Google Search’s Danny Sullivan and John Mueller pushed back – yet again – on the idea that brands need a separate AI SEO strategy, during the latest Search Off the Record episode.
Sullivan’s take is simple: the acronyms keep multiplying (GEO, AEO, etc.), but the advice stays unchanged: Write for humans, not for ranking systems, whether those systems are traditional search or LLM-powered experiences.
**Why we care. **As AI search grows, a lot of publishers and SEOs are feeling pressured to try something new. Google’s take: chasing AI tricks can actually hurt and distract you from making content people actually like.
**Google says the north star hasn’t moved. **Sullivan said Google’s goal is to reward content created for people – not content written for search algorithms and not …
Google Search’s Danny Sullivan and John Mueller pushed back – yet again – on the idea that brands need a separate AI SEO strategy, during the latest Search Off the Record episode.
Sullivan’s take is simple: the acronyms keep multiplying (GEO, AEO, etc.), but the advice stays unchanged: Write for humans, not for ranking systems, whether those systems are traditional search or LLM-powered experiences.
**Why we care. **As AI search grows, a lot of publishers and SEOs are feeling pressured to try something new. Google’s take: chasing AI tricks can actually hurt and distract you from making content people actually like.
**Google says the north star hasn’t moved. **Sullivan said Google’s goal is to reward content created for people – not content written for search algorithms and not content written for LLMs. If you are already doing that, he says, you are “ahead” as formats shift.
- If you optimize narrowly for a specific AI system, you risk permanent catch-up as those systems evolve.
- Modern CMS platforms handle much of the old “make your site crawlable” work by default, Mueller added.
**Original, authentic, multimodal. **Sullivan argued that AI features accelerate a reality publishers have faced for years: commodity content is easy to replace. His examples:
- Pages that padded a simple fact like “What time is the Super Bowl?” into a long post eventually lost to direct answers and data feeds.
- Sites built on predictable, repeatable answers (e.g., word game solutions) are exposed when the ecosystem supplies that information directly.
What Google wants creators to do:
- Prioritize original value. Bring perspective, expertise, reporting, firsthand experience, or a voice that only you can provide.
- Lean into authenticity. Not “manufactured authentic,” but work grounded in real experience.
- Go multimodal. Sullivan joked that he hates the term, but the point stands. Mix text with images and video, because users search across formats and often prefer video for how-to answers.
Structured data still matters. They also reiterated that structured data is helpful, not decisive. Sullivan said it is not “structured data and you win AI.” It supports how systems understand and present content, just as it already does across Search features.
Focus on quality clicks. Google is seeing that traffic from AI formats can arrive more engaged, such as spending more time on-site. His hypothesis is that AI results create better contextual awareness. Users click when they are more confident that the result matches their intent.
- Google’s advice: define and track outcomes that matter to your business, not just raw traffic.
- Focus on quality clicks and quality conversions over volume (and be clear on what a conversion actually is).
**About query fan-out. **They explained why “I rank in blue links but not in AI Overviews” is a flawed comparison:
- AI features may run multiple related searches behind the scenes. Mueller described it as doing “a whole bunch of searches for you” and then synthesizing the results.
- That means visibility in AI results may not map one-to-one with the exact query a user typed.
Clients still want “the new thing.” Sullivan acknowledged the real-world problem. Clients still demand “AI optimization” as a separate service.
- He suggested reframing is to present the “same old stuff” as the durable, long-term strategy.
- Position “AI SEO” as monitoring and adapting, not rebuilding everything into a second content system.
**What to do now, according to Google. **Based from the conversation, Google’s “SEO checklist” looks something like this:
- Create human-first, satisfying content.
- Offer original reporting, unique expertise, firsthand experience, and a strong voice.
- Add images or video when they genuinely improve understanding.
- Use structured data where appropriate.
- Optimize for engagement and conversions, not just clicks.
The podcast. Thoughts on SEO & SEO for AI, part 1
Dig deeper:
- Google says doing optimization for AI search is ‘the same’ as doing SEO for traditional search
- Google VP: SEO and AI search optimization have ‘a lot of overlap’
- Google’s Danny Sullivan: ‘Good SEO is good GEO’
- Google says normal SEO works for ranking in AI Overviews and LLMS.txt won’t be used
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About the Author
Danny Goodwin is Editorial Director of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo - SMX. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events.
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.