Google VP Reveals Shocking Truth About the Hidden Link Between SEO and AI Search Optimization
Ever wonder if your business can charm Google’s AI like it once did the old-school search algorithms? Turns out, the game isn’t just about keyword stuffing or backlinks anymore. According to Robby Stein, Google’s VP of Product for Search, while the classic SEO playbook still holds water, AI adds its own wild twist—bringing in layers of context, reputation, and even a dash of human-like reasoning. Imagine investing in PR not just to catch human eyeballs but to catch the AI’s attention—sounds a bit like courting an elusive digital Cupid, right? Stein explains how AI cleverly “Googles” under the hood, blending traditional search, massive knowledge bases, and real-time info to figure out who deserves to be recommended, not just ranked. This subtle shift means your site’s gotta be more than helpful—it needs to speak the AI’s nuanced language, especially as queries get more complex and life-centric. Still, don’t toss out your trusty tools just yet; think Google Trends and Search Console—they’re your secret weapons for decoding this brave new world. So, are we talking about SEO 2.0 or just SEO with a fancy AI hat? Well, there’s a hefty overlap, but the stakes and strategies are evolving fast. Hold onto your keyboards—ranking is now about getting AI to vouch for you. Curious how to navigate this shifting landscape? LEARN MORE.
Want your business to show up in Google’s AI-driven results? The same principles that help you rank in Google Search still matter – but AI introduces new dimensions of context, reputation, and reasoning, according to Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search.
PR for AI. In an interview with Marina Mogilko of Silicon Valley Girl, Stein said AI “thinks a lot like a person would,” and agreed with her assessment that you’re investing in PR not for people to see it, but for AI. Stein said:
- “If you’re a business and you’re mentioned in top business lists or from a public article that lots of people end up finding, those kinds of things become useful for the AI to find.”
- AI Mode is “literally using Google Search as a tool, like doing Googling under the hood and then finding relevant information and it can both obviously do a standard Google search and understand the web results, but also tap into the knowledge bases and real-time info systems at Google.”
SEO overlap. Stein talked a bit about how AI optimization strategies differ from traditional SEO:
- “And so in the same way that you would optimize your website and think about how do I make helpful, clear information for people. So people search for a certain topic, my website’s really helpful for that. Think of an AI doing that search now. And then knowing, for that query, here are the best websites given that question. [That now] will come into the context window of the model. And so when it renders a response and provides all of these links for you to go deeper, that website’s more likely to show up. And so it’s a lot of that standard best practices around building great content really do apply in the AI age for sure.”
So is it (GEO, AEO, or whatever we end up calling AI search optimization) basically the same as SEO? Stein said:
- “There’s a lot of overlap. I think maybe one added nuance is that the kinds of questions people ask AI are increasingly complicated and they tend to be in different spaces.
- “And so if you think about what people use AI for, a lot of it is how-to for complicated things or for purchase decisions or for advice about life things. So people who are creating content in those areas like if I were them, I would be a student of understanding the use cases of AI and where what are growing in those use cases. I think there’s been some studies that have done around what how people use these products and AI. It was really interesting to understand.”
Tools still matter. Stein pointed to Google Trends, Ads, and Search Console as underused resources for understanding new types of search behavior.
- “Google Trends is a really useful thing. I actually think people really underutilize that.”
Why we care. Google Search is continuing to evolve. So, too, is SEO. Even Stein seemed to acknowledge that it’s not “just SEO” that matters in the era of AI Overviews and AI Mode, despite there being a lot of overlap. Because you are no longer just optimizing to be ranked – you’re optimizing to be recommended.
The interview. Google’s AI Search Expert: How to Get Ahead Before AI Changes Everything
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