Google Search experts reassure industry on AI search at Bangkok event

Google search advocates addressed concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on search engine optimization during the Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia Pacific 2025 conference, which concluded July 25, 2025, in Bangkok, Thailand. Gary Illyes, a prominent Google Search Advocate, delivered a presentation explaining how AI-powered search tools function through similar mechanisms as traditional search systems.

According to social media documentation from the event, Illyes responded to questions about whether GEO, LLMO, and AI search require new optimization strategies. "There's not much need for change since the mechanisms are largely the same as traditional search," Illyes stated during his presentation on July 23, 2025. This message represents a significant clarification for the global SEO community, which has expressed mounting concerns about artificial intelligence's impact on website traffic and optimization strategies.

The three-day conference marked the first time Google implemented its "Deep Dive" format for the Asia Pacific region. The Carlton Hotel Bangkok Sukhumvit hosted the expanded event from July 23-25, 2025, featuring extended technical sessions and hands-on workshops. Google announced the enhanced format on March 17, 2025, positioning it as a response to community feedback requesting longer events and more technical content.

Technical presentations at the Bangkok event revealed detailed breakdowns of how Google's search systems operate across different modes. A presentation slide shared during the conference illustrated the relationship between traditional Search, AI Mode, AI Overview, and Gemini systems. The diagram demonstrated overlapping functionality between these platforms, particularly in crawling, indexing, and serving processes.

The "AI Mode" system, according to the presentation materials, utilizes the same foundational infrastructure as traditional Google Search. Crawling processes remain identical across both systems. Indexing procedures show minimal variation between conventional search and AI-powered alternatives. Serving mechanisms demonstrate substantial overlap, though AI systems incorporate additional layers for response generation.

These technical details address widespread industry speculation about fundamental changes in how content gets discovered and ranked. Multiple studies throughout 2025 have documented significant impacts from AI Overview implementations, with research from Ahrefs showing 34.5% lower click-through rates for top-ranking pages when AI Overviews appear in search results.

The timing of these clarifications proves particularly relevant as the marketing community grapples with new challenges. Publisher earnings reports demonstrate measurable impacts from AI feature implementations, with many websites experiencing what industry experts term "The Great Decoupling" – increased impressions paired with decreased clicks.

However, Illyes' presentation suggests that optimization fundamentals remain constant despite these traffic pattern changes. The underlying algorithms that determine content quality, relevance, and authority continue operating through established mechanisms. This consistency means existing SEO knowledge translates directly to AI search optimization requirements.

Industry response to these revelations has been notably positive among conference attendees and social media observers. Gagan Ghotra, an SEO consultant, highlighted the presentation's significance through social media posts documenting the technical breakdown. The presentation materials show how Search, AI Overview/Mode, and Gemini breakdown overlapping functionalities, according to Ghotra's documentation.

Previous Search Central Live events have consistently emphasized foundational search principles. The Bangkok 2024 event, which marked the first Thailand conference in five years, covered content quality considerations and troubleshooting strategies using Search Console. These themes continued through the 2025 Deep Dive format with expanded technical depth.

Google's broader event series has reached multiple global markets throughout 2024 and 2025. Events in Kuala Lumpur and Taipei concluded the 2024 Asia-Pacific conference series. European markets experienced similar educational initiatives, with Zurich hosting a developer conference in December 2024.

The Deep Dive format represents Google's most comprehensive educational initiative for the search community. Registration for the Bangkok event closed in June 2025, with Google confirming attendee selections by July 2, 2025. The enhanced structure featured multiple days of technical sessions, hands-on workshops, and networking opportunities for Asia Pacific professionals.

Speaker lineup for the event included prominent Google team members across search and partnerships divisions. Gary Illyes led technical discussions alongside colleagues including Cherry Prommawin, Search Advocate, and Daniel Waisberg, also a Search Advocate. William Prabowo from Strategic Partnerships and Ian Hung from Search Ecosystem Consulting provided additional perspectives on search ecosystem development.

Community participation played a central role in the Deep Dive format. Lightning talks from regional SEO professionals complemented Google presentations, creating dialogue between company representatives and practitioners. Speakers included representatives from major regional companies such as Rakuten Group, Shopee, and various digital marketing agencies across Asia Pacific markets.

The technical curriculum addressed multiple specialized areas beyond basic search functionality. Sessions covered robots meta tags implementation, robots.txt workshop applications, and rendering process optimization. Real-world case studies illustrated indexing challenges including pagination, scrolling, and navigation techniques that affect content discovery.

AI and search intersection topics received particular attention during the event programming. Discussions explored automation implications for SEO practices and the intersection of artificial intelligence with traditional optimization strategies. These sessions directly addressed concerns that have dominated industry discourse throughout 2025.

Tools and monitoring sessions provided hands-on experience with Search Console functionalities and Google Trends applications. These practical workshops equipped attendees with direct experience using Google's primary measurement and analysis platforms for website performance optimization.

The messaging from Bangkok contrasts sharply with broader industry concerns about AI search impact. Recent studies indicate substantial changes in user behavior patterns, with AI search visitors demonstrating 4.4 times higher value compared to traditional organic search visitors. However, overall traffic volumes continue declining for many websites as AI features provide answers without requiring click-throughs.

Google executives have consistently defended AI search implementations despite mounting publisher concerns about traffic reduction. The company maintains that AI features benefit the broader web ecosystem through improved user experiences and higher-quality engagement metrics.

Quality considerations remain paramount across all search implementations, according to the Bangkok presentations. Content creators must continue focusing on comprehensive, authoritative information that addresses user needs completely. These principles apply equally to traditional search optimization and AI system visibility requirements.

