Google AI Mode has been live in Australia since 8 October 2025. We ran three local searches through it and recorded every business it named, the ratings it showed, and where the data came from. Here is how to open it and how to be one of the businesses it names.
On 17 September 2026 we asked Google AI Mode for the best plumber in Hobart. It named four: Howrah Plumbing (4.6 stars, 527 reviews), Hobart Drain Cleaning and Plumbing (5.0, 56), Platypus Plumbing Co (5.0, 45) and Samuel Fros Plumbing Service (5.0, 16). Each one appeared as a card with a photo, a category, opening status, a suburb, and Call, Directions and Website buttons. Every card was pulled from a Google Business Profile.
Most pages about AI Mode explain what it is. Almost none show what it returns when an Australian types a trade and a suburb into it. This page has the three searches we ran, the businesses named in each, the two formats Google used, and the one place all of that data came from. It also answers the question most Australians are actually asking, which is where the button is.
We sell AI SEO services, so read the advice section with that in mind. The captures are raw output, unedited.
TL;DR
- AI Mode rolled out in Australia on 8 October 2025, in English. Open it at google.com/ai, from the AI Mode tab above your search results, or from the Google app.
- If you cannot see it, the usual causes are not being signed in, an account under 18, a Google Workspace account with history turned off by an admin, or an out of date Google app.
- Across three Australian local searches it named 4, 4 and 6 businesses. Every single one had a Google Business Profile card behind it.
- The one-line reason AI Mode gives for each business is written from review text and website copy, not from the star rating. One plumber was described as "locals praising their fast, fixed-price single-trip quoting".
- Format is not fixed. The Geelong electrician answer dropped star ratings entirely and returned a table of addresses, phone numbers and hours instead.
- Google says there is nothing special to add to your site for AI Mode. The levers are a current Google Business Profile, reviews that mention specific things you do, and matching copy on your own site.
How to open Google AI Mode in Australia
Three ways, and all three work in Australia right now. Type google.com/ai into any browser, tap the AI Mode tab that sits above your normal Google results, or open the Google app and use the AI Mode entry point there. It has been available here since 8 October 2025, when Google announced the Australian rollout, in English, and you need to be signed in to a Google account for the full experience.
| Device | Fastest way in | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop browser | Go to google.com/ai | Also appears as an AI Mode tab beside All, Images, Videos |
| Android | Google app, AI Mode entry point | Keep the app updated or the entry point may not show |
| iPhone | Google app, or google.com/ai in Safari | Same account rules apply |
Google's own help page puts AI Mode in 190 or more countries and 100 or more languages, and says responses can include "local business information and pricing". That last line is why this page exists for a service business.
For the official wording: Google's Introducing AI Mode in Australia post, 8 October 2025, opens with "From today, you can experience this firsthand as we roll out AI Mode ... in Australia in English." Google's Australian team put the same date on it in AI Mode for marketers in Australia.
Why you cannot see AI Mode yet
The button is account-controlled, not device-controlled, so a rollout that reached your mate's phone may not have reached your account. Google's help documentation lists the rules, and there was a Google Search Community thread in November 2025 titled "Ai mode issue in Australia" where Australian users reported exactly this, with the reply that the button appears automatically once AI Mode is enabled for the account.
Work down this list before you decide something is broken:
- You are not signed in. Sign in to a personal Google account and reload.
- The account belongs to someone under 18. Personalisation in AI Mode requires an account holder aged 18 or over with Search history on, and the Pro model (Gemini 3 Pro) requires an 18 or over personal account.
- It is a Google Workspace account. Workspace users need their admin to enable Search history before AI Mode behaves normally.
- The Google app is out of date. Update it from the App Store or Play Store, then force close and reopen.
- The account is supervised through Family Link. Access is managed by the parent account.
- Your region setting is not Australia. AI Mode launched here in English, so an account set to another region can behave differently.
If none of those apply, it is a staged rollout and the entry point turns up on its own. Nothing you do on your website affects whether you can see AI Mode.
What AI Mode shows when someone searches for a plumber
It writes a short paragraph, then stacks three to six business cards underneath it, each one lifted from a Google Business Profile. A card carries the business name, star rating, review count, primary category, whether it is open or closed right now, the suburb, a photo, Call, Directions and Website buttons, and one sentence explaining why that business is on the list.
That last sentence is the part worth studying. For Howrah Plumbing it mentioned "over 45 vehicles and 50+ staff" and 24/7 service. For Hobart Drain Cleaning and Plumbing it said "locals praising their fast, fixed-price single-trip quoting". For Samuel Fros Plumbing Service it listed "residential and commercial maintenance, hot water cylinders, backflow prevention". None of those sentences are about star ratings. They are summarised from review text and from the wording on the businesses' own pages.
So the star rating gets you considered, and the specifics in your reviews and your copy decide what AI Mode says about you. A business with 300 reviews that all say "great job, highly recommend" gives the model nothing to write. A business with 60 reviews that mention fixed-price quoting, after-hours callouts and hot water systems hands it a sentence.
