Google Promotes AI Mode with Doodle: Gemini-Powered Search Gets a Boost

Google Puts AI Mode Front and Center with Animated Doodle

At Squaredtech, we’ve seen tech companies get creative with AI promotion—but Google just took a bold approach. The company used its famous homepage Google Doodle to spotlight AI Mode, a search feature powered by Gemini, its flagship large language model.

The interactive Doodle appeared on Chrome and Google Search, showing an animated image that launched AI Mode when tapped. The Doodle also included a share button, encouraging users to spread the feature across social platforms.

According to Google, the Doodle is “just a fun promo.” But from Squaredtech’s perspective, this is a direct push to get more users engaged with AI Mode, especially in a market where competition from ChatGPT, Claude, Anthropic, and Perplexity AI continues to rise.

By placing AI Mode at the front of its most trafficked page, Google sends a clear message: its AI-powered search is ready for the spotlight.

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What Is AI Mode and How Does It Work?

AI Mode is Google’s latest upgrade to the search experience. Instead of returning only traditional blue links, the system provides conversational answers to more complex user queries. These answers are multi-layered and often pull data from several sources.

Users can engage with AI Mode in three ways:

• Text input
• Voice queries
• Image-based prompts

This flexibility makes it easier to explore broad questions with follow-ups—just like you’d ask a chatbot. AI Mode also appears automatically next to standard results for select queries, offering a side-by-side look at traditional and AI-powered responses.

Google began rolling out AI Mode with Search results in March. The product description reads: “Search whatever’s on your mind and get AI-powered responses.” With the new Doodle promotion, millions more users may now discover it for the first time.

Powered by Gemini and Built for Real Conversations

The driving force behind AI Mode is Gemini, Google’s flagship generative AI model. Gemini is already integrated across Google’s product line in the U.S. and powers features in Gmail, Docs, and Android.

In AI Mode, Gemini handles user input with conversational fluency and layered insights. For example, asking a complex question like “What’s the best time to visit Japan for food and cherry blossoms?” returns a structured, helpful answer—with maps, timelines, and linked follow-up suggestions.

At Squaredtech, we’ve tested Gemini in various formats, and AI Mode continues the trend of building more interactive, real-time search responses that rival or even surpass other popular AI tools.

Unlike traditional search, AI Mode actively encourages curiosity by suggesting next questions, diving deeper into context, and refining results as the user types or speaks.

Google’s Competitive Push with Doodle Promotion

The decision to feature AI Mode in a Google Doodle wasn’t random. Google is in a race to retain user attention as alternatives like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Perplexity AI continue to gain traction.

By highlighting AI Mode through its homepage animation, Google reaches users who might not read product blogs or follow AI announcements. This also positions AI Mode as part of the regular Google experience—not a separate lab project or tech demo.

While a spokesperson downplayed it as “just a fun promo,” Squaredtech sees the move as strategic. It’s Google saying: “Our AI tools are not buried in menus or limited to beta testers—they’re ready for everyone, right here.”

And with AI Mode appearing in Chrome’s landing page too, users are being nudged into trying the feature in their daily routines.

Final Thoughts from Squaredtech

Google is making a clear play with AI Mode, and the Doodle promotion shows that the company wants AI search to be part of everyday habits. By putting Gemini-powered responses directly into Search and making them discoverable via the Doodle, Google is betting big on AI as a core part of its future.

At Squaredtech, we think this strategy reflects Google’s urgency to stay ahead in the AI race. AI Mode is no longer a side feature—it’s part of the Google homepage.

With direct answers, multi-modal input, and Gemini running the backend, AI Mode transforms Google Search from a list of links into an actual conversation.

And now, thanks to the Doodle, that conversation just got a whole lot louder.

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