The conference conclusions suggest that successful adaptation requires understanding continuity rather than wholesale strategy changes. SEO professionals who focus on established quality principles may find their expertise remains relevant across evolving search technologies. Traditional optimization knowledge provides the foundation for success in AI-powered search environments.

Future Search Central Live events will likely continue emphasizing these fundamental principles while addressing emerging technical requirements. Google's commitment to educational initiatives demonstrates ongoing investment in community relationship building despite technological changes affecting the broader search landscape.

Timeline

• March 17, 2025: Google announces Search Central Live Deep Dive format for Asia Pacific
• June 28, 2025: Registration deadline for Bangkok Deep Dive event
• July 2, 2025: Google confirms attendee selections for Deep Dive participants
• July 23, 2025: Gary Illyes presents on AI search mechanisms at Bangkok conference
• July 23-25, 2025: Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia Pacific takes place at Carlton Hotel Bangkok
• June 17, 2025: Martin Splitt addresses "The Great Decoupling" at Warsaw Search Central Live
• February 13, 2025: Google announces first-ever Search Central Live event in New York City
• January 15, 2025: Google announces expanded Search Central Live events in Brazil

Key Terms Explained

AI Overviews: Google's artificial intelligence feature that generates comprehensive answers at the top of search results pages by synthesizing information from multiple sources. AI Overviews have fundamentally altered search behavior patterns, with research showing they reduce organic click-through rates by 34.5% while still generating impressions for source websites. The feature operates in 200 countries and 40 languages as of May 2025, representing one of Google's most significant search interface changes in recent years.

Search Central Live: Google's flagship educational conference series designed for SEO professionals, web developers, and website owners to learn about search optimization best practices directly from Google's search team. These events occur globally throughout the year, featuring presentations from Google employees, community lightning talks, and networking opportunities. The series evolved from earlier Webmaster Conference events and now includes specialized formats like the Deep Dive version implemented in Asia Pacific 2025.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The practice of optimizing websites and content to improve visibility and rankings in search engine results pages through technical improvements, content quality enhancement, and user experience optimization. SEO strategies must now account for AI search features while maintaining focus on established quality principles including comprehensive content, authoritative sourcing, and technical website performance that satisfy both human users and algorithmic assessment systems.

Gary Illyes: A prominent Google Search Advocate who regularly speaks at industry conferences and provides technical guidance to the SEO community through social media and official Google communications. Illyes has become a key spokesperson for explaining Google's search algorithm changes and technical implementations, particularly regarding how new AI features integrate with existing search infrastructure and what this means for content creators and website owners.

AI Mode: Google's experimental conversational search interface that provides ChatGPT-like experiences within Google Search, currently available exclusively in the United States and India. AI Mode represents a fundamental departure from traditional search results pages by offering direct conversational interactions, though it operates using the same underlying crawling, indexing, and serving infrastructure as conventional Google Search according to technical presentations.

The Great Decoupling: An industry phenomenon where websites experience increased search impressions while simultaneously seeing decreased clicks, primarily attributed to AI Overview implementations that answer user queries directly within search results. This pattern, first documented and named by Darwin Santos, represents an unprecedented break from historical correlation between search visibility and website traffic, creating new challenges for attribution modeling and revenue measurement.

Bangkok Conference: The Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia Pacific 2025 event held at Carlton Hotel Bangkok Sukhumvit from July 23-25, 2025, marking Google's first implementation of the extended Deep Dive format in the Asia Pacific region. The three-day conference featured technical sessions, hands-on workshops, and presentations from Google search team members addressing topics including AI search integration, traditional optimization techniques, and tools for performance monitoring.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on a specific link after viewing it in search results, serving as a fundamental metric for evaluating search result effectiveness and user engagement patterns. CTR measurements have become increasingly complex with AI search implementations, as users may view content through AI Overviews without clicking through to source websites, creating challenges for traditional performance attribution and requiring new analytical approaches.

Deep Dive Format: Google's enhanced conference structure featuring multi-day experiences with extended technical sessions, hands-on workshops, and comprehensive coverage of advanced search optimization topics. The Deep Dive format was developed in response to community feedback requesting longer events with more technical depth, representing a significant expansion from traditional single-day Search Central Live conferences and emphasizing practical, implementable knowledge transfer.

Traditional Search: Conventional search engine results pages featuring ranked lists of website links, meta descriptions, and standard SERP features that users click through to access full content on source websites. Traditional search maintains relevance despite AI feature implementations, with the same underlying algorithms continuing to determine content quality, relevance, and authority scores that influence visibility across both conventional results and AI-powered features like Overviews and Mode.

Summary

Who: Gary Illyes, Google Search Advocate, presented to SEO professionals and web developers at Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia Pacific 2025. The audience included marketing professionals, content creators, and technical specialists from across the Asia Pacific region.

What: Google clarified that AI-powered search tools (GEO, LLMO, AI search) operate through mechanisms largely similar to traditional search systems. The presentation demonstrated technical overlaps between Search, AI Overview/Mode, and Gemini platforms, indicating that existing SEO knowledge remains relevant for AI search optimization.

When: The presentation occurred on July 23, 2025, during the first day of the three-day Search Central Live Deep Dive conference. The event ran from July 23-25, 2025, marking Google's first Deep Dive format implementation in the Asia Pacific region.

Where: The Carlton Hotel Bangkok Sukhumvit in Thailand hosted the expanded conference. This location served attendees from across Asia Pacific markets, with Google selecting participants through an application process that closed June 28, 2025.

Why: The clarification addresses widespread industry concerns about artificial intelligence's impact on search engine optimization strategies. With AI Overviews reducing organic click-through rates by 34.5% and creating "The Great Decoupling" phenomenon, SEO professionals needed guidance on whether fundamental optimization approaches required complete revision or could build upon existing knowledge.