[Google Search Center Official Announcement] How to Optimize Your Website for Google AI Search

Hello. I'm Kim In-young, a new Content Growth Marketer at Elifunt.☺️

I gained experience in corporate organic marketing while marketing edutech solutions for public institutions. During the process of analyzing customer data, I became interested in what information customers were looking for and what keywords they used to find their sites. This interest naturally led me to SEO, and I eventually joined Elifunt.

It was already my second week on the team, and while I was frantically busy handling everything from learning SEO and GEO to providing practical support, I was given a task. It was to plan content for a website optimization guide based on the Generative AI features announced by Google Search Center on May 21st.

As I was learning various methodologies from SEO to GEO and feeling confused about which standards to follow, this guide felt like a ray of light in the fog!

For those of you who, like me, want to establish basic GEO principles, I the topic of "Optimizing Your Website for Google Search'sGenerative AI Features." 🥸

There are no tips or technical cheat codes for AI search exposure.

The core of the AI ​​search optimization guidelines officially announced by Google “valuable and differentiated content”.

By focusing on 'user-centric content' that visitors find useful and satisfying when they enter our website, you can simplify the seemingly complex GEO approach. Of course, by establishing and maintaining a clear technical structure!

However, it is still difficult to put into practice. Since every brand has a different target audience and business nature, we must redefine our own standards for each and every aspect, such as 'at which prompts should we be selected,' 'how to create solid evidence worthy of citation,' and 'how to prove performance in an environment where clicks are declining.'

5 Misconceptions About Google AI Search Optimization

The Google Search Center gave significant weight to what not to do as much as what to do, directly clarifying market misconceptions surrounding AI search exposure. Since Google's generative AI search is also based on existing core search ranking and quality systems, it emphasized once again that correcting market misunderstandings and faithfully following SEO recommendations is of the utmost importance

As generative AI search evolves, industry theories continue to evolve. Consequently, a wide variety of strategies for AI search visibility are emerging. Given that Google directly provides AI search services, we expect this guide document to serve as a compass.

Let's take a look at the 5 unnecessary tasks in AI search optimization, one by one.

1. Is AI-specific markup like LLMS.txt necessary?

There has been quite a heated debate in the industry regarding the use of llms.txt. The conclusion, however, is not important, at least not at Google. On May 21, the Google Search Center announced that Google AI Search (AI Overview) does not officially support llms.txt and that there is no need to create separate machine-readable files or markup.

However, Google's developer guide without llms.txt, agents may spend more crawling time to understand the site structure and content. Given that this can improve information accessibility on other AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, it is still a time for an experimental approach rather than drawing conclusions.

2. Will content chunking help increase AI citations?

There is no need to break content into small pieces to help AI understand it better . This is because even if a single page contains multiple topics, the AI ​​can grasp the context and show the most relevant parts to the user. (Of course, depending on the target audience and topic, short text may be effective, or conversely, longer text may be easier to read.)

3. Is content that accurately utilizes keywords necessary?

Google's AI system understands synonyms and the general meaning of user search intent. connect related content even if the exact same words do not exist. Therefore, there is no need to rewrite content simply because you lack long-tail keywords or cannot know all the paths users take to find your content.

4. Should we mass-produce content to increase brand mentions?

Strategies to artificially increase brand mentions across the web are not as effective as expected. This is because Google's core ranking system is designed to prioritize user-centric content and filter out meaningless spam

Google Spam Policy Items	Examples of insincere comments
Link spam	The act of sending a product to someone in exchange for writing a post about the product and including a link
User-generated spam	Leaving spam comments and posts on forums, blogs, etc
Exploiting extended content	Generating a large volume of pages without creating value for users using generative AI tools or other similar tools
Exploiting site recognition	If a brand is mentioned by posting third-party promotional content that is irrelevant to the site's topic
Repetition of attraction keywords	When using the same words or phrases that are repeated so frequently that it feels unnatural

5. Can GEO performance be achieved by applying only structured data (schema markup)?

You do not need to add special schema markup for GEO. However, since well-structured existing schema markup helps with exposure in Google Search rich results, to continue maintaining it as part of your overall SEO strategy.

However, since this guide is based on Google's standards, other major LLM channels such as ChatGPT and Claude may have different criteria for collecting information and generating answers. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously perform optimization work tailored to the specific characteristics of each channel

In that case, what should marketers prepare right now, today?

For those who understand the theory but are unsure how to apply it in practice, the Elifunt team has prepared a guide that you can use immediately in the field. If you are curious about how to make AI search engines recognize your brand as a trusted source, please check out the content below first!

I recommend this to people like this!	title
Marketers who want to grasp a step-by-step execution guide at a glance , from the concept of the AI ​​search era to specific practical strategies and performance measurement	From Beginners to Experts! A Practical GEO Marketing Guide for Everyone (2026)
For those who need practical data analysis tips to track performance in AI search	How are you measuring GEO performance? I personally tried using a domestic AI visibility analysis tool
For those who want to learn the execution standards of brands discovered and selected by AI based on global research data	100 Days of Global GEO Insight Research: 7 Conditions of Brands That AI Actually Cite
to clearly understand the difference between traditional SEO 'keyword search volume' and the AI ​​era's 'prompt volume' and reduce errors in data interpretation	Why You Should Not Trust the Numbers Shown by GEO Tools Like Search Volume: What Is Prompt Volume?
Marketers who want to easily learn technical practices (structured data) that make AI recognize a brand as a reliable source	So what on earth is schema markup? A comprehensive guide for marketers (2026)

Brands selected in AI search are looking at these metrics.

Traditional metrics centered on keyword search volume cannot measure performance in the AI ​​era. That is why the Elifunt team has prepared this! This We summarize the essential information needed for your brand's GEO implementation and performance measurement, ranging from the concept and strategy design of GEO to actual success stories and methods for verifying AI exposure results

If you want to assess your brand's current position in the AI ​​search environment and identify areas for improvement, check out the immediately applicable GEO action strategies at this seminar! (※Early bird lowest price offer available until June 18 (Thu))

[GEO Roadmap 2026] What Are Brands Being Chosen in AI Search Measuring?

• 📅 Date & Time: July 2, 2026 (Thu) 13:00–17:00
• 📍 Venue: Maru 180 Event Hall B1, 180 Yeoksam-ro, Gangnam-gu
• 👥 Target: Strategy planning managers and leaders at major corporations and key brands

👉Register for the seminar