Nick Fox is the SVP of Knowledge and Information at Google was interviewed again on the AI Inside channel by Jason Howel and Jeff Jarvis. He said a lot of interesting things but said no, Google won't be offering standarized licensing deals for all publishers. He also said that optimizing for AI Search is the same as what you do for web search and normal SEO.
Here is the video:
Jason Howel also wrote this up on ZDNet and said Google's search chief rejects this strategy for licensing news content amid AI scramble.
Jeff Jarvin asked, "And and is is there are there is there guidance for enlightened publishers who want to be part of AI about how they should view should they view their content in any way differently?"
Nick Fox responded, "Now, the short answer is no."
He then goes on about the true partnership is to send clicks nad traffic to these publishers. That is the partnership he sees.
He also double-downed on the questioning of the click studies on AI Overviews and AI Mode. He said the stats will vary by site and that some of the third-party studies were "one-offs" and "cherry-picked." He even said he saw studies that showed AI results send even more traffic to some sites.
On optimzing for AI Search, Nick Fox said it is "the same" as what you'd do for optimizing for web search and Google Search, it is SEO. Build great sites and great content he said. Nick Fox said, "the way to optimize to do well in Google's AI experiences is very similar, I would say, the same as how as as how to perform well in traditional search. And it really does come down to build a great site, build great content."
Here are my main notes for this interview:
Expansionary moment:
(1) People are able to use Google more and ask more questions.
(2) More people using the web, means more people on the web and more overall usage.
Higher quality links? Can we trust Google?
(1) Stats will vary by site
(2) Third party studies are “Cherrypicked” and “one-offs”
(3) Also studies showed increases in traffic
How do small publishers make a content deal with Google for AI use?
(1) We need to figure out how to work together.
(2) You can’t fight users and you need to deliver the experiences users want
(3) Journalism is important
(4) We need to figure out a model that supports journalism
(5) They have partnered with thousands of publishers/organizations in 50 countries
(6) We partner with publishers:
(A) Primarily by driving clicks and traffic to publishers
(B) Google improved those links this past week
(C) “Short answer is no” for coming up with a standard licensing model for all publishers
How to rank better in AI Search?
(1) Optimizing for AI Search is the same as SEO for normal search
(2) Build great content and a great site
What have you learned in the last six months with AI Mode:
(1) The types of deeper queries people are doing
(2) User adoption is stronger in earlier launch markets
(3) Regions with less content on the web in that language prefer the AI responses because it gives a more satisfying answer
(4) Younger users resonate more with AI Mode
Hey all, today has been CRAZY! But I'm happy to finally tweet my article on ZDNET that covers our conversation with @thefox on today's special episode of the AI Inside podcast. Definitely some new nuggets in this one!https://t.co/w7WSojwxii@Techmeme @rustybrick
— Jason Howell (@jasonhowell) December 16, 2025
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