Google’s Nick Fox: Deeper Content Wins in AI Search
▼ Summary
– Google’s Nick Fox says ranking well in AI search requires creating content that goes beyond surface-level answers, as AI summaries already provide basic information.
– Fox states that the fundamental approach to optimizing for AI search remains the same as for traditional search: create great content.
– Google advises content creators to answer the “next layer” of questions, as AI summaries often cover only the first level of a query.
– The article warns against “commodity” content that repeats common knowledge or what AI can easily generate, emphasizing the need for expert or experienced perspectives.
– Fox notes that search queries are becoming longer, with users asking multi-sentence questions in natural language, requiring more detailed and contextual content.
Content must offer more than surface-level answers as AI summaries take over basic search queries. That’s the message from Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of Knowledge & Information, who spoke with Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith at Google Marketing Live 2026.
What hasn’t changed. Fox emphasized that ranking in AI search still follows the same principles as traditional search. “The way to optimize for AI search is the same way to optimize for search. Create great content.” But he added that you need to push beyond basic summaries: “The additional piece of advice we give is go beyond the surface level.”
Fox explained that Google’s AI summaries may handle the first layer of information for many queries. The content most likely to succeed answers the next layer of questions. “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.” He did not clarify how Google measures “deeper” content or distinguishes useful depth from longer, more detailed pages.
Google wants content AI can’t easily copy. These comments align with Google’s new AI search guidance, which warns against “commodity” content that repeats what others have published or what generative AI models can readily produce. Google stated that content built around common knowledge and generic summaries adds “little unique insight.” It described stronger content as work offering expert or experienced takes that go beyond ordinary information.
Fox reinforced this idea 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.” He added, “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. However, the interview did not 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. Fox noted that search behavior has already changed as people become more familiar with conversational AI tools. “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 did not 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.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
