Google’s Head of Search Shares 3 Rules Every Business Needs to Win in the AI Era

Google Search has undergone some serious changes that will likely have big implications for how businesses present themselves online—and how people find them. Google VP of Search Liz Reid says there are no quick tips to hack the system, but she does explain there are techniques that entrepreneurs and business-owners can use to optimize their digital footprint for AI search. Hint: it’s all about quality. When Reid took stage at the tech company’s annual developer’s conference in May, she spelled out her vision for a brand new world of Google Search. She touted the biggest change to Google’s iconic search bar in 25 years. That included baking AI into the search experience through conversational language search interface, contextual search history, and even search with video and images. She also teased agentic features that are still only slowly rolling out to select users. Given the fact that AI Mode rolled out in 2025, these changes are hardly the first to rock Google search in recent years. Entrepreneurs may be understandably confused about how best to optimize their online presence, as AI changes the game for keywords and SEO. Despite all these changes and perhaps a bit of confusion, there are still some best practices to keep in mind. Reid sat down with Inc. to share her advice for getting the best results out of Google search for your company. Go deep and niche Reid says the recent changes to Google Search have resulted in a higher overall volume of queries and a change in their nature. The incorporation of generative AI into Google Search means people are ditching keywords in favor of questions that are phrased the way they might actually ask them. They are getting specific, providing context, and asking follow-up questions. Because users are able to get more detailed about their questions and preferences, Reid says this new behavior offers a real opportunity for companies to seize upon what makes their product or expertise unique. She gives the example of searching for shoes, which in the era of keyword search may have weighted many shoes equally. Now users can specify that they want “eco and sustainable shoes,” made by a founder with certain specifications, Reid notes. “Now this opportunity for people to differentiate themselves and shine becomes much more possible than if you could have done it before with keywords,” she says. Of course, that means business owners have to work that individuality into content on their own websites, online storefronts, and social media. Make content with value Reid encourages entrepreneurs not only to identify what makes them unique, but create value around that. In e-commerce, that might mean uploading more detailed product information to Google’s Merchant Center, and including nuanced descriptions of products on a company’s website. For a service-based business, that can mean focusing on thought leadership through mediums like podcasts, articles, and blogs that dig deeper than surface level information people may already be able to find in a Google AI overview. “Sometimes you’ll have a bunch of sites in which they’re basically saying the same thing as 500 other sites. That’s not going to go,” she says. “People would rather go and see a site that doesn’t say this exact same thing as AI overviews, but now takes it down to a much deeper level.” And, of course, Reid says, content has to be interesting: “It’s not going to rank well if when people click on it, they hate it, and they leave right away. So the first thing you should figure out is, would anyone want to read it?” Be wary of GEO claims SEO, or search engine optimization, has quickly given way to what’s being called GEO, or generative engine optimization. And a number of businesses have already been built on the claim that they’ve unlocked the secret to GEO. Reid says entrepreneurs should be skeptical of such claims and check out Google’s own resource with best practices to help people optimize for generative AI. The site notes that SEO rules still apply, and offers more detail on what high quality content actually means. It also includes “myths” about AI search, including that websites must have machine readable .txt files, content written especially for AI, or specially structured data. “I would definitely encourage people to use the tips and to express some skepticism in what they’re reading from some folks, especially if there’s business incentives for them to claim they can solve all your problems,” she says. BY CHLOE AIELLO @CHLOBO_ILO