Google AI Mode illustrates 72.5% of its answers to "best car" questions with images, against 9.5% of its answers overall. Money questions almost never get a picture: 0.7% of mortgage answers include one.
Analysis of 10,834 Google AI Mode answers · Google AI Mode, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.Google AI Mode includes images in 72.5% of its answers to "best car" questions, more than seven times its 9.5% rate across all answers.
- 2.9.5% of Google AI Mode answers include an image, so about nine answers in ten are text only.
- 3.Google AI Mode shows images in 52.5% of answers to "best electronics" questions, and in 41.8% of answers to general questions about pets.
- 4.Google AI Mode answers about mortgages include an image 0.7% of the time, insurance 1.1% and investing 1.5%.
- 5.Seven of 20 "best product" categories, including beauty, apparel, health and finance, got 0 images in Google AI Mode answers.
Summary
Ask Google AI Mode for the best hybrid SUV and the answer comes with pictures of the cars it recommends. Ask it for the best moisturizer, the best running shoes or the best credit card and you get text alone, however visual the product.
That matters to any brand that sells on looks. When an AI answer shows images, a product photo becomes part of the recommendation, and a brand without clear images on the pages Google reads can appear as a name with no picture next to rivals that have one. When the answer is text only, images do nothing and the words carry the whole pitch.
Images in Google AI Mode are rare but concentrated. 72.5% of answers to "best car" questions include images, against 9.5% of answers overall. Cars and electronics are illustrated most of the time, general questions about pets and gardens often, and money questions almost never.
What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we asked Google AI Mode, the conversational AI search mode in Google, 5,417 questions from a US location, each asked twice, for 10,834 answers. The questions cover everyday topics such as pets, gardens and recipes, "best product" questions in 20 shopping categories, industry questions, and money, health and legal topics.
An answer counts as including images when it shows at least one image within the answer. We grouped the answers by question topic and calculated the share that included images.
Images are the exception in Google AI Mode
About nine Google AI Mode answers in ten are text only. The rate held steady across the two rounds of questions, 9.2% in the first and 9.7% in the second, so images are a consistent feature of certain topics rather than a random extra.
The images are concentrated in a handful of subjects. Where they appear, they appear often; everywhere else, they are close to absent. That makes the topic of the question the best predictor of whether an answer will be illustrated.
Cars and electronics get the pictures
Product questions with a strong visual element lead. "Best car" questions (72.5%) and "best electronics" questions (52.5%) are illustrated in most answers, and "best travel" questions in 23%. General questions about pets (41.8%), gardens (40.7%), beauty (27.8%) and energy (23.2%) also draw images often, as do tech (21.6%) and recipe (20.6%) questions.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 10,834 Google AI Mode answers · Google AI Mode, September 2026
The type of question matters as much as the subject. General car questions show images in 1.5% of answers, against 72.5% for "best car" questions. The pattern flips for pets: general pet questions show images 41.8% of the time, while "best pet product" questions got none in 200 answers. Google illustrates the thing being chosen when it is a car or a gadget, and the thing being explained when it is a plant or an animal.
Among product questions, a few categories get all the images
Across the 20 "best product" categories, images cluster in four: cars (72.5%), electronics (52.5%), travel (23%) and outdoor gear (15%). Insurance (7.5%) and kids products (6.5%) follow at a distance.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 10,834 Google AI Mode answers · Google AI Mode, September 2026
Everything else is close to zero. Kitchen, streaming, home, gaming, phones, software and services all sit at 3% or below, and seven categories, pets, office, fitness, health, finance, beauty and apparel, got no images in 200 answers each. For beauty and apparel, among the most visual products there are, the recommendation is words only.
Money questions stay text only
Mortgage (0.7%), insurance (1.1%) and investing (1.5%) answers almost never include an image, and careers questions got none. These are questions about rates, rules and decisions, with nothing to photograph, and Google AI Mode answers them in text.
For financial brands, that means the AI answer is decided entirely by what it says: the rates, fees, eligibility rules and comparisons it can find in plain text. A brand's visual identity does not reach the answer; its clearly stated facts do.
What this means for ecommerce and visual brands
If you sell cars, electronics, outdoor gear or travel, your product images are part of your AI visibility. Use clear photos with descriptive file names and alt text, the short written description of an image, on the pages that rank for your key product questions.
In categories Google AI Mode leaves text only, such as beauty, apparel, health and finance, images will not help you there. Spend the effort on the text AI quotes: specifications, prices, ingredients or terms, and plain descriptions of who each product suits.
Then check Google AI Mode for your own "best" questions and see whether it shows pictures and whose they are. Our ecommerce seo services cover product images, alt text and the product copy AI engines quote.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-ai-mode-images-by-topic">Google AI Mode Shows Images in 72.5% of "Best Car" Answers vs 9.5% Overall - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). Google AI Mode Shows Images in 72.5% of "Best Car" Answers vs 9.5% Overall. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-ai-mode-images-by-topic
Google AI Mode Shows Images in 72.5% of "Best Car" Answers vs 9.5% Overall - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/google-ai-mode-images-by-topic