Content must go beyond surface-level answers to stand out as AI summaries take over more basic search queries. That’s according to Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of Knowledge & Information, who was interviewed at Google Marketing Live 2026 by Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith.
What hasn’t changed. Fox said the way to rank in AI search is still the same as traditional search.
- “The way to optimize for AI search is the same way to optimize for search. Create great content.”
But you need to go further than basic summaries, he added:
- “The additional piece of advice we give is go beyond the surface level.”
He said Google’s AI summaries may provide the first layer of information for many queries. The content most likely to perform well will answer the next layer of questions, he said:
- “If you assume that the AI will provide sort of a first-level response, high-level framing, the best content that will do the best within AI is one that goes one level deeper, two levels deeper, and is really helpful there.”
Fox didn’t explain how Google measures “deeper” content or how it separates useful depth from longer, more detailed pages.
Google wants content AI can’t easily copy. The comments echoed Google’s new AI search guidance, which warns against “commodity” content that repeats what others have already published or what generative AI models can easily produce.
Google said content built around common knowledge and generic summaries adds “little unique insight.” It described stronger content as work that provides expert or experienced takes that go beyond ordinary information.
Fox reinforced that idea during the interview when discussing the future role of the web in AI search.
- “If you’re looking to buy something, you don’t just want to hear what the AI says. You want to hear someone that’s used it. What did they think? What went wrong with it? What was amazing about it? How did they what accessories did they get? You know, all of that kind of rich human content.”
- “As humans we want to hear from humans. We want to hear human perspectives. We want to hear human experiences.”
Traffic concerns unaddressed. Fox’s comments made clear that Google sees human experience as a key part of the web’s value as AI answers expand.
- The interview didn’t address publisher concerns about AI summaries reducing organic search traffic. While Google says it wants original, experience-driven content, AI answers reduce the clicks that help support that work.
Search queries are getting longer. Search behavior has already changed as people become more familiar with conversational AI tools, Fox said:
- “The questions that people are asking now are these two-, three-, four-sentence queries.”
He said users are increasingly searching with natural-language prompts that include more context, problems, and constraints, rather than short keyword phrases. Google didn’t share any supporting data during the interview.
Why we care. AI-generated answers are already giving searchers basic informational summaries. So your content needs original reporting, firsthand experience, or useful analysis that gives people something they can’t get from a generic AI response.
The interview. Google’s Nick Fox on the Future of Search and AI
Dig deeper. Google’s AI search guidance is naive and self-serving
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