Every time search changes, the marketing world invents an acronym and treats the old rulebook as obsolete.
The current acronyms are GEO, AEO, AI SEO, and LLM SEO. Google’s message is that brands do not need a separate strategy for generative engines, answer engines, or large language models (LLMs). The same solid SEO practices that worked before remain a strong foundation for showing up in AI-powered search results.
Brendon Kraham, Google’s vice president of Search and Commerce Global Ads Solutions, laid out five recommendations for marketers adjusting to features such as AI Mode and AI Overviews. He said brands must not chase every acronym, write content for bots, publish generic material, ignore their websites, or rely on measurements that have little connection to actual business results.
This advice is not glamorous, but it is useful.
Kraham said Google’s generative AI features rely on the company’s existing search index, ranking systems, and quality systems. In practical terms, brands with strong SEO fundamentals are already in a reasonable position to appear in both traditional search results and AI-generated responses.
Google also says people use Search more than ever. According to Kraham, the company recorded an all-time high in search queries during its most recent quarter. He did not give a specific total.
Google rejects separate GEO tactics
Kraham said marketers must treat GEO, AEO, AI SEO, and LLM SEO as different names for the same basic discipline.
That may disappoint anyone preparing to sell a 60-page GEO transformation roadmap, but it simplifies the work for everybody else.
Google’s AI Search products are built on the company’s core ranking infrastructure, he said. Techniques such as query fan-out may help Google retrieve information from a broader and more varied set of sources. Brands do not need to abandon established SEO practices because of it.
The machinery may be getting more advanced, but the basic job is the same: create useful content, make it understandable, and give Google a good reason to trust it.
Google also said websites do not need special AI-focused text files, including LLMs.txt, to appear in Google Search.
No file you add to the server makes AI systems send traffic your way. The work is still the actual content and site quality.
Write content for people, not bots
Google advised publishers to avoid keyword stuffing, awkward wording, and content broken into artificial fragments for machines.
You know the kind of page: every sentence reads as if it was written to satisfy a checklist instead of helping a human being.
Kraham said Google’s systems are designed to understand natural language and to evaluate content by how useful it is to people. Brands must publish material based on firsthand experience, specialist knowledge, and perspectives that competitors cannot easily copy.
That last point matters because generic content is everywhere. The internet has no shortage of broad advice, some of it written by people who may or may not have used the product they discuss.
Kraham used the example of a local running store. Instead of publishing another general list of shoe-buying tips, the store could create an analysis that explains why a specific customer’s shoe collapsed.
That kind of article or video solves a real problem and demonstrates actual expertise. It also gives the business something distinctive to say, which is more useful than repeating the same five shoe tips that already appear on 200 other websites.
Google also recommended keeping information accurate in products such as Merchant Center and Google Business Profile. These services can help product details and local-business information appear in AI responses and other search results.
This maintenance work is unexciting, but customers appreciate accurate prices, correct opening hours, and a business address that does not send them to an empty parking lot.
Website performance remains important
Technical performance and user experience still affect whether search visibility turns into business.
Websites must work properly on mobile and desktop devices, load quickly, and make their main content easy to find. Relevant images and videos can also improve visibility when Google shows rich media in its results.
These requirements are long-standing, and they still matter.
Getting someone to click is only half the job. If the page loads slowly, the menu disappears on mobile, or a pop-up blocks the entire screen, the visitor may leave before the business makes its case.
Kraham said people arriving through AI-powered search features may already be well informed. They could be closer to buying something, submitting an inquiry, or completing another conversion.
A poor website can therefore waste a valuable opportunity. The brand can appear in search, answer the customer’s questions, and earn the click, then lose the sale because the checkout page is slow or broken.
Google urges focus on business results
Google also advised marketers to focus on leads, sales, registrations, and other concrete outcomes instead of relying heavily on third-party AI visibility measurements.
These measurements still have value, but they must not become the whole point.
Kraham said third-party SEO platforms do not have access to Google’s internal metrics. Google also does not directly evaluate or endorse those measurements.
When a dashboard says your AI visibility score rose seven points, ask whether anything useful happened.
Did sales increase? Did more qualified customers get in touch? Did registrations improve? Or did the chart move in a direction everyone agreed looked encouraging?
Google Search Console has started to include performance reporting with impressions from AI features in Search. Merchant Center also gives retailers information about how product listings appear across generative AI experiences.
Google said these reports can provide a baseline for measuring the effect of content improvements and technical SEO work. The company is also considering additional metrics based on feedback from website owners.
Kraham concluded that brands are most likely to succeed in AI Search by following established marketing principles: understand the audience, publish useful expert content, maintain a high-quality website, and measure performance against real business goals.
AI Search may change how information is displayed and how Google gathers answers, but the foundation is familiar.
Be useful. Know your subject. Make the website work. Then check whether any of it helped the business.
According to Google, good SEO is good GEO. The acronyms changed, and the job stayed the same.