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At a recent Search Central Live Conference, Google Search Specialists Gary Illyes and Cherry Sireetorn Prommawin showed us how AI affects Google search and doesn't overturn the basic rules of SEO.
Their comments, shared by longtime Google product expert Kenichi Suzuki on LinkedIn, revealed that new AI features such as AI overview and AI modes are built on the same infrastructure as traditional Google searches.
According to Illyes and Prommawin, core systems such as GoogleBot, search indexes and ranking algorithms are causing AI-powered results. According to Illyes and Prommawin, the same SEO principles apply. There's no need to rethink your approach or create another “AI SEO” strategy. As long as your site follows Google's established quality guidelines, nothing will change.
Illyes also emphasized that Google does not attempt to distinguish between human and AI-generated content. What's important is whether the content is high quality, convenient and reliable. If the materials produced in AI meet these criteria, that's fine.
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AI is involved at every stage of Google search
Illyes and Prommawin explained that AI models are involved in every part of the search process. During crawling, AI can help you decide when to get your website. In the case of indexing, the BERT language model analyzes text to understand its meaning, excludes pages, and Google considers its value less.
Spambrain is used to catch spam, but Rankbrain helps interpret new, unusual search queries and provide relevant results even for questions that Google has never seen before. MultiTask Unified Model (Mum) brings together information in a variety of formats, including text, images, and videos.
The AI overview is slightly different at the end of the search process. Here, Google breaks down the user's queries into focus sub-Queries (“Query Fan-Out”) and sends them in parallel to explore different angles. The generated summary is checked against the index in a “ground” process designed to fact-check the output to reduce hallucinations.
The technical rules of SEO remain the same, but the impact is reduced
Nevertheless, recent Pew Research Center research challenges Google's claim that SEO remains equally important. When an AI Summary appears in the search, the normal results click-through rate drops to 8%, down from 15% without AI Summary. Only 1% of users click directly on the source link in the overview.
Other studies have shown the same trend. The technical details of SEO have not changed, but the real world impact is reduced as users rely on AI-generated answers and fewer external sites visits. For publishers, retailers, and content creators, this means lower reach and visibility. Not because SEO rules have changed, but because they are at the heart of the traditional web.
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