Google’s New AI Search Guide Calls AEO And GEO ‘Still SEO’

Google printed a brand new documentation web page to assist web sites optimize for generative AI options in Search, together with AI Overviews and AI Mode.

The web page, “Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search,” expands Google’s prior AI features documentation printed in 2025. The sooner web page explains how AI options work, how inclusion is managed, and the way efficiency is reported. The brand new information focuses extra instantly on optimization recommendation and techniques Google says web site homeowners can ignore.

Two sections are particularly price highlighting. Google instantly names widespread optimization techniques it says aren’t crucial, and it redefines the AEO/GEO dialog as a part of customary search engine optimization.

Google Says AEO And GEO Are ‘Nonetheless search engine optimization’

Google opens by confirming that foundational search engine optimization finest practices stay related for generative AI search. Its AI options are “rooted in our core Search rating and high quality methods” and depend on retrieval-augmented technology (RAG) and question fan-out to floor content material from the Search index.

On the terminology debate, Google is direct. It defines “AEO” as “reply engine optimization” and “GEO” as “generative engine optimization,” then states:

“From Google Search’s perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search expertise, and thus nonetheless search engine optimization.”

This echoes positions Google staff have taken at conferences. Gary Illyes and Cherry Prommawin told Search Central Live attendees that GEO and AEO don’t require separate frameworks. The place now seems in Google’s printed documentation, offering an official reference to quote.

What Google Says You Don’t Want To Do

The information features a “Mythbusting generative AI search” part itemizing techniques it calls pointless for Google Search. The information is extra express than Google’s prior AI options web page, significantly in naming llms.txt, chunking, inauthentic mentions, and AEO/GEO instantly.

The information says web site homeowners can ignore the next for Google Search.

On llms.txt information and different “particular” markup, Google says you don’t have to create machine-readable information, AI textual content information, markup, or Markdown to seem in generative AI search. Google might uncover and index many file sorts past HTML, however that doesn’t imply these information obtain particular therapy.

On “chunking” content material, the information says there’s no requirement to interrupt content material into small items for AI methods. Google’s methods “are in a position to perceive the nuance of a number of matters on a web page and present the related piece to customers.” Danny Sullivan made similar comments in January 2026, saying he’d spoken with Google engineers who beneficial in opposition to chunking.

On rewriting content material for AI methods, Google says AI methods can perceive synonyms and normal meanings. Website homeowners don’t have to seize each long-tail key phrase variation or write in a selected approach for generative AI search.

On searching for inauthentic “mentions,” the information acknowledges that AI options can floor what’s stated about services throughout blogs, movies, and boards. But it surely says searching for inauthentic mentions “isn’t as useful because it might sound” as a result of core rating methods concentrate on high quality whereas different methods block spam.

On structured information, the information says it isn’t required for generative AI search and there’s no particular schema.org markup so as to add. It recommends persevering with to make use of structured information as a part of an general search engine optimization technique for wealthy outcomes eligibility.

A number of suggestions run counter to recommendation that seems in some AI search optimization guides. A number of GEO resources have promoted chunking and structured information as priorities for AI search visibility.

What Google Says To Focus On

The optimization recommendation follows acquainted search engine optimization territory, although Google contextualizes it for AI options.

Google places explicit emphasis on “non-commodity content material.” It contrasts commodity content material (“7 Ideas for First-Time Homebuyers”) with a non-commodity various (“Why We Waived the Inspection & Saved Cash: A Look Contained in the Sewer Line”). The excellence is whether or not content material gives distinctive perception past frequent information.

On the technical facet, pages should be listed and eligible for snippets to seem in generative AI options. Google recommends following crawling finest practices, utilizing semantic HTML the place doable, following JavaScript search engine optimization finest practices, offering good web page expertise, and lowering duplicate content material.

Native and ecommerce optimization will get its personal part. Google recommends Service provider Heart feeds and Google Enterprise Profiles for product and native enterprise visibility in AI responses. It additionally mentions Enterprise Agent, a conversational expertise that lets clients chat with manufacturers on Google Search.

Agentic Experiences Get Preliminary Steerage

A brand new part on agentic experiences describes AI brokers as “autonomous methods that may carry out duties on behalf of individuals, equivalent to reserving a reservation or evaluating product specs.”

Google notes that browser brokers might entry web sites by analyzing screenshots, inspecting the DOM, and deciphering the accessibility tree. The information hyperlinks to net.dev’s guide to agent-friendly website best practices and references the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) as an rising protocol that “will enable Search brokers to do extra.”

Google announced UCP earlier this year, and Vidhya Srinivasan’s annual letter stated it was co-developed with Shopify with greater than 20 corporations endorsing it.

Why This Issues

This information offers Google’s most express steering but on what you must and shouldn’t do for generative AI options in Search. It consolidates positions that had been beforehand scattered throughout convention talks, podcast appearances, and weblog posts right into a single reference.

The mythbusting part carries probably the most weight. Google is now telling you in its personal documentation to skip techniques {that a} rising business of AEO/GEO companies has been selling. That doesn’t settle the controversy for non-Google AI platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity, which can weight indicators in a different way. However for Google’s personal AI options, the steering is now on file.

The agentic experiences part places browser brokers and UCP into Google’s official documentation for web site homeowners. The steering is early, and Google frames it as elective for companies the place agent entry is related.

Trying Forward

Google’s closing part says you don’t want to perform all the things within the doc to succeed. It notes that “loads of content material thrives in Google Search (together with generative AI experiences) with none overt search engine optimization in any respect.”

The agentic experiences steering is labeled as one thing to discover “if that is one thing that’s related to your enterprise and you’ve got further time.” That implies Google sees agent optimization as forward-looking quite than pressing.

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