Want your business to show up in Google’s AI-driven results? The same principles that help you rank in Google Search still matter – but AI introduces new dimensions of context, reputation, and reasoning, according to Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search.

PR for AI. In an interview with Marina Mogilko of Silicon Valley Girl, Stein said AI “thinks a lot like a person would,” and agreed with her assessment that you’re investing in PR not for people to see it, but for AI. Stein said:

• “If you’re a business and you’re mentioned in top business lists or from a public article that lots of people end up finding, those kinds of things become useful for the AI to find.”
• AI Mode is “literally using Google Search as a tool, like doing Googling under the hood and then finding relevant information and it can both obviously do a standard Google search and understand the web results, but also tap into the knowledge bases and real-time info systems at Google.”

SEO overlap. Stein talked a bit about how AI optimization strategies differ from traditional SEO:

• “And so in the same way that you would optimize your website and think about how do I make helpful, clear information for people. So people search for a certain topic, my website’s really helpful for that. Think of an AI doing that search now. And then knowing, for that query, here are the best websites given that question. [That now] will come into the context window of the model. And so when it renders a response and provides all of these links for you to go deeper, that website’s more likely to show up. And so it’s a lot of that standard best practices around building great content really do apply in the AI age for sure.”

So is it (GEO, AEO, or whatever we end up calling AI search optimization) basically the same as SEO? Stein said:

• “There’s a lot of overlap. I think maybe one added nuance is that the kinds of questions people ask AI are increasingly complicated and they tend to be in different spaces.
• “And so if you think about what people use AI for, a lot of it is how-to for complicated things or for purchase decisions or for advice about life things. So people who are creating content in those areas like if I were them, I would be a student of understanding the use cases of AI and where what are growing in those use cases. I think there’s been some studies that have done around what how people use these products and AI. It was really interesting to understand.”

**Tools still matter. **Stein pointed to Google Trends, Ads, and Search Console as underused resources for understanding new types of search behavior.

• “Google Trends is a really useful thing. I actually think people really underutilize that.”

Why we care. Google Search is continuing to evolve. So, too, is SEO. Even Stein seemed to acknowledge that it’s not “just SEO” that matters in the era of AI Overviews and AI Mode, despite there being a lot of overlap. Because you are no longer just optimizing to be ranked – you’re optimizing to be recommended.

The interview. Google’s AI Search Expert: How to Get Ahead Before AI Changes Everything

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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.