Google Search Central Live took place on March 20, 2025, in New York City. Between artificial intelligence and SEO, the event revealed some secrets! Wondering how Google is shaking things up again with its new approaches? Sit back and relax, we’ll tell you all about it.
Key points:
- Google’s big search event gave pride of place to AI.
- Danny Sullivan explained how AI Overviews and AI Mode work.
- We now understand why the links in the AI responses have nothing to do with the pages positioned in Google.
AI Overviews: When Artificial Intelligence Redefines Research
One of the key topics of this edition was the use of AI Overviews, summaries generated by artificial intelligence that are changing the way search results are presented. Search is no longer limited to the first 10 blue results!
If you’ve ever tried AI Overviews, you’ll have noticed that the sources cited differ from Google’s 10 blue links. According to Danny Sullivan, this is due to predictive summarization and grounding links.
Predictive summaries
These summaries don’t just answer a specific query. They also anticipate your next questions. It’s like asking a question about the weather and receiving relevant links to your city’s 10-day forecast.
Danny Sullivan explains: The model used for AI Overviews is a comprehensive view that goes beyond the top Google results. It involves understanding a large number of results and result variations to provide a predictive summary in response to the search.
Grounding links
Sullivan also explained the importance of grounding links, the links cited as sources in the AI Overviews response.
These links allow you to verify the information in a single paragraph within Google’s full response. This is why they differ from Google’s first results: they address a subtopic of the user’s search and are therefore more specific and contextualized.
LLM + Search + RAG + Grounding = figures out where the information is actually mentioned, then show the links in the response.
In AIO and AI Mode, you see links attached.
This is only possible because of grounding – it confirms that the information is actually there. pic.twitter.com/lLYObhkydd
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) March 20, 2025
Query Fan-Out: Diversity at the Service of Results
During this conference, another intriguing concept was introduced: query fan-out. A technique at the heart of Google’s latest innovation: AI Mode.
What exactly is it?
Query fan-out aims to understand the synonyms and overall meanings of a query. The goal? To provide you with more relevant results (as always). This process broadens the search by taking into account a multitude of related queries, already addressed at Abondance with the release of “AI mode”:
As the response is generated, advanced models are now able to identify and access a greater number of web pages than before. This technique allows for a broader and more diverse set of content and links associated with the response to be displayed.
The basics of SEO remain
Should we rethink everything about SEO with the arrival of AI? Not necessarily. Danny Sullivan emphasized that the basics of optimization remain unchanged.
The key remains producing quality, relevant, and high-value content. You may want to dive headfirst into new content, but sometimes it’s better to keep your feet on the ground. Authenticity and relevance never go out of style, and that’s the takeaway from this event. So, get typing!
