressed differently. Build topical authority and comprehensive coverage (rather than targeting specific phrases) so your brand is seen as relevant to the topic.
  • Consider the format differences: AI Mode’s 97% citation rate and entity expansion (3.3 vs 1.3 entities) favor longer, well-sourced content, especially from encyclopedic sources. AI Overviews prefer video and community platforms like Reddit. The same content may not perform equally in both.
  • Prepare for more competition in AI Mode: If you’re cited in an AI Overview, there’s a 61% chance you’ll appear in AI Mode too, but alongside additional competitors who didn’t make the shorter cut.
  • Invest in encyclopedic content: Wikipedia appears in 28.9% of AI Mode citations versus 18.1% in AI Overviews. Consider how your content can serve as a comprehensive reference or be cited in existing encyclopedic resources.

    • The bottom line: treat AI Mode and AI Overviews as separate channels with overlapping goals but different execution. Optimize for both, but don’t assume success in one translates to the other.

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