Google has finally published guidance for AI optimization. Yet “Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search,” published May 15, offers nothing beyond traditional search engine optimization basics.
The guidelines apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, but not necessarily to Gemini, Google’s standalone genAI platform, and certainly not to other models such as ChatGPT and Claude.
SEO
The guidelines start with confirming that traditional SEO remains as relevant as ever because (i) AI answers rely on search results and (ii) “fan-out” queries use actual human searches.
To Google, there’s no difference between “optimizing for AI” and “SEO,” stating:
From Google Search’s perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO.
The guidelines list traditional SEO tactics, mainly:
- Create original, helpful, people-first content with a unique point of view.
- Structure content and pages for humans, not AI agents.
- Use quality, helpful images and videos.
- Ensure pages are crawlable by Google’s bots. (I use Search Console’s URL Inspection tool to confirm crawlability.)
- Use the same semantic HTML structure for people and AI agents.
- Minimize duplicate content.
- Make sure content is visible with JavaScript disabled.
- Emphasize user experience from multiple devices.
- Ensure ecommerce product feeds are detailed and submitted to Merchant Center.
GEO Myths
Google’s guidelines address common myths for generative AI optimization, stating:
- LLMs.txt is not needed.
- Markdown pages are not needed.
- “Chunking” content (i.e., breaking it into short paragraphs for AI retrieval) is not required.
- Writing in an “AI-friendly” way is not required.
- “Seeking inauthentic mentions” may flag your site as spam (like traditional SEO). AI systems do evaluate brand and product mentions across the web, but, like Google, can tell real mentions from fake ones.
- No “special” structured data, such as from Schema.org, is required, though it helps generate rich snippets in organic results.
Core Concepts
The guidelines emphasize two core concepts for optimizing AI on Google Search:
- AI Overviews and AI Mode rely directly on organic search.
- No additional tactics are required or recommended beyond traditional SEO.
Google suggests becoming familiar with the Universal Commerce Protocol, as AI agents will eventually not only search but also perform various actions on behalf of humans, such as booking a hotel or making a purchase.
Smart shopping starts here.
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