Google’s Liz Reid: It isn’t AI or search; it’s AI in search

/dans
Google AI search

AI isn’t replacing search or the web. It’s blending into both.

At least that’s the vision Liz Reid, Google’s head of Search, laid out in a wide-ranging interview with Semafor. Reid discussed Google’s strategy for the AI search era – one that’s integrated, multimodal, personalized, and grounded in the web.

  • “At the high level, people sometimes view it as: it’s AI or search, or it’s AI or the web. We don’t see it as that split. I see it as AI enables search to do more of the things it always wanted to do. It always wanted to organize all the world’s information, but information was fragmented in ways that were difficult to join,” Reid said.

Why we care. Visibility is harder to track and influence. Reid’s “AI and search” framing sounds reassuring, but it ignores the real disruption that is happening right now. AI Overviews are replacing what users used to click on. You know, websites. Publishers and SEOs have spent decades optimizing for traditional search. Now, that behavior is being skipped via AI-generated summaries that often remove the need to visit a webpage.

SEO in the age of AI. In a weird moment, the interviewer referred to SEO being a “whole industry now.” I mean, it’s only been around for like 30 years, but OK. Anyway, Reid took a balanced approach in her answer about the future of SEO in the AI era:

  • “SEO is neither a strictly bad or good word. It’s a great thing to make sure your content is findable and it’s not indexed, and it’s understandable. But you can have great SEO, and then you can have [people] trying to gain the system and spam. That’s something we’re going to be ever vigilant on because it’s a cat-and-mouse game. 

Reid added that Google has kept spam under 1% for years. I’d be super curious to find out how Google defines “spam” in this instance.

Search or Gemini? Is Gemini the new search interface? And what about AI Overviews or AI Mode vs. blue links? Reid basically said it’s never a question of choosing one or the other:

  • “If I take a non-Gemini example, people have asked this question about Search and Maps. Should you use Maps to find a restaurant, or Search? It doesn’t really matter. We’re just gonna help you find a restaurant. The way I think of it now is that the user is always right. They should come to whatever tool they find most useful and get a really good information response.”

More personalized. AI will help Google retrieve information to users in a more personalized way. This includes giving recommendations and adapting to how you learn, Reid said:

  • “Instead of you having to do the work to come to the information, we should bring the information to you. We should transform it in a way that you can understand, you can consume, you can comprehend.”

Ads and AI. Reid also discussed ad revenue and Google’s ad model. Search Engine Land’s Paid Media Editor Anu Adegbola recaps that portion of Reid’s interview in Google Search Chief Liz Reid on ads, AI, and the future of search.

The interview. Google’s head of search on the company’s AI transition