Search Central LiveDeep Dive Europe 2026

Knowledge base v2.13.0 · Community edition · data through 2 October 2026

Content kit

Media kit

The full media kit is not part of this community edition.

Behind this page sits a complete kit for content teams: 158 facts with safe wording, 64 myths with the facts that answer them, 80 story angles, 122 short quotations with their credit lines, every figure with its scope (62), and the audience’s questions with Google’s answers (25). Each item is tied to its claims, labelled, and graded against Google’s documentation, so writers know what can be said as Google’s position and what was only said on stage.

A small taste

Three facts, two myths, one story angle, and two quotes from the full kit, as it presents them: the status, the claims behind each item and the credit line to use.

Facts 3

DocumentedF-012

A Search Console setting now lets a site leave AI Overviews and AI Mode, and Google says the setting is not used as a ranking or inclusion signal for regular results.

Evidence · 2 claims · 1 Google page
  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C029

    Search Console has a property setting called Search generative AI that gives direct control over AI Overviews and AI Mode without affecting web rankings. Its states are inherit from parent, include and exclude.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • DocsSourceD1-C031

    Google says the control is not used as a ranking or inclusion signal for regular results.

    Google Search Console Help

DocumentedF-017

Google treats network timeouts, connection resets and DNS errors like 5xx server errors: crawling slows down at once, and indexed URLs that stay unreachable are removed from the index within days.

Evidence · 1 claim · 1 Google page
  • DocsSourceD1-C126

    Google treats network timeouts, connection resets and DNS errors like 5xx server errors: crawling slows down immediately, and already indexed URLs that stay unreachable are removed from Google's index within days.

    Google

DocumentedF-025

noindex costs crawl budget because Google must fetch a page to see the rule, while URLs disallowed in robots.txt are not fetched at all.

Evidence · 2 claims · 1 Google page
  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C106

    The noindex rule consumes crawl budget, because Google must fetch the page to see it.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • SlideConsistent with docsD1-C105

    URLs disallowed through robots.txt do not affect crawl budget, because they are not fetched.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

Myths 2

DocumentedM-001

Myth

SEO is dead: AI search needs GEO, a new discipline.

Fact

Google said not to worry about the name: good SEO is good GEO and AEO. Its documentation says optimising for generative AI search is still SEO, because the AI features are built on the core ranking systems and highlight content indexed by Google Search. Day 3 closed on the same line: AI features on Google Search use exactly the same processes as traditional results.

Evidence · 4 claims · 2 Google pages
  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C050

    Google's answer to 'SEO is dead, long live GEO' is not to worry about the name: good SEO is good GEO and AEO.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C051

    Three reasons were given: generative AI features are built directly on the core ranking systems, query fan-out expands the original query to find related information, and generative AI features highlight content indexed by Google Search.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • DocsSourceD1-C052

    Google's guide for generative AI features says optimising for generative AI search is optimising for the search experience, and is therefore still SEO.

    Google Search Central

  • SlideConsistent with docsD3-C701

    Google's closing slide said AI on Google is just SEO: AI features on Google Search use exactly the same processes as traditional results, so no new acronym is needed, as none was for mobile-first indexing or structured data.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 3)

DocumentedM-002

Myth

Cut your content into short, self-contained chunks so Google's AI can use it.

Fact

Google said chunking matters at the level of an AI model's context window, and Gemini's holds millions of tokens, so Gemini does not need content cut into 100 or 200 word pieces. Google spoke only for its own systems. Google's Day 1 myth slide already said there is no need to chop content.

Evidence · 4 claims · 2 Google pages
  • StageConsistent with docsD2-C330

    Gary Illyes said the common SEO advice to chunk content for AI systems is misunderstood: chunking is real, but it matters at the level of an AI model's context window.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 2)

  • StageConsistent with docsD2-C331

    Gary Illyes said Gemini's context window, where chunking actually matters, holds millions of tokens.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 2)

  • StageConsistent with docsD2-C332

    Gemini does not need content cut into small chunks of 100 or 200 words, Gary Illyes said, since a smaller book fits in its context window.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 2)

  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C054

    Myth: optimise for AI over readers. Google's answer: optimise for people, with no need to obsess over precise keywords or AI phrasing, no need to chop content, and no need for llms.txt.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

Story angle 1

LinkedIn postArticleA-001

Is SEO dead? Google's own answer from Barcelona

For SEO practitioners, marketers, business owners

Google told a room of SEOs that GEO is a label, not a new discipline: good SEO is good GEO and AEO.

