Google: AI Mode Queries Run Three Times Longer Than Traditional Search

Queries in Google's AI Mode run three times longer than traditional searches, and more than one in six AI Mode searches in the U.S. is multimodal. Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Product Liaison, shared those figures in a LinkedIn post accompanying the October 28 episode of Google's Ads Decoded podcast, which also featured Shivani Mohan, Search Vice President of Data Science and User Experience Research.

Marvin outlined three takeaways for advertisers building their 2027 strategies:

• Discovery is moving up the funnel. People use conversational search for brainstorming and discovery well before they reach a purchase decision.
• Curiosity is expanding. Queries in AI Mode are three times longer than traditional searches, and one in six searches is now multimodal — though Marvin's post does not specify the baseline definitions or measurement window for those figures.
• Users want human perspectives. Podcasts, video reviews, and firsthand experience remain part of how people research and decide.

The official episode notes add that people ask 3x longer questions, go back and forth on follow-ups, and search with voice and images, which gives them room to include personal nuance and work through complex decisions as they search.

What does the 3x figure actually tell advertisers?

Google's October 28 advertising announcement cites the same 3x figure and links to a U.S. AI Mode report published in May 2026. The statistic compares average query length but does not show how differences in users or search tasks affect the comparison.

Longer questions give advertisers more information about someone's needs. The number alone does not show stronger buying intent or better conversion rates.

Advertisers should also read the multimodal figure carefully. The report says more than one in six AI Mode searches in the U.S. are multimodal. That scope is narrower than the "one in six searches" wording in Marvin's post and should not be applied to all Google searches.

Why human perspectives still matter

Mohan wrote in her own LinkedIn post that users:

…appreciate the streamlined clarity of AI summaries, yet they actively crave the rich detail, lived experience, and earned authority of the open web.

She pointed to forums, podcasts, and videos as the places people seek those perspectives. For advertisers, that means customers want more than a product description. They want to know how a product performs in practice, what its limitations are, and why someone chose it. A review or demonstration answers those questions when it includes experience the brand's own copy does not. Repeating that copy on camera adds little.

Mohan also referred to billions of clicks to the open web, without a timeframe or comparison. The figure does not show whether traffic is growing or how clicks distribute across sites.

What should paid search teams do for 2027?

Two commenters on Marvin's October 29 post — Md Jihad and Ana Trujillo Martin — asked how these behaviors translate into campaign management, including how small businesses should adapt ad copy for exploratory intent and which signals retail teams should watch. Neither the posts nor the episode notes provide specific campaign settings. Advertisers can still run four checks:

• Surface pre-product needs. Review customer questions, sales conversations, and search terms for recurring problems. Test messaging that addresses those needs while stating clearly what the business offers.
• Support comparison. Audit landing pages for answers on price, compatibility, setup, and limitations. Make that information easy to find before visitors must request a quote or buy.
• Connect content to the decision. Link reviews, demonstrations, and customer stories that address known concerns, with a clear next step after each.
• Measure the full path. Where measurement allows, check whether visitors to comparison or educational pages return and become customers, assessed over the normal purchase timeline. Impressions, click-through rate, or engagement alone will not show whether those visits generated business.

The podcast leaves open how these behaviors vary by industry and buying stage, and Google has supplied no conversion benchmarks. Advertisers will need to test which customer questions their existing content leaves unanswered — and whether answering them moves people toward a purchase.