le to simplify search results

According to Gary Illyes, Google’s Gary Illyes, the removal of Rich Results for FAQ and HowTo is not in anticipation of a full launch of Google Search Generic Experience.

Some SEOs have speculated that Google has removed certain features because of the move to AI-powered responses in SGE. Illyes clarified that this is not the intention, and that Google can now experiment with “other things.”

• The ultimate goal of AI is not to achieve the best results. The goal is to produce results that are clean. He said this today at Pubcon Pro, in Austin.

Search results simplification. Illyes’ keynote focused on three main points: Google is removing SERPs features that users don’t find useful or use. This includes the April change to videos thumbnails and the recent removal and reduced visibility of FAQ rich result.

The discussion about Google SGE and Sundar Pichai, CEO , has shifted away from the 10 blue links idea in the next decade. Illyes noted that the 10 blue links were the only constant element in the SERPs for the last 25 years.

Illyes noted that Google launched many “shiny” things on which SEOs spent too much time and resources (e.g. Core Web Vitals). He warned against planning a strategy that would last for a long time around search features.

• Illyes told me, “You’re going to want to rely 10 blue links.”

Illyes suggested that you can achieve this by writing as a person would and adding associations to your content.

Why do we care. It will be fascinating to see if Google removes more SERP features in the coming year. He told the audience that they should pay special attention to this SERP.

Is content king? Illyes stressed that, as Google has been doing for 25 years, the key to success was “publishing helpful, original content created for people.”

Illyes says that while content is “royalty”, it’s also important to convince people you are an authority in your topic. It is possible to have short-term success by writing about basic “top of funnel” topics. However, this will not be sustainable.

The article Search Engine Land : Google to simplify search results first appeared on Search Engine Land .