Points

  1. Google's answer to 'SEO is dead, long live GEO': don't worry about the name, good SEO is good GEO and AEO.

    Documented D1-C050 D1-C049

  2. Three reasons Google gave: generative AI features are built on the core ranking systems, query fan-out expands the query to find related information, and the features highlight content indexed by Google Search. Google's guide calls it still SEO.

    Documented D1-C051 D1-C052

  3. AI Mode and AI Overviews use the same crawling and the same index as Search; at serving they add grounding and query fan-out.

    Documented D1-C038

  4. Day 2 repeated it: AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on top of Search results, so what works for web results also works for the AI features.

    Documented D2-C116 D2-C601

  5. llms.txt is not needed: Google Search ignores such files, so they neither help nor harm.

    Documented D1-C054 D1-C061

  6. Day 3 closed the event on the same message: AI on Google is just SEO, because AI features on Google Search use exactly the same processes as traditional results, and no new acronym was needed for mobile-first indexing or structured data either.

    Documented D3-C701 D3-C702

  7. 'SEO is dead' posts go back at least to a 'Search engine R.I.P.' forum post of 10 November 1997, Google said on Day 1, adding that the AI features only create more opportunities for site owners.

    Said at Search Central Live D1-C197 D1-C198

  8. Counterpoint: a community speaker argued for adopting the GEO label as the industry's chance to leave SEO's bad reputation behind.

    Said at Search Central Live D1-C296

Caution

Every Google point except the 1997 history and the 'more opportunities' remark, which were said on stage, is backed by Google's documentation; the GEO counterpoint is a community speaker's view, not Google's. The remark that GEO is a label invented to create a new field comes from the author's notes of a stage talk, so paraphrase it; quote only the checked slide wording.

Call to action Ask readers which 'GEO' tactic they were sold this year, then check it against Google's guide to generative AI features.

Evidence · 14 claims · 2 Google pages
  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C050

    Google's answer to 'SEO is dead, long live GEO' is not to worry about the name: good SEO is good GEO and AEO.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • StageConsistent with docsD1-C049

    Gary Illyes argued that GEO is a label invented to create a new field and is not needed. Understanding how SEO works is enough.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C051

    Three reasons were given: generative AI features are built directly on the core ranking systems, query fan-out expands the original query to find related information, and generative AI features highlight content indexed by Google Search.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • DocsSourceD1-C052

    Google's guide for generative AI features says optimising for generative AI search is optimising for the search experience, and is therefore still SEO.

    Google Search Central

  • SlideConsistent with docsD1-C038

    AI Mode and AI Overviews use the same crawling and the same index as Search. At serving they add grounding on the Search index and query fan-out.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • StageConsistent with docsD2-C116

    AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on top of Search results: they are a different experience of the same content Google already has.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 2)

  • StageConfirmed by docsD2-C601

    Sites need no extra work to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode: both work on top of the existing web results, so what works for web results also works for the AI features.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 2)

  • SlideConfirmed by docsD1-C054

    Myth: optimise for AI over readers. Google's answer: optimise for people, with no need to obsess over precise keywords or AI phrasing, no need to chop content, and no need for llms.txt.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • DocsSourceD1-C061

    Google's guide says new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup are not needed to appear in Search, and that such files neither harm nor help visibility because Google Search ignores them.

    Google Search Central

  • SlideConsistent with docsD3-C701

    Google's closing slide said AI on Google is just SEO: AI features on Google Search use exactly the same processes as traditional results, so no new acronym is needed, as none was for mobile-first indexing or structured data.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 3)

  • StageConsistent with docsD3-C702

    AI Overviews and AI Mode are built on the Search infrastructure Google has used for 25 to 30 years and have very few processes of their own.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 3)

  • StageD1-C197

    Gary Illyes traced 'SEO is dead' predictions back to a post titled 'Search engine R.I.P.' on an online advertising forum on 10 November 1997, and said such posts still appear every month or even every week.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • StageD1-C198

    Gary Illyes said SEO is not dead and that the new AI features only create more opportunities for site owners to take advantage of.

    Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

  • StageD1-C296

    A community speaker argued for adopting the GEO label as the industry's chance to leave behind the bad reputation SEO built, unlike Google's view earlier the same day that the new name is not needed.

    a community speaker at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

Quotes 2

SlideConfirmed by docsQ-001

“Don't worry about what to call it. Good SEO is good GEO, AEO.”

Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

D1-C050 · Wording checked against the slide or recording

Context Google's answer to 'SEO is dead, long live GEO' is not to worry about the name: good SEO is good GEO and AEO.

SlideConsistent with docsQ-002

“Optimizing for people is optimizing for Generative AI Search”

Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)

D1-C058 · Wording checked against the slide or recording

Context Optimising for people is optimising for generative AI Search.

