Barry Schwartz is the CEO of RustyBrick and the founder of the Search Engine Roundtable. He is also the News Editor of Search Engine Land. You can follow him on Twitter @rustybrick or on LinkedIn.

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Back in May, Google announced updates to shopping in AI Mode. One of those announcements is a feature that helps you narrow down your AI Mode results for shopping queries using query fan‑out. Below is an example of Google AI Mode prompting you to narrow down the options.

Sachin Patel noticed this in action and shared a screenshot (and a video) on X:

Google AI Mode is asking the user “What type of games will you primarily be playing?” and then gives four different options to pick from.

Here is also his video of this in action (tweet excerpt):

Google AI Mode helps users find answers

@brodieseo @rustybrick @gaganghotra_ pic.twitter.com/yr0oqBL3sq

— Sachin Patel (@SachuPatel53124) January 16, 2026

What Google said back in May:

“Say you tell AI Mode you're looking for a cute travel bag. It understands that you're looking for visual inspiration and so it will show you a beautiful, browsable panel of images and product listings personalized to your tastes. If you want to narrow your options down to bags suitable for a trip to Portland, Oregon in May, AI Mode will start a query fan‑out, which means it runs several simultaneous searches to figure out what makes a bag good for rainy weather and long journeys, and then uses those criteria to suggest waterproof options with easy access to pockets. The new right‑hand panel dynamically updates with relevant products and images as you go, helping you pinpoint exactly what you're looking for and discover new brands. These shopping features are coming to AI Mode in the U.S. in the coming months.”

The discussion around this feature can be found on the Search Engine Roundtable forum.