Celine Youssef
Product Lead, Search+, Google MENA

The product lead behind Search+ on why AI is growing the search “pie” rather than shrinking it, and what a billion monthly users of AI Mode says about how MENA is actually using AI search.

BB: Leading Search+ puts you at the centre of how AI is actually changing the way people search and discover information in the region. What’s the biggest shift you’ve seen in user behaviour as AI-driven search has rolled out?

CY: The biggest shift is that users are asking much longer, more conversational and complex questions rather than typing in isolated keywords. With generative capabilities integrated directly into Search, powered by Gemini, people have realised Search can handle multi step tasks and nuance, and query volumes have reached record highs as a result. For brands and marketers, this is genuinely exciting, since these longer, more detailed queries carry far richer signals of consumer intent, and the best ads can now become answers.

BB: What’s one product development from the past year you’d point to as evidence of where AI-powered search is actually heading, versus where it’s expected to head?

CY: The rollout of AI Mode is a perfect example. Many expected AI search to act as a conversational replacement for traditional blue links. Instead, we are seeing users treat it as a dynamic, collaborative companion for complex, multi step tasks, from conversational brainstorming to comparative shopping. AI Mode has been a revelation, our biggest upgrade to Search ever, and in just a year it has already surpassed one billion monthly active users.

BB: Where do you see the biggest gap between how AI search is discussed publicly and how people in the region are actually using it day to day?

CY: There is a lot of public noise suggesting that standalone LLM apps might replace traditional Search or shrink its usage. The reality is closer to the opposite: AI and large language models are increasing the overall search “pie” rather than diminishing it, lifting queries to all time highs. This is enabled by an evolved multimodal search box that accepts text, voice, image and video, letting MENA users ask in whichever way suits them and move from discovery to decision faster.