Google’s Danny Sullivan: ‘Good SEO is good GEO’

“Good SEO is good GEO.” That’s according to Google’s Danny Sullivan, a director within Google Search, and former search liaison

• Generative engine optimization (or whatever the new acronym is for optimizing for AI search) is the same core work SEOs have always done: creating unique, valuable content for people and providing a great page experience.
• This echoes Google’s Gary Illyes advice from July – that all you need to do is normal SEO.

Why we care. You can believe Google if you want. But we’ve tried to be consistent in saying that we believe GEO is an emerging practice. That doesn’t mean it replaces SEO today or tomorrow – because SEO fundamentals matter and SEO is still not dead. But I also agree with Michael King’s assessment that SEO is deprecated. The future of Google and AI search will be answers, not ranking, regardless of what Googlers say publicly today.

What he’s saying. Here’s some of what Sullivan said about SEO/GEO during his keynote at WordCamp US on Aug. 28:

• “…If you don’t know what GEO is, it’s like the latest acronym, but like I can’t keep track each day. There’s a different one. But SEO, search engine optimization; GEO, generative engine optimization.
• By the way, if you could dig it out when I was like in 2010, back when people were then panicking then, I was like, you know, SEO doesn’t mean you get into the blue links on Google. SEO means you understand how people search for content and then you understand how to have your content there. And it could be everything from people asking a question to a voice device to people just opening up something on their phone or whatever.
• So, the basic things have not changed. Good SEO is good GEO, or AEO, AIO, LLM SEO, or LMNOPO. So, they’re all fine. .What I’m trying to say is don’t panic. What you’ve been doing for search engines generally, and you may have thought of as SEO, is still perfectly fine and is still the things that you should be doing. … Good SEO is really having good content for people.
• … Are you saying write things in a clear way that people can understand? Cool. Like that’s just for people. All right.
• Are you saying write about things that are unique or interesting? Cool. That’s good for people. And all we [Google] try to do is understand how our signals can align with things that are good for people.”

CTR question. During the audience Q&A, blogger Angie Drake said her organic search click-through rate has plummeted since AI Overviews launched, even though impressions are up. She asks what Google will do to compensate publishers who are losing clicks, noting that her sponsors care about CTR. Sullivan’s response:

• Google has been unapologetic about zero-click factual answers (e.g., “What time is the Super Bowl?”) because users expect direct facts.
• Google is committed to rewarding unique, valuable content and supporting the open web.
• He said there will be “bumps along the way,” that feedback is heard within Google, and “it’s still part of what we’re going to be figuring out.”

Other takeaways. Some other data Sullivan shared:

• Google AI Overviews have led to a 10% increase in searches in the US and India.
• Google does “up to 5,000 launches” (a.k.a., updates) per year. The last figure we had was 4,725, so not much has changed since 2022.

The keynote. Here is the full video. I’ve linked to the takeaways portion of Sullivan’s presentation, where he discusses GEO. Drake asks her CTR question starting at 45:06.