Google’s Danny Sullivan: SEO for AI is still SEO

Google Search’s Danny Sullivan and John Mueller pushed back again on the idea that brands need a separate AI SEO strategy during the latest Search Off the Record episode.

Sullivan’s point is simple: the acronyms keep changing (GEO, AEO, etc.), but the advice doesn’t: 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 backfire and distract you from making content people actually like.

Google says the north star hasn’t moved. Sullivan said Google aims to reward content made for people, not for search algorithms or for LLMs. If you’re already doing that, he said, you’re “ahead” as formats continue to 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 speed up 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.
• Sites built on predictable, repeatable answers (e.g., word game solutions) are vulnerable when that information is given 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 said structured data helps, but it isn’t decisive. Sullivan said it’s not “structured data and you win AI.” It simply 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.
• Clicks alone don’t tell the full story anymore – especially as AI Overviews and conversational results guide users before they ever visit a site.
• Focus on quality clicks and quality conversions over volume (and be clear on what a conversion actually is).
• Sullivan noted that everyone defines “conversion” differently, which makes it hard for Google to surface that kind of value inside Search Console.

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 challenge: 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.
• Sullivan said Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) isn’t separate from SEO – it’s a subset of it. SEO has always been about understanding how people look for information and how systems surface it.
• Optimizing for AI answers is conceptually no different from optimizing for local results, voice search, or other formats. The fundamentals still apply.

What to do now, according to Google. Based on 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