What is agentic search?

By the Variask team · Updated

Definition

Agentic search is when an AI assistant plans and runs its own research before it answers: it breaks a question into steps, searches several times, reads pages, compares what it finds and only then writes a reply.

Also called AI research mode, Deep research

With Variask: Variask records the searches AI engines run behind your buyer questions, so you can see the research path and make sure your pages show up along it.

How agentic search works

  1. 1The assistant reads the question and decides it needs fresh or detailed information.
  2. 2It plans a set of sub questions, for example the options, their prices and what reviewers say.
  3. 3It runs searches for each one, opens the most promising pages and reads them.
  4. 4It checks what it found, notices gaps and searches again where it needs to.
  5. 5It writes one answer from everything it gathered, often with links to its sources.

Classic search returns a list for one query. A single agentic run can involve many searches and dozens of pages, and the user only sees the final answer and a few citations.

Agentic search vs query fan-out

Query fan-out is one step inside agentic search: the model turns one question into several searches at once. Agentic search goes further, because the model can look at the results and decide what to search next, in several rounds, like a researcher would.

Where you see it today

Research and deep research modes in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity work this way, and Google AI Mode runs many searches behind one question. Shopping and booking agents add one more step: after researching, they can act on a website for the user.

What it means for brands

  • The assistant reads more pages than any person would, so being on the shortlist depends on being found in many of those searches, not one.
  • Pages that state facts clearly, such as prices, specs, limits and comparisons, are easier for an agent to use and quote.
  • Third party pages matter: agents check reviews, forums and comparison sites before naming a brand.

Questions

Agentic search:
common questions

It is one kind of AI search. Many AI answers use one quick search or none at all. Agentic search is the slower, multi step mode used for harder questions.

Partly. Some engines show their searches or sources. Tools like Variask capture the searches behind answers so you can study them at scale.

It raises the value of clear, factual, well structured pages and of mentions on trusted third party sites, because the agent reads and compares many of them before it answers.

Related terms

Keep exploring

How AI search works

Query fan-out

Query fan-out is when an AI engine splits one question into several related searches, runs them together and blends the results into one answer.

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How AI search works

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a way of building AI answers where the system first retrieves relevant documents or web pages, then has the language model write the answer using them.

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How AI search works

Grounding

Grounding is when an AI model bases its answer on specific sources, such as live search results or a set of documents, instead of relying only on what it learned in training.

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Commerce

Agentic commerce

Agentic commerce is shopping done by AI agents on a person's behalf: finding products, comparing options and, increasingly, completing the purchase.

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Technical

AI crawlers

AI crawlers are bots run by AI companies that visit websites to collect content, either to train models or to fetch pages live when an assistant answers a question.

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Full glossary