AI search claims in a dental SEO proposal: what Google's own guidance asks

Google's Search Central page "Do you need an SEO?", last updated on 5 June 2026, lists "Optimizing for generative AI" among the useful services that many SEOs, agencies and consultants provide to website owners. If a proposal for your practice includes AI search visibility, the same page gives you the questions to test it with.

The three questions Google asks

In its advice on evaluating an SEO's recommendations, Google asks whether, if they have advice on optimising for AI experiences (the page names "AEO" and "GEO" services), that advice is aligned with Google Search's official guidance on optimising for generative AI features. It also asks whether they cite official Google documentation as supporting evidence for their recommendations, and whether they use tools that are aligned with Google's guidance.

I think these are the most useful filter for any proposal that sells AI visibility. I would ask the agency to name, for each AI related task in the proposal, the official Google page that supports it. Where a task has no such page behind it, I would ask why it is in the scope. I suggest adding these three to the questions in SEO proposals for dental practices: questions, ownership and reporting whenever a proposal mentions AI.

Scores from third-party tools

Google says it doesn't evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools, and that these tools don't have access to Google's internal ranking data. It says to be wary of tools that claim to be "acceptable" or "approved" by Google Search. Before making significant changes to a site based on a third-party tool's audit, it advises checking the recommendations against official guidance from Google Search and making your own informed decisions.

If a proposal shows an AI visibility score or chart, I would read it as that tool's own measure, not Google's, and ask the agency to explain how the figure is worked out. I would not pay against a method I can't see.

Where AI optimisation becomes spam

Google's spam policies describe spam as techniques used to deceive users or manipulate its Search systems into featuring content prominently, and they include attempting to manipulate generative AI responses in Google Search. Sites that violate the policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all.

The policies define scaled content abuse as many pages generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users, no matter how the content is created. One of the examples given is using generative AI tools to generate many pages without adding value for users. The doorway abuse examples include multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page, and the keyword stuffing examples include blocks of text listing the cities and regions a page is trying to rank for.

Google also says that you are ultimately responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, and that if an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index. So if a proposal promises a batch of town pages or a large volume of AI written articles, I would ask what each page adds for the reader and ask to see examples before agreeing to it.

Guarantees

Google's advice on ranking guarantees is covered in Dental SEO services: what a UK practice should expect and measure. I would treat a promise that your practice will appear in AI answers the same way as a ranking guarantee.

These questions about AI claims apply to every supplier, including the services set out in the Dental Mastery UK service overview.