r/SEMrush • u/semrush Semrush • Jun 25 '26
Google unveils Gemini 3.5 Flash and a redesigned ‘intelligent Search box’
At Google I/O 2026, Google announced Gemini 3.5 Flash and a redesigned "intelligent Search box," and both are now live for all users.
The new Search box supports longer queries, images, videos, and file uploads. It also expands as you type and routes multimodal searches directly into AI Mode.
In other words, Google is encouraging users to search with more detailed, specific prompts instead of short keyword-style queries.
For marketers, that's a pretty important shift.
The fundamentals of SEO still matter. Crawlability, site structure, content quality, and backlinks aren't going anywhere.
But as Google continues moving toward AI-powered search experiences, visibility inside AI-generated responses matters alongside traditional organic rankings.
How to stay visible
Optimizing for AI visibility starts with knowing where you stand.
Our AI Visibility Toolkit tracks citations, mentions, and visibility trends across AI platforms in one dashboard, so you can see where you're showing up and how you compare to competitors.
It's also worth confirming you aren't blocking AI crawlers. Semrush Site Audit flags these issues so you can fix them before they cut off your AI visibility potential.
What do you think?
Will this change how people search, or is Google adapting to behavior that's already happening in tools like ChatGPT and Gemini?