AI Search
Google’s Danny Sullivan and John Mueller spoke on the Search Off the Record podcast about whether hiring an AEO/GEO or buying an AI-optimization tool is any different than hiring an SEO or buying an SEO tool. In short, the advice is the same – both Googlers said.
Danny mentioned the Google documentation on hiring an SEO and said “it is going to be very similar to what we’ve already been saying…” He then ran through what Google said about hiring an SEO, about buying an SEO tool and that it is all the same with GEO/AEO and LLMs.
He reiterates that while you can hire an SEO and that SEO can help you, it is not required. He said there are plenty of sites succeed in search and don’t even think about SEO. He gives the line about, “I’m just going to think about what I want to write about for people, and I’m going to do that.” Write for humans, for people, and not for LLMs.
Google won’t recommend a specific SEO, so read Google’s general guides and documentation on SEO. This way when or if you hire one, you know the questions to ask.
Basically, Google said you need to understand SEO and how Google sees SEO, before you do it yourself, hire an SEO company or evaluate an SEO tool. It doesn’t mean you need to do all the SEO work yourself but you need to understand it and what the guardrails are and how it works.
Google is not saying you can’t hire third-party SEOs or use third-party tools, Google is saying you can do that, but you should understand what Google is saying so you can hire the best SEO or buy the best tool for you, Danny explained.
“Anyway, SEOs and SEO tools can be helpful, but they are not required,” he said.
Danny then spoke about tools that claim to write content better. But claims, like with anything – not just in SEO – claims are simply claims and no one can guarantee anything.
He added that there are even some SEO tools and firms that recommend things against Google’s guidance, Sullivan added. If you do things against Google’s guidance, you can get a spam action. So make sure to ask questions before you buy something or hire someone.
Finally he added that some tools can focus too much on ranking factors versus what is useful to humans and Sullivan said, “I get it.” He then explains why this makes sense but also adds why this is not a great thing to focus on. Tools have evolved but you keep focusing on individual things and it leads you to getting away from the bigger picture. John Mueller specifically mentioned a “spam grade” and “domain grade” and how that leads people the wrong way, sometimes.
Danny Sullivan said, “Yeah, one of my favorite things would always be if it’s not really favorite, it’s just kind of sad. Like, “I don’t understand. I have domain score 89. How am I not doing better?” And it’s like, “I have Google Domain score 89.” Like, “Well, it’s not our domain score. We don’t have that.” No, it’s not even a thing, but okay.”
Here is that podcast:
Forum discussion at X.
The content at the Search Engine Roundtable are the sole opinion of the authors and in no way reflect views of RustyBrick ®, Inc
Copyright © 1994-2026 RustyBrick ®, Inc. Web Development All Rights Reserved.
This work by Search Engine Roundtable is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Creative Commons License and YouTube videos under YouTube’s ToS.
