Google’s guidance on AI search suggests that original thinking, useful content and strong technical foundations beats clever optimisation tactics.
Google’s latest guide to optimising websites for generative AI search is based on a reassuring successful message – good SEO principles still matter. The prominent AI Overview and AI Mode features actually make use of Google’s existing search systems, drawing on indexed content to generate answers. According to the guidance, there is no special AI markup required, no need to rewrite everything for machines and no advantage from simply producing more content.
However, one interesting part of the AI Optimization Guide is what it calls
non-commodity content. While AI is already very strong at summarizing common knowledge, it is unable to produce a writer or organisation’s experience, evidence and perspective. This means that easy to produce ‘top 10 tips’ type articles are actually adding little to our understanding of a subject, and will subsequently not score highly in GEO rankings. But one that explains what actually happened on a project, what went wrong and what others can learn from it offers insight that is considered far more valuable, and will be preferred when Google’s systems are choosing which sources to reference.
Something to try: Choose one important page on your website and ask whether it contains information that could only have come from your organisation. Does it offer original evidence, first-hand experience or a genuinely useful perspective? If it doesn’t, try to improve it with something specific: a real example, a measurable outcome or an informed opinion.
