Google’s Latest Test Could Erode Travel Search Referrals Even More
Photo Credit: A new Google test combines AI Mode and AI Overviews in search. Courtesy of Google
Skift Take
Google is collapsing the gap between quick answers and deeper chats in mobile search. For travel brands, this could mean more queries — from inspiration to booking — will run through conversational interfaces, not blue links.
Google has begun testing a feature that lets U.S.-based users jump from AI Overviews directly into AI Mode on mobile. The shift turns a quick answer into a Gemini-powered chat and keeps users inside the results page.
The global test adds an “Ask a follow-up” entry point from the AI Overview. A simple search about, say, Paris in April can become a live conversation that starts to reshape a trip plan.
Until now, users had to decide whether to run a traditional search or tap into the dedicated AI Mode section if they expected a more complex query.
By linking AI Overviews with AI Mode, Google is testing a flow that begins with a summary at the top of the page, then nudges travelers to stay with Gemini as they refine dates, budgets, and neighborhoods in a chat-style interface.
That flow pulls more of the decision-making — including which brands ev
