The search landscape changed. Again.

If you’ve noticed your Google search results looking different lately, you’re not imagining it. AI Overviews, the AI-generated summaries that now appear at the top of search results, already reach over two billion users globally. Google’s newer AI Mode takes it even further, replacing the traditional results page with a full conversational AI interface.

For business owners, this raises an uncomfortable question: if AI is answering the search query before anyone clicks, where does that leave your website? The short answer is that it doesn’t leave you out. But it does change what you need to do to stay visible. And for a long time, no one had Google’s official word on what that actually looked like.

Now they do.

By the numbers

Click-through rates at position one in Google Search dropped from 27% to 11% by early 2026, driven by AI features that answer queries directly on the results page. Getting featured inside those AI responses is the new position one.

What are AEO and GEO? And why does Google say they’re both just SEO?

Over the past two years, the SEO industry generated a wave of new terminology. “AEO” stands for Answer Engine Optimisation. The idea: search is becoming a question-and-answer machine, so optimise for that. “GEO” stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. The idea: AI is generating search results, so you need a separate strategy for that too.

Google looked at both terms and said, essentially: they’re just SEO.

“From Google Search’s perspective, optimising for generative AI search is optimising for the search experience, and thus still SEO.” — Google’s official guide, May 2026

This matters because a lot of agencies and tools have been selling AEO and GEO as entirely separate disciplines requiring separate strategies, separate technical setups, and separate budgets. Google’s position: the same principles that made your site rank well before are the same principles that get you featured in AI Overviews and AI Mode. There is no parallel universe of AI SEO. There is just SEO, done well.

The reason this works technically is how Google’s AI features are built. They use something called Retrieval-Augmented Generation, or RAG. When someone asks a question, Google’s AI doesn’t pull the answer from thin air. It runs a search against the same web index it’s always used, retrieves the most relevant, highest-quality pages, then uses those to generate its response. So if your site ranks in traditional search, it has a path into AI search too.

The key takeaways, in plain English

Here’s what Google’s guide actually recommends. No jargon.

  • 1
    Create content no one else has. Google was direct about this being the single most important factor. Not keyword density. Not structured data. Not AI-specific formatting. Content that comes from genuine experience, a real point of view, or expertise you’ve actually earned. A review written from having used a product beats a summary of what other reviews say. Your opinion as a tradie with 15 years on the tools beats generic advice that any AI could generate.
  • 2
    Stop producing commodity content. Google specifically called out “7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers” as an example of what not to do. Content that is common knowledge, restates what everyone else is already saying, or could easily be produced by an AI is exactly what AI search doesn’t need more of. It already knows. You need to say something the AI can’t say.
  • 3
    Your technical SEO still matters, a lot. Google’s AI features can only use pages that are already indexed. If your site has crawl issues, slow load times, poor mobile experience, or duplicate content, you’re not getting in front of AI search. The same technical foundations that helped you rank in 2019 still matter in 2026.
  • 4
    Local businesses have a specific opportunity. AI responses increasingly pull in local business information, product listings, and Google Business Profile data. If you’re a local service business and your Google Business Profile is incomplete or out of date, you’re handing visibility to a competitor.
  • 5
    Images and video are becoming more important, not less. AI-generated responses can now surface images and video alongside text. If your site has high-quality visual content and it’s properly optimised, you have more ways to appear in results, not fewer.

What you can stop worrying about

The guide also addresses a list of widely circulated tactics that Google says you don’t need. This is worth paying attention to, because some of these have been sold hard by vendors over the past 12 months.

Stop doing this

Creating llms.txt files or other AI-specific markup. Google won’t treat them specially.

Stop doing this

“Chunking” content into tiny pieces for AI readability. Google’s systems understand full pages.

Stop doing this

Rewriting your content specifically for AI systems. Write for people. The AI understands synonyms and context.

Stop doing this

Buying or manufacturing inauthentic “mentions” to game AI results. Google’s spam systems apply here too.

Keep doing this

Using structured data as part of your overall SEO strategy. It still helps with rich results.

Keep doing this

Foundational technical SEO: fast pages, clean crawlability, mobile-first, and no duplicate content.

What this means for Australian small businesses right now

If you’re running a trade business, a clinic, a retail shop, or a professional service in Australia, here’s the honest reality: most of your competitors are still doing SEO the old way. Generic blog posts, keyword stuffing, and content that says nothing the searcher couldn’t have found themselves in three seconds. That’s exactly what AI search is designed to skip over.

The businesses that will win in AI search are the ones with real expertise, genuinely useful content, and a solid technical foundation. That’s not a new strategy. It’s the right strategy, done properly, now more important than ever.

There’s also a timing reality. AI Overviews are already live in Australia. AI Mode is expanding. The position zero that once meant the top of the search results page now means being cited inside the AI response itself. That shift is happening whether your strategy is ready for it or not.

Google confirmed what strong AI SEO strategy has always looked like: earn your authority through expertise, keep your technical house in order, and create content that genuinely serves the person searching. There’s no shortcut that gets you there. But there’s a clear path if you’re willing to take it seriously.

The businesses that start now have a real advantage. The ones that wait are going to be playing catch-up against competitors who got there first.