Quality of content and technical factors are popular. Certain points pose problems, such as chunking or the role of the brand.
The results of AI Mode and AI Overviews have been displayed for several months in the SERPs of a large number of countries around the world. There Mountain View firm recently published Here’s a guide to “Optimizing your website for generative AI features in Google Search.” She gives advice on how to get GEO on track. “The purpose [est] to improve the visibility of your website in search experiences using generative AI as in Google search in general”, specifies the document. Note that, as a small subtlety, the text does not speak of improving website traffic. Which could be seen as a way of defusing certain controversies, in particular due to the drop in the click-through rate for some time on a large number of sites, shown by different studies. According to the latest Digital Applied report and Similarweb data updated in May 2026, the zero-click search rate reached a new high at 64.82%. This figure is constantly increasing compared to 50% in 2019. It proves that Google’s AI now retains almost two thirds of users on the results page. The remaining 35% of clicks are increasingly for navigational and transactional queries, where user intent demands a destination.
Either way, we surveyed SEOs to find out what they think are the best Google tips in this guide, and which ones to take with a grain of salt.
Content, technique and diversity of locations requested
The SEOs interviewed agree that Google offers one of its best recommendations with the place of content in GEO. The Mountain View firm actually asks in its guide to create useful, reliable and people-first content.
For Adrien Saint-PaulFreelance SEO consultant, this is very good advice. “Google recommends creating non-generic and quality content, that is to say providing a unique point of view. I also think that it is important to structure the content well, to add media to illustrate or better respond to the intention, to focus on your content and not overdo it.”
David GroultHead of SEO at Noiise, agrees. “Google’s most useful advice ultimately remains the simplest: stop writing for “SEO” and start writing again to answer real questions. The content that stands out today in AI is often that which brings something concrete. Namely, an experience, an angle, a piece of data, an opinion, an identifiable expertise.” This goes in the direction ofstudy “The 2026 AEO / GEO Benchmarks Report” from Conductor and Deloitte. It demonstrates that generative engines massively favor content displaying strong first-hand experience (Experience) and recognized authority (Authoritativeness).
Another piece of advice from Google particularly approved by Adrien Saint-Paul: the importance of the technical aspect of GEO. “A technical structure must be clear,” maintains the SEO expert. “This is effectively accompanied by making it easier for Google robots to crawl and index pages. By not worrying about having perfect code. By a site that must display correctly and quickly. By allowing site users to distinguish the main content from the other elements of the page. And by avoiding duplicate content (duplication, cannibalization).” A point of view corroborated by the“The 2026 AI Crawling & Rendering Report” survey from ClickRank.ai. According to her, sites using Server-Side Rendering (SSR) or “clean” HTML architectures, without unnecessary code overhead, dominate the citations.
Finally, he agrees with the fact that Google recommends optimizing its Google Business Profile and using Merchant Center for e-commerce sites.
David Groult also approves of Google explaining that AIs no longer just look at the site. “They cross-reference what they find elsewhere: media, social networks, forums, opinions, quotes, videos… This is what led me to formalize the CURL model: Coherence, Uniqueness, Regularity, Legitimacy.” Let us indicate that this approach aims to impose its semantic authority on algorithms. She must convert their responses into qualified and lasting quotes for the brand.
Chunking, LLM files and the role of the brand in question
However, other recommendations are not really understood by Adrien Saint-Paul and David Groult. “Regarding chunking, Google says that it is not necessary to segment its content into small pieces,” breathes Adrien Saint-Paul. “I agree in general, it can even harm SEO. But, in certain cases, it can be useful to divide your content into several pages to better meet the intentions.” Another point, considered problematic, are the recommendations, considered paradoxical, concerning the llms.txt file. “The file is not used today and not even crawled by robots. But at the same time Google indicates that the file can be read in the Google Chrome documentation. One sentence in particular leaves doubt: “because the provision of the file is optional for the moment.” This would mean that Google could use it, or at least explore it in the future. In any case, if Google uses it, it would not act directly on the positioning of the pages but more on the exploration and therefore the indexing of a site.”
For his part, David Groult believes that the role of the brand does not appear enough in this guide. “In AI systems, reputation weighs enormously. Two pieces of content close in quality will not be treated the same if: one comes from a well-known brand or author, often cited, visible on several platforms and with solid trust signals.”
For him, many Google tips remain designed for classic search. “But generative engines work differently: reformulation of queries, crossing of sources, understanding of entities, synthesis of information… Optimizing a page around a keyword is no longer really enough. We need to work on the overall presence of the brand on the web. In my eyes, GEO can be summed up in a simple formula: GEO equals SEO multiplied by communication. Search engine optimization remains essential, but visibility in AI also depends on reputation, mentions, opinions, media, social networks and all the brand signals present on the web This is probably the main blind spot of the guide: it explains how to optimize content, but much less how to build a brand that AI will want to cite.
