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Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search

User preferences are rapidly evolving and people are increasingly gravitating to generative AI<br>experiences to help them find information. As we upgrade Search to meet these changing expectations,<br>this transformation offers new opportunities to reach people who may be more inclined to engage<br>with your site, spend more time with your content, or even convert by becoming a subscriber or<br>making a purchase. This guide is for website owners looking for official best practices from Google<br>Search on how to succeed in generative AI features in Google Search (such as AI Overviews and AI<br>Mode).

Is SEO still relevant for generative AI search?

In short, yes! The best practices for SEO continue to be<br>relevant because our generative AI features on Google Search are rooted in our core Search ranking<br>and quality systems. These features rely on AI techniques to highlight content from our Search<br>index, such as:

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) : A technique (also known as grounding)<br>used to improve the quality, accuracy, and freshness of AI responses by relying on our core<br>Search ranking systems to retrieve relevant, up-to-date web pages from our Search index. Our<br>systems then review the specific information from those retrieved pages to generate a more<br>reliable and helpful response, showing prominent, clickable links to relevant web pages that<br>support the information in the response.

Query fan-out : A set of concurrent, related queries generated by the model to<br>request more information and fetch additional relevant search results to address the user's<br>query. For example, if the original user's query is "how to fix a lawn that's full of weeds",<br>fanout queries might include "best herbicides for lawns", "remove weeds without chemicals", and<br>"how to prevent weeds in lawn".

What about "AEO" and "GEO"? "AEO" stands for "answer engine optimization" and<br>"GEO" for "generative engine optimization". These are both terms you may see used to describe work<br>specifically focused on improving visibility in AI search experiences. From Google Search's<br>perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus<br>still SEO.

Apply foundational SEO best practices to generative AI search

This section focuses on reframing SEO best practices to understand what matters most to AI systems<br>today and how you can implement them in the context of generative AI search, and ultimately with<br>the goal of improving your website's visibility in both generative AI search experiences and Google<br>Search overall.

Create valuable, non-commodity content for your audience

Creating content that people find unique, compelling, and useful will likely influence your<br>website's presence in generative AI search in the long run more than any of the other suggestions<br>in this guide. While "unique, valuable, good content" can mean different things to different<br>people, content like this generally shares some common attributes, such as:

Providing a unique point of view : Our AI systems take a look at a variety of<br>sources, so it can be helpful to have a unique viewpoint that stands out. For example, a<br>first-hand review provides a unique perspective based on personal experience, whereas a summary<br>of existing content simply restates information already available elsewhere. Create the content<br>yourself based on what you know about the topic, and consider what in-depth experience you can<br>bring to your content. Don't just recycle what others on the internet have already said, or<br>could easily be produced by a generative AI model.

Creating non-commodity content that's<br>helpful, reliable, and people-first:<br>Be sure that you're writing non-commodity content that your readers will find helpful and<br>reliable. Commodity content (for example, something like "7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers") is<br>often based on common knowledge, which could originate from anyone, and typically adds little<br>unique insight for readers. In contrast, non-commodity content (such as "Why We Waived the<br>Inspection & Saved Money: A Look Inside the Sewer Line") provides unique expert or<br>experienced takes that go beyond common knowledge and the ordinary.

Organizing content in a way that helps your readers : Write content for your<br>human audience and make sure the content is well written and easy to follow. People generally<br>appreciate it when web pages are organized by paragraphs and sections, along with headings that<br>provide a clear structure to navigate content.

Add high-quality images and video : Many people appreciate finding images...