The Hobart answer finished by asking whether the job was an emergency and whether it was residential or commercial. AI Mode is a conversation, so the first answer is rarely the last one a customer sees.
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Check my AI visibility →Three real Australian searches, side by side
We ran three queries through the Google AI Mode endpoint on 17 September 2026, location Australia, English, desktop, and recorded the output verbatim.
| Query | Businesses named | Format | Sources cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| best plumber in hobart | 4 (Howrah Plumbing 4.6 / 527; Hobart Drain Cleaning and Plumbing 5.0 / 56; Platypus Plumbing Co 5.0 / 45; Samuel Fros Plumbing Service 5.0 / 16) | Business cards with ratings, Call, Directions, Website | 20 Google knowledge card references, no third-party sites |
| electrician near me geelong | 4 (CabledIn Electrical Solutions; LEKTRIX; Super Home Services; JET Electrical and Data) | Intro sentence plus a four-row table of address, contact, hours, key services. No star ratings | 19 Google knowledge card references, no third-party sites |
| dentist parramatta | 6 (Royal Dental Care Parramatta 4.8 / 908; No Gaps Dental Westfield 4.8 / 830; Parramatta Dentistry 5.0 / 330; Parramatta Dental Clinic 4.5 / 236; Parramatta Dental Surgery 5.0 / 144; Spa Dental Parramatta 4.9 / 66) | Six business cards, all marked Closed at capture time | dentistrynearme.au, two practice websites, plus 20 Google knowledge cards |
Three things stand out.
The format changes. The Geelong electrician answer dropped star ratings completely and returned a table: provider, address, contact and hours, key services. Three of the four were listed as open 24/7, and two showed 1300 numbers. If you are an electrician, the thing that got those businesses into that table was structured profile data, not a review count.
Directories still get cited. The dentist answer was the only one that cited third-party sites, and one of them was a directory, dentistrynearme.au. The other two were practice websites. For the two trade queries, Google cited nothing but its own knowledge cards.
Six names, not three. The Parramatta dentist answer listed six practices, from 908 reviews down to 66. Spa Dental Parramatta had the fewest reviews of the six and the second-highest rating, and still made the list.
One caveat, stated plainly: this is one day, one device, one location setting and one account. AI Mode personalises, and the Parramatta practices all showed as Closed because of the hour we captured them. Treat the pattern as real and the exact line-up as a snapshot.
A note for the dental readers, because the rules are different for you. Earning Google reviews is fine and it is what gets you into answers like this one. Using patient testimonials in your own advertising is not. AHPRA's guidelines for advertising a regulated health service prohibit using testimonials or purported testimonials about the service in advertising, and state the prohibition "does not affect patients sharing information, expressing their views online or posting reviews on review platforms". So ask for reviews on Google. Do not copy them onto your website or into your ads. The same logic applies across every dental practice marketing decision.
Where AI Mode gets the businesses it names
Google Business Profile, in every case we captured. All three answers were built on Google knowledge card references, 19 or 20 of them per answer, and each named business had a profile behind it. The descriptive sentence borrows from review text and from website copy, but the shortlist itself comes from the profile layer.
That is grounding working as designed: the model writes the prose, but pulls the facts from a source it trusts, and for local questions that source is Google Business Profile. If your profile is incomplete, wrong or unverified, there is no card for the model to place.
It also means the ranking fight has not changed as much as it looks. To be one of four to six names, you have to be in the top handful of profiles Google already trusts for that category and suburb. Our walk-through of what ChatGPT reads from your Google Business Profile applies here almost line for line, because both engines read the same listing through different pipes.
AI Mode vs AI Overviews vs ChatGPT for local searches
They name different numbers of businesses and they read different sources. AI Mode is the separate tab and it names the most. AI Overviews is the block that appears inline above your normal results; we did not measure how many businesses it names for local queries, so this post makes no claim about that. ChatGPT builds local answers from Google Maps listings and aggregator pages, and in our own testing it named far fewer Australian businesses than AI Mode does.
| Engine | Where it appears | Businesses named per local query | Main source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Mode | Separate tab, or google.com/ai | 4 to 6 in our three captures | Google Business Profile knowledge cards |
| Google AI Overviews | Inline, above organic results | Not measured in our test | Web pages plus local results |
| ChatGPT | chatgpt.com | 0 to 3 of 8 listed, per our Q3 study | Google Maps listings and aggregators |
The ChatGPT column comes from our study of 151 top-rated Australian tradies, where 24 were named across 20 city-and-trade combinations, 15.9%. Sydney plumbers and electricians scored 0 of 16. Perth plumbers scored 3 of 8, the best result in the study.
That gap changes the advice. When an engine names zero to three of eight, the work is about getting mentioned off-site at all. When it names four to six, the work is about being in the top handful of profiles with review text that supports a specific claim. AI Mode is the more winnable of the two.
Worth separating two things people mix up. Our guide to ranking in Google AI Overviews covers the inline block that appears on a normal results page, and the AI Overviews glossary entry defines it. This page covers the separate AI Mode tab and the business cards inside it. Different surface, different behaviour, same profile underneath.
