Google is making changes to how results are shown in AI Overview or AI Mode in Search

Google is bringing a big change to stop a new breed of internet scammers. The tech giant has officially updated its search spam policy, saying that any attempt to “manipulate” its AI-powered search tools, including the popular AI Overviews, will now be treated as a major spam violation. The move comes as a new industry known as GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) has exploded, with marketers using sneaky tricks to force Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) to recommend their products or websites.As Google increasingly relies on AI to summarise the internet for users, scammers are tricking algorithms by a technique known as “recommendation poisoning”. This involves hiding specific phrases and instructions within a website’s code to enable a Large Language Model (LLM) into thinking that specific domain as the absolute authority on a topic.According to the updated policy first reported by Search Engine Land, Google now explicitly defines spam as any technique used to deceive its systems, including AI. In the context of Google Search, spam refers to techniques used to deceive users or manipulate our Search systems into featuring content prominently, such as attempting to manipulate Search systems into ranking content highly or attempting to manipulate generative AI responses in Google Search. Our spam policies help protect users and improve the quality of Search results. To be eligible to appear in Google web search results, content (web pages, images, videos, news content or other material that Google finds from across the web) shouldn't violate Google Search's overall policies or the spam policies listed on this page. These policies apply to all web search results, including those from Google's own properties.We detect policy-violating practices both through automated systems and, as needed, human review that can result in a manual action. Sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all.If you believe that a site is violating Google's spam policies, let us know by filing a search quality user report. We're focused on developing scalable and automated solutions to problems, and we'll use these reports to further improve our spam detection systems.Our policies cover common spam practices, but Google may act against any type of spam practices we detect.