Google has a search engine optimization starter guide, and the whole thing comes down to one idea: help search engines understand what your website is about so your ideal clients can find it. At Google Search Central Live in Toronto, Danny Sullivan built on that foundation and went further by sharing what it takes to show up in AI search specifically.
Sullivan made the case for producing unique, authentic, non-commodity content as a direct requirement for AI search visibility. But the tip that came before it (the one that opened the list) was the same place Google always starts: SEO fundamentals.
Dare I say that order wasn’t accidental. And for B2B service providers wondering what AI search requires of their website, this list is worth paying attention to. While I wasn’t able to attend the Google Search Central Live, I’m able to provide you with a bit of an analysis on how you can use this information to optimize your service website.
What Google Said
Google’s tips for succeeding in AI Search:
(1) SEO fundamentals,
(2) Structured data,
(3) great page experience, and
(4) Non-commodity content.
Let’s touch base on each point.
What “SEO Fundamentals” Means in Practice
SEO fundamentals is one of those phrases that sounds pretty straightforward until you’re three hours into an audit trying to track down why a page isn’t behaving the way it should (been there, done that).
During a site audit for one of my SEO clients, it showed that the site had a handful of technical errors, but one kept resisting a clean fix. A canonical tag wasn’t behaving the way it should, and tracing it back took longer than it should have because the issue wasn’t sitting where these issues usually sit.
Working through it meant going layer by layer, including checking with the hosting provider, reviewing the site settings, and confirming that every version of the site was pointing to the same place.
Each step checked out.
The issue turned out to be buried inside a plugin database. I’m not gonna touch on each technical issue and SEO jargon, but I will say that this particular issue had been quietly overriding everything else without anyone knowing it was there.
And why does it matter?
Because the issue was a canonical tag, which is your way of telling Google: “This is the official version of this page and the one I want you to index and show in search results.”
When that signal is wrong or inconsistent, Google gets confused about which version of your site to trust. And a confused Google is one reason why it may not show your pages at all in traditional search or in AI Overviews.
In practice, that’s what working and maintaining your SEO fundamentals look like.
So, when I saw SEO fundamentals for AI Search listed as one Google’s tips, it made complete sense. Pages must meet technical requirements so Google can find, crawl, index, and rank them. Pages that are partially or incorrectly indexed will hardly rank or appear in AI Overviews, regardless of how good the content is.
For B2B service providers, the implication is straightforward. If your site has SEO technical issues sitting underneath your content, traditional and AI search won’t surface you. And it’s not because your content isn’t good enough, but because Google can’t read and understand it properly.
That’s why all my SEO retainers include a full site audit and fixes, and often, the following issues pop up:
Crawling and indexing
This is the starting point. If Google can’t crawl a page, nothing else matters. Common culprits include robots.txt accidentally blocking important pages, pages missing from the XML sitemap, and indexing errors in Google Search Console that have been sitting there unaddressed.
Redirects & 404 Errors
Redirect chains, redirect loops, and pages that should be redirecting but aren’t all create friction for Google and for the people visiting your site. And if your website visitor lands on a 404 error (page not found), it hurts your user experience and reduces your ranking if a visitor leaves quickly.
Speed and performance
Page speed is a ranking factor for traditional search and a trust signal for AI search. Core Web Vitals, image file sizes, and unnecessary scripts loading on pages where they serve no purpose are the usual starting points.
Then Comes Structured Data
After SEO fundamentals, the next tip for AI search is structured data. When AI search processes a page, it actively looks for content marked up with schema because it provides explicit context. When your page signals clearly what it contains (for example, who wrote it, what it covers, what type of content it is), the AI doesn’t have to guess. It knows.
For B2B service providers, the most relevant schema types are Article for blog posts, FAQPage for posts structured around questions your ideal clients are actually asking, Organization for your business information, and Service for your service type, area you serve and description.
Structured data that’s implemented incorrectly or that conflicts with what’s visibly on the page causes problems rather than solving them. That means getting it right is part of the same SEO foundational work (not a separate project you get to later).
A Good Page Experience Matters Too
Technical SEO helps get your pages indexed. Structured data helps AI understand what’s on them. Page experience is what determines whether the person who lands on your site actually stays.
Page speed came up in the audit section above, but it goes beyond loading times. Basically, Google considers page experience as part of what makes a result worth surfacing both in traditional search and increasingly in AI search. A page that loads slowly, shifts around as it loads, or is difficult to navigate on a phone sends signals that work against you regardless of how good the content is.
For B2B service providers, the practical things to look at are how quickly your pages load, whether your site works properly on mobile, and whether anything on the page moves or jumps after it first appears on screen. These are measured through Core Web Vitals, which Google uses as a signal of whether a page delivers a good experience.
None of this requires a developer to audit. Google Search Console flags Core Web Vitals issues directly, and Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool gives you a free read on where a specific page stands and what’s slowing it down.
And Then Non-Commodity Content
With the technical foundation in place, structured data correctly implemented, and page experience, the content is what determines whether your website visitors will trust your expertise.
The businesses losing AI search visibility fastest are those publishing commodity content. Think of commodity content as the generic, surface-level posts any competitor could produce with a quick brief and an AI writing tool. On the other hand, non-commodity content means writing from inside your expertise. It’s the type of content only you could write because it comes from work you’ve done for your own clients.
I cover this topic a bit further in my post on B2B blog content strategy, so give it a read so you can see the things to consider for your strategy. In a nutshell, decision-stage content written from real experience is non-commodity by definition. It’s specific, it’s credible, and it’s the kind of content AI tools cite rather than replace.
What This Means for Your B2B Website
Most B2B service providers put their energy into content because content feels productive. A new post is visible proof that something got done. A technical audit is invisible work until it isn’t, and an error has been quietly undermining your visibility for months without anyone connecting it back to the source.
The practical takeaway before you invest more time in content: make sure Google can read what you already have. Here’s how:
(1) Run a crawl to see what issues come up to fix.
(2) Check Search Console for indexing errors.
(3) Audit your content and see your commodity vs non-commodity ratio. Then, optimize or create a content strategy that leans more into non-commodity content.
It’s the best way to fill in the gap, gain trust and authority in your industry.
The SEO Foundation Has to Come First
Most of the conversation around AI search jumps straight to content strategy. Google’s own guidance says to start with the technical work that makes everything else visible.
For B2B service providers, that means the audit comes before the content calendar. It means fixing errors that appear from a site audit. And it means that once the foundation is solid, the content you build on top of it gives you the best chance of getting found by your ideal clients.
Technical SEO, structured data, and non-commodity content working together, that’s the full picture. It’s exactly what an SEO retainer covers, feel free to take a look at my packages for more information.
