Google's John Mueller: Technical SEO Stays Critical as AI Search Grows

Google's John Mueller says technical SEO will remain highly relevant to AI search, because AI systems build directly on top of traditional SEO. In an interview conducted by David Iwanow, Mueller explained that the rise of AI search does not change what makes an SEO strategy succeed.

What did Mueller say about listicles?

Iwanow asked about listicles — "top companies" lists that publishers use to influence AI chatbots into ranking their own company as the industry leader. Iwanow acknowledged their usefulness but noted they have been abused and turned into slop content.

Mueller's answer: short-term tactics always expire. A site built on what he calls a solid foundation does not face a day when its traffic disappears.

He said: "I think, when I take a step back, like this happens all the time, right? It's like something comes out and people realize, oh, this actually works particularly well. And then everyone goes off and does it and half the people go off and do it in a particularly bad way.

"And then at some point the systems catch up and they're like, oh, anything that has a listicle is a sign that it's spam. And it's like the circle closes and you find something else."

Mueller drew a clear line. Not every listicle is spam.

"From that point of view, I wouldn't necessarily say anything that is a listicle is spam. …It needs to add value," he said. "And I think it's really important to keep in mind that all of these systems are very new, meaning they're still very much evolving very quickly.

"So if you go all out and say, my whole strategy is listicles, then at some point that's going to switch off and you're left with nothing really.

"Building up a serious, stable foundation for a website, I think that's the most critical part. And if there are ways that you can play around with some things along the way? Try things out, maybe that's fine. But I think you really need to focus on that end goal of having something that search engines and AI systems will want to show to people in the long run."

The takeaway in plain words: experiment at the edges, but build the site for the long run.

Should businesses police their SEO vendors?

Yes, according to Mueller. Iwanow raised the problem of SEO agencies selling low-quality AI SEO tactics to clients.

Mueller said shady SEOs are nothing new — the same operators ran manipulative playbooks in classic SEO and have simply carried them over to AI SEO. He advised businesses never to take an agency's word for what it does.

"But that's always been the case, right? It's like you're paying consultants and they do, I don't know, keyword stuffing. Or back in the early days, it's like white text on white background," Mueller said.

"And it's like, it works for a bit, but at some point, it doesn't work. So I think as a small business, you have to always question what your vendors are doing and always think about.."

The message for marketers: audit your agency, because tactics that work briefly tend to stop working entirely.

Is technical SEO still relevant for AI search?

Mueller expects it to stay central. AI answers rely on factors that are inherently classic SEO, he said. AI systems may crawl differently — some crawl for training data rather than for the freshest content — but he framed those differences as another flavor of technical SEO, not proof that traditional optimization is obsolete.

"I think you'll see that a lot of the AI systems, they build on SEO. So from that point of view, I think it's going to continue to be relevant. I think especially technical SEO is going to remain very relevant," Mueller said.

"It'll be a little bit different because my understanding is AI systems crawl slightly differently. They have different intents with regards to crawling because they want to do it for training versus just like getting the freshest content. But that's just is like another flavor of technical SEO. So I think that's great."

What old tactics are coming back?

The interview echoes a pattern veteran SEOs report: newcomers are rediscovering discarded tactics. Cloaking — showing one page to AI crawlers and another to users — is being promoted as if it were new. Directories and reciprocal links, both super old-school tactics, are also seeing revival pitches.

Meanwhile, the fundamentals get overlooked. Strong user experience, promotion to relevant demographics, and building positive awareness of a website remain as relevant today as throughout SEO's history. For brands weighing AI-era budgets, Mueller's guidance points investment toward durable foundations rather than tactics with a built-in expiry date.