Working together

Want to create content from it, at scale?

We help companies turn this knowledge base into a content engine: briefs, articles, social posts and newsletters, generated with the wording rules, credit lines and verification built in, reviewed for quality and written in your brand’s voice.

Get in touch: Ibram & Dawwa GmbH · LinkedIn

The glossary stays open for everyone: 125 terms in plain English, each tied to the claims that explain it.

The wording rules the kit follows · 18
  1. Documented points (status documented): write "Google's documentation says..." when you paraphrase a Google page, or "Google said at the event, and its documentation supports this..." when the point was said or shown on stage and the documentation only supports it. Link the Google page given in the kit.
  2. Event-only points (status event-only): write "Google said at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day N)..." or "a Google slide at the event showed...". Never present them as documented policy, a guarantee or a confirmed ranking factor; where it matters, add "this is not in Google's documentation".
  3. Community speakers: write "a community speaker at the event said...". Their findings, tools and methods are theirs, not Google's, even when Google's documentation agrees.
  4. Unattributed points: where the kit's credit is "a speaker at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day N)", the knowledge base does not record whether a Googler or a community speaker said it (a point from a session that was not recorded, or a lightning slot with a Google host). Write "said at the event" and never attribute it to Google.
  5. Audience questions are questions, not Google's position. Only Google's answer can be attributed to Google.
  6. Names: credit "Google at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 (Day 1)", "(Day 2)" or "(Day 3)", or "a community speaker", and name a person only where the kit gives a named speaker (speaker in content-library.json, "Named speaker" in quotes.md). The knowledge base names a speaker only on proof: the name shown on a slide; a self-introduction or an introduction by name in the recording that matches the official speaker list; or the author's own identification at the event (notes or recording label). Wherever the author recorded any doubt about who was speaking (a speaker marked inferred or probable), the name was dropped, even where similar evidence names another session's speaker. Never add a name from your own knowledge; drop the name and keep the information.
  7. Analysis claims and every point marked "Author's view:" are the knowledge base author's interpretation and advice (Ibrahim Anjro). Present them as our view or our recommendation, never as Google's.
  8. Press claims: name the publication ("as reported by Search Engine Journal"). A press report is neither Google's documentation nor something said at the event.
  9. Numbers keep their scope: the market (US only, global English-language queries), the period (since launch, past six months, 2022 versus 2021), the basis (Google internal data, a Google-commissioned survey, a third-party study and its year) and the comparison ("30% faster than AI Mode queries overall" is not "30% growth"). Never round up, combine, annualise or extrapolate a figure. Where a Google figure has no stated market, period or source, say so ("the slide gave no market or period").
  10. Hedges stay. If a claim says "or mostly", "as far as I'm aware", "I think", "approximately", "likely" or notes an unclear recording, keep the hedge in your wording or leave the point out.
  11. Quotes: use only the kit's quote list or a claim's quote field, verbatim, at most 25 words, inside quotation marks, with no edits, splices or translations inside the marks. Prefer quotes marked checked; label transcript quotes that are not checked as spoken remarks and never show them as slide text.
  12. Partly documented points: an angle point labelled Partly documented rests on documented claims and on claims that were only said or shown at the event. Check each cited claim, and attribute the undocumented part to the event ("Google said at Search Central Live..."), never to Google's documentation.
  13. Where the event and Google's documentation differ, follow the documentation and say that they differ (for example canonicals on paginated pages, max-snippet:-1, 'Discovered – currently not indexed', SpamBrain's launch year, PageRank's role in ranking, Google's 2023 testing figures, the source year of the 40 billion spam pages figure).
  14. No slide photos, screenshots of slides, transcripts, recordings or images of attendees in any content. Recreate charts yourself (for example your own Google Trends charts) and describe slides in your own words.
  15. Companies shown on stage as bad examples stay unnamed ("a large German banking group", "a retail brand"). Do not name the clients or competitors in community case studies either.
  16. The event is Google Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026, Barcelona: Day 1 on 30 September 2026 (crawling), Day 2 on 1 October 2026 (indexing), Day 3 on 2 October 2026 (serving: ranking, Search Console and performance). Claim ids starting D1 are Day 1, D2 are Day 2 and D3 are Day 3. Day 3's processing times are Google's estimates from internal analysis: always call them estimates. Docs, press and analysis claims only annotate a session; they were not said there.
  17. Do not promise outcomes the claims do not state (rankings, traffic, AI citations, indexing). "Can", "may" and "Google said" must not become "will".
  18. Keep claim ids in drafts so a reviewer can check every sentence against 20-claims/; remove them from the published text.