Tom Hall

There has been a rush to rebrand SEO with the introduction of AI and LLMs.

At this point, we have lost track of the number of acronyms. AEO. GEO. Answer optimisation. AIO visibility. Prompt optimisation.

None of this matters. From Google’s perspective, optimising for generative AI search is still part of optimising for search. Google says that AEO and GEO may be terms people use, but for Google Search, this work is still at its core SEO.

That matters for B2B marketers because it means you do not need to abandon your existing search strategy. But you may need to be more honest about whether that strategy is good enough.

A page that targets a keyword is no longer enough.

A page needs to answer the real question behind the search. It needs to be clear, useful and credible. It needs to help a buyer make progress. And increasingly, it needs to offer something that is not already being said everywhere else.

The real problem is commodity content

One of the strongest parts of Google’s guidance is its focus on non-commodity content.

Google encourages content that includes original perspectives, first-hand experience, expert insight, useful examples and information that goes beyond common knowledge. It also warns against simply recycling what others have already said.

This should make many B2B brands uncomfortable, because a lot of B2B content is commodity content.

The “ultimate guide” that says nothing ultimate.
The sector page that swaps one industry name for another.
The blog that summarises what everyone already knows.
The service page that explains the service, but not why the buyer should care.
The thought leadership article with no actual thought in it.

This content may have been acceptable when the aim was to rank for a keyword and capture a lead, but AI search has changed the level of competition and changed the way in which buyers and decision makers will find your content.

If Google’s AI systems are comparing, summarising and selecting from multiple sources, bland content gives them very little reason to choose you. It also gives your buyer very little reason to trust you.

For B2B brands, the answer is not simply to publish more. It is to publish more of what only you can credibly say.

That might include:

• Learnings from real client work
• Common mistakes your team sees in the market
• Honest buying advice
• Sector specific examples
• Practical comparisons
• Real data from your own research, platform or customers

This is where content marketing and SEO become much more closely connected. Content needs to rank, yes. But it also needs to prove why your business deserves to be considered.

AI search rewards useful answers, not hidden answers

B2B marketers have historically been comfortable hiding the good stuff. Pricing is hidden, comparison information is hidden, the most useful guides are gated, and the clearest explanations are saved for sales calls.

That approach was already creating friction. In AI search, it becomes a bigger problem.

Buyers are increasingly forming opinions before they even visit your website, speak to sales or submit a form. If generative AI results help users compare options, understand risks and narrow down suppliers, then your content needs to provide the information that gets you into that conversation.

That does not mean every page needs to become a giant FAQ. It means your content needs to answer the questions buyers actually care about:

• Is this the right solution for our problem?
• Is this provider credible?
• What makes them different?
• What are the risks?
• How much effort is involved?
• What does success look like?
• What should we compare them against?

The brands that answer these questions clearly will have an advantage. The brands that hide behind vague copy and gated PDFs may not even make the shortlist.

This is also why we have been talking more about demand capture in the age of AI search. If buyers are making decisions earlier, your best answers need to be visible earlier too.

Technical SEO still matters

There is a temptation to treat AI search as purely a content challenge.

It is not.

Google is clear that the way search finds and processes your pages remains central to how its AI systems access your content. Pages need to be fast, crawlable, indexable and eligible to appear in Google Search.

That means the traditional SEO foundations still matter:

• Crawlability
• Indexation of key pages
• Internal linking between pages and keyword focused anchor text
• Reducing duplicate content
• Less reliance on JavaScript rendering
• Improved page experience
• Structured data where appropriate
• Clear semantic HTML and page structure

A brilliant piece of content is not much use if Google cannot access it, render it or confidently include it in search results.

For local and ecommerce businesses, the same principle applies beyond the website. Google recommends keeping Google Business Profile information, Merchant Centre feeds, product data and business details accurate and up to date.

AI visibility is not just a content project.

It is a website quality project, and it is exactly why strong technical search engine optimisation still matters.

Do not create a page for every AI prompt

One of the worst possible responses to AI search would be creating hundreds of thin pages for every possible prompt, keyword variation or question.

If AI systems generate related searches to answer a broader query, some marketers will assume they need a separate page for every one of those searches.

They do not.

Google specifically warns against creating separate content for every possible search variation to manipulate rankings or generative AI responses. It also says this can fall foul of its scaled content abuse policy.

A better approach is to build fewer, stronger pages that cover important topics properly. Google and AI tools are working from real meaning, not simple pattern matching, so one clear high-quality version of your content is all you really need.

The aim is not to match every query word for word. The aim is to become one of the best available sources for the underlying question.

What should B2B marketers do now?

Google’s guide is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to improve.

For most B2B organisations, the priorities are clear:

1. Review priority pages for clarity, usefulness and credibility.
2. Replace generic copy with expert insight and real examples.
3. Make important answers easy to find, read and extract.
4. Fix crawl, indexation and page experience issues.
5. Consolidate thin or duplicate content.
6. Keep product, service and business information accurate.
7. Audit existing content against different buyer journey stages – find, and fill, the gaps.
8. Answer the awkward buyer questions earlier on in the journey.

The bigger point is simple: do not optimise for AI instead of buyers. Optimise for buyers in a way that AI systems can find, understand and trust.

Google’s AI search guide does not replace SEO, it raises the bar for it which can only be a good thing. AI search will not reward brands for simply publishing more, it will reward brands for being worth finding.