→ Not sure where you stand? Our free AI SEO audit tests the questions your customers ask and shows you the answer. Check my AI visibility.
How to get your business named in AI Mode
There is nothing to add to your website specifically for AI Mode, and Google says so in writing. Its guidance on AI features states there are "no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode" and that there is no "special schema.org structured data that you need to add". What Google does recommend is keeping your Business Profile information current, keeping key content as text, and making sure your structured data matches what a visitor can see on the page.
So the work is ordinary and specific:
- Verify and complete your Google Business Profile. Primary category, service area, hours including public holidays, phone, website. About 45 minutes, and it is the difference between having a card and not. Our Google Business Profile checklist has the field-by-field version.
- Add the attributes that showed up in the captures. 24/7 availability, emergency callouts, wheelchair access, payment types. Google Business Profile > Edit profile > More. 15 minutes.
- Ask for reviews that say something. Instead of "could you leave us a review", ask "could you mention the job we did and how the quote worked". That is what turns into the one-line reason on your card. Ongoing.
- Reply to every review within 48 hours. Your reply text is on the profile too, and it is a second chance to state the specific.
- Match your website copy to your profile. If your profile says backflow prevention and hot water, your services page should say backflow prevention and hot water in plain text, not inside an image or a slider. 1 to 2 hours.
- Keep the key facts crawlable and in text. Suburbs served, hours, phone number, and what you actually do, as readable text on the page.
- Check what AI Mode says about you today. Type your own category and suburb into google.com/ai and see whether you appear and what sentence it writes. 10 minutes, and do it monthly.
The AI visibility audit runs that last check across a panel of prompts if you would rather not do it by hand, and the free website audit covers whether your site and profile line up in the first place.
Can you pay to appear in AI Mode in Australia?
Not as of Google's own Australian statement in October 2025. Google Australia's marketers page says that "In the US, Ads in AI Overviews are now available and are being tested in AI Mode". That is a United States test, and no Australian ad product inside AI Mode was announced there. The business cards in our three captures carried no ad labels.
So the only way into those answers right now is organic, through the profile layer, which also means nobody can outbid you for the position. Check Google's Australian page again before you plan a budget around this, since the wording above is dated October 2025.
What to do this week
- Open google.com/ai and search your category plus your suburb. Screenshot what comes back. That is your baseline. 10 minutes.
- If you appear, read the sentence it wrote about you. Is it accurate, and does it say the thing you want to be known for? 5 minutes.
- Open your Google Business Profile and fix the gaps. Category, hours, service area, attributes, photos. 45 minutes.
- Send review requests to your last 10 happy customers, asking them to mention the specific job. 20 minutes. Health practices: ask for the Google review, and keep it off your own advertising.
- Rewrite your services page so the five things you most want to be named for appear as plain text. 1 hour.
- Repeat step 1 in 30 days and compare. The captures are the only measurement that matters here.
For the wider picture, the Gemini glossary entry covers the model family sitting behind AI Mode, and Google's I/O 2025 announcement is the original source for features like Deep Search.
Find out if AI recommends your business
We test the real questions your customers ask across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI, then show you which service businesses get named instead of you and what it takes to change that. Free, no pitch.
Tested: 151 top-rated Australian tradies · 15.9% named by ChatGPT · Q3 2026 study
Check my AI visibility →FAQ
Is Google AI Mode available in Australia?
Yes. Google rolled AI Mode out to Australian users on 8 October 2025, in English. You can open it at google.com/ai, from the AI Mode tab above your Google results, or from the Google app. Access is tied to your Google account rather than your device, so it can appear on one account before another.
How do I turn on Google AI Mode?
You do not turn it on, you open it. Go to google.com/ai in a browser, or tap the AI Mode tab that sits beside All and Images above your search results, or use the AI Mode entry point in the Google app. Sign in to a personal Google account first, since some features including personalisation require a signed-in account aged 18 or over.
Why can't I see AI Mode in Google?
The most common reasons are that you are not signed in, your account holder is under 18, you are on a Google Workspace account whose admin has not enabled Search history, or your Google app needs updating. Supervised accounts through Family Link are also restricted. If none of those apply, the rollout simply has not reached your account and the entry point will appear on its own.
Is Google AI Mode free?
Yes, AI Mode is part of Google Search and costs nothing to use. You need a Google account to get the full experience including personalisation and the Pro model option. Google offers paid AI plans separately, but the AI Mode tab itself is not behind a subscription in Australia.
Does AI Mode use my Google Business Profile?
Yes, and in our three Australian captures it used almost nothing else. Every business named came with a Google knowledge card behind it, 19 to 20 references per answer. If your profile is unverified, incomplete or has the wrong primary category, there is no card for AI Mode to show, and the descriptive sentence it writes comes from your reviews and site copy.
Can I pay to appear in AI Mode in Australia?
No Australian ad product inside AI Mode has been announced. Google Australia's own October 2025 page says ads in AI Overviews are available in the United States and are being tested in AI Mode there. The business cards in our captures carried no ad labels. Check Google's Australian page before budgeting, because this is likely to change.