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Google hosted a Search Central Live event in Madrid, Spain, where they made a bunch of announcements in their corporate language. some made sense, some were just loops, not really clear. I’ll share those announcements, tell you what they actually mean.
Announcement #1:
Theme of the event: “Search is not a solved problem.”
New platforms are emerging, new ways of search are developing, user preferences are shifting—so Google has to keep updating its strategy.
Corporate speak? Maybe.
Real meaning? Google is basically saying:
“Hey folks, don’t blame us for launching AI Overviews. People have gotten lazy—they don’t want to click on links in search results and read full articles anymore. Not everyone wants to become a scholar—they just want quick answers. If we don’t give them, they’ll switch to ChatGPT. That’s why we’re rolling out AI Overviews.”
Announcement #2:
Google clarified that if a webpage’s entire or majority of its main content is created without effort, without value addition, and without originality—it won’t be accepted.
Whether that content is AI-written, written by a human, or created via automation—if it’s lazy, it’s a no-go. This guidance is for quality raters, but it’s also being applied in Google’s algorithms.
Not just text, but also images, audio, video—if lazily or automatically generated—Google won’t accept it.
Note 1: Earlier Google said “using AI to create content is not banned, just make it useful.”
Now the language feels way stricter.
Note 2: The same AI Overviews that Google is showing are also AI-generated!
So, if they can use AI for content, why not us? Why this discrimination?
Announcement #3:
Google is focusing more on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). In this era of fakeness, they want first-hand experience, real-world expertise, provable authority, and spotless trustworthiness.
What does that mean for your site?
If you’re doing SEO for a cancer doctor’s website, the author of the content should not be listed as “admin.” It should be the doctor’s real name. The author’s profile should contain licenses, degrees, awards, social media links—everything.
Don’t link to the clinic’s Instagram—link to the doctor’s personal profile. If the doctor has been published in news/media, include screenshots and links. Include video testimonials from patients on a dedicated page, and each video should have its own page. Prove the doctor is trustworthy—at least to Google.
Google also bragged a little:
They said, “We still send traffic to websites.”
But let’s be real—Google is keeping more traffic for itself now. It’s not just a referrer, it’s a competitor to websites.
As a business, I understand why they’re doing it—it works for them.
But at least don’t brag about sending traffic while eating half of it yourself.
Announcement #4:
Beloved John Mueller showed a graphic explaining how Google generates AI Overviews.
Oh, and by the way—Google said:
“You don’t need to optimize content to appear in AI Overviews.”
Okay… I didn’t go to Stanford. I’m not as smart as Google engineers.
But does that mean Google is saying:
“We are generating AI Overviews randomly, so optimization is pointless?”
Either they don’t know how it works
or they don’t want us to figure it out, because if we do, the truth might come out.
Also, Google says AI Overview clicks and impressions are already in Search Console data—but not shown separately.
Wonder why? Because if they showed how 1 million impressions got only 8-9 clicks, people would know what’s really happening with these AI Overviews.
Announcement #5:
If you don’t want your website content to appear in AI Overviews,
you can use the no-snippet meta tag on a page-level.
Also, if you don’t want Google’s AI models to use your content for training,
you can disallow the “Google-Extended” bot in your robots.txt.
But honestly?
It might be too late. Their model is already super smart—it’s writing code, poems, stories, even excuses and shayari. What can we hide now?
Announcement #6:
Schema data matters a lot in the AI world. Google wants it.
We content creators are tired—first we write, then we add schema markup, and now you’re digesting our content to generate AI Overviews?
At least tell us how many times our content appeared in AI Overviews, and how many clicks we got. Then I’ll personally teach schema tutorials for free!
Announcement #7:
Google Discover Feed is coming to desktop now.
This is a great update—especially for news websites.
But here’s the truth:
95% of traffic to news websites comes from mobile anyway.
Desktop will give just a 5–10% bump. Nice side dish, but not a game-changer.
Also, Google promises that AI Overviews won’t show in Discover Feed—for now.
But in the future? No guarantees.
And we all know how Google keeps its promises…
Two More Small Updates:
- Search Console API now shows estimated last 24 hours’ data.
They started showing this in the UI earlier, now it’s in the API too.
I don’t trust this data much—it’s just an estimate. But still, something is better than nothing. - Google shed some light on how they add features to Search Console.
I don’t fully agree with their logic.
We SEOs are asking for real data—like how many clicks featured snippets got.
Still waiting for that. And AI Overviews? No impression or click data yet.
What This All Means For Your SEO Strategy
Taking all these announcements together, here’s what you should be focusing on:
- Double down on demonstrable E-E-A-T signals
- Invest in comprehensive author profiles
- Document expertise and credentials extensively
- Build genuine authority signals both on and off your site
- Prioritize truly original content
- Conduct original research
- Provide unique insights and analysis
- Create content that goes beyond what AI can readily generate
- Implement robust schema markup
- Focus on the schema types most relevant to your content
- Ensure accuracy and completeness
- Regularly test and validate implementation
- Evaluate content control options
- Decide which content should be excluded from AI Overviews
- Consider the traffic implications of opting out
- Implement the appropriate technical solutions
- Monitor performance metrics closely
- Watch for changes in CTR across different query types
- Pay attention to engagement metrics beyond just clicks
- Look for patterns in which content still generates clicks despite AI Overviews
Final Thoughts
That’s all the news from Search Central Live, Madrid.
I’m happy that after all the dead Search Central Lives of 2024, this one actually gave us some information.
It’s our job to critique Google—they’re the biggest company out there, and our whole business depends on them. But still, if they hear some of our feedback, maybe they’ll improve too.
After all, there’s no other search engine rising to take its place—we’re all still optimizing for Google. Let’s keep working to make it better.
Not sure how to implement these SEO changes? Book a free 15-minute consultation with the Peakontech team to discuss your specific situation
