Search is evolving – and fast.
With the rollout of Google’s AI Mode, the way people find, explore, and interact with online content is undergoing a major shift. For arts and culture organisations, this presents both challenges and opportunities. As search engines become more intelligent, understanding how to remain visible – and valuable – in this new landscape is critical.
Here’s what’s happening (time to take some notes!).
What is Google’s AI Mode?
Google’s AI Mode is a new search experience powered by its latest Gemini 2.5 model. Think of it less like typing into a search box and more like having a conversation with an intelligent assistant. Instead of returning a list of ten blue links, AI Mode interprets your question, breaks it down into subtopics, gathers answers from multiple sources, and delivers a detailed, tailored response.
Some standout features include:
- Conversational search: Follow-up questions are encouraged, allowing users to explore topics more deeply.
- Multimodal inputs: Users can search using images, voice, and text.
- Personalised results: Search results are influenced by data from services like Gmail or Google Drive (when signed in).
- Task automation: The AI can help with bookings or reservations directly within the search interface.
Why Does This Matter for Arts & Culture Organisations?
Most clients we talk to in the space have a site that needs to promote events, sell tickets, raise donations, or share educational resources. This shift in seach could impact how people discover and engage with this content.
1. Organic traffic may decline – but relevance matters more
With AI summarising content directly in search results, users might find what they need without clicking through to your site. That means your presence in those AI-generated answers – rather than your ranking in traditional search results – becomes the new battleground.
For example, if someone asks, “What’s on at a theatre in London this weekend?” or “Which museums are free and open in London today?” Google might return a curated summary of events, and if your listings aren’t well-structured, informative, or visible, you could be left out.
Takeaway: Your content needs to be accurate, up-to-date, and structured in a way that makes it easy for AI to understand and cite.
2. High-quality backlinks are more important than ever
AI uses sources it considers reliable and authoritative. That means backlinks from trusted websites (like press articles, academic sources, or respected directories) will continue to signal that your content is worth surfacing.
While these links may no longer drive the same volume of clicks, they will still help Google determine whether your content is trustworthy enough to reference in its summaries.
Some examples of highly authoritative sources include: The Art Newspaper, Art Review, The Stage.
Takeaway: Invest in building meaningful relationships with journalists, cultural institutions, and online publications that can link to your content.
3. E-E-A-T is not just SEO jargon – it’s your digital reputation
Google’s quality guidelines now use E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. For arts organisations, this isn’t just about ticking boxes – it’s about clearly showing why you’re a credible source. I was looking for examples of this in the Arts and Culture sector and, despite visiting the websites of huge names in the sector, I couldn’t find any, so you have a real opportunity here to lead the way.
Do you showcase real-world experience in your programming? Highlight expert curators, directors, or contributors? Cite your collaborators or research sources? Utilise Google Authorship to tell readers more about the author of the content? These all help boost your E-E-A-T signals; the below example from The Verge demonstrates how you can effectively use author bylines and author bios to support this.
Takeaway: Demonstrate who’s behind your content, cite your sources, and focus on creating people-first experiences that show genuine expertise and purpose.
4. Make your content AI-friendly – not just search-engine friendly
Traditional SEO focused heavily on keywords and rankings. But in an AI-powered landscape, semantic clarity, structure, and usefulness become far more important. This means creating content that’s:
- Factually accurate
- Well-structured (use clear headings and summaries)
- Aligned with your audiences’ real needs (not just what you think they’re searching for)
Here’s an example of AI search displaying results to “Does the Tate have wheelchair access?” – It used the information from the Tate website, as well as other relevant sources, to provide an informative and useful result to a user’s question.
Takeaway: Focus on helpful, authentic content that reflects your mission and serves your audience. Think downloadable guides, explainer articles, FAQs, and structured event listings.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t a time for panic – it’s a time to adapt.
Arts and culture organisations are storytellers by nature. By bringing that same clarity, creativity, and depth to your digital content, you’ll remain relevant in an AI-shaped search future. The organisations that succeed will be those who put their audience first, build trust through quality content, and embrace the evolving landscape with purpose.
If you’d like to chat to one of our team about how you can make your website ready for AI search, email us at [email protected].
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Photo by Paolo Chiabrando on Unsplash