Updated: July 23–25, 2025 — Bangkok, Thailand witnessed one of the most anticipated SEO events of the year—Google Search Central Deep Dive 2025. For the first time, Google organized a three-day long-form SEO conference, focusing on the pillars of modern search: Discovery, Indexing, and Ranking.
With hundreds of top SEO professionals, developers, and digital marketers in attendance, the event was a mix of insightful sessions, open discussions, and exclusive revelations from Google insiders like Gary Illyes and Daniel Waisberg.
In this blog, we break down the top 10 SEO insights from this exclusive invite-only event and explain how you can apply them to grow your organic traffic and boost your search rankings in 2025 and beyond.
🔥 What is Google Search Central Deep Dive?
Google’s Deep Dive 2025 was a closed-door SEO conference held in Bangkok from July 23 to 25. The focus? A detailed exploration of how search really works—straight from the people building it.
Unlike typical webinars or online updates, this was a hands-on event where the search team openly interacted with attendees, answered live questions, and clarified long-standing myths in SEO.
Google divided the sessions into:
Day 1: Discovery (Crawling)
Day 2: Indexing
Day 3: Serving (Ranking)
🎯 Top 10 SEO Takeaways from Google’s Deep Dive 2025
1️⃣ AI Overviews = Regular Search Infrastructure
No special tricks are needed to rank in AI Overviews. Google uses the same crawl, index, and rank infrastructure for AI content as it does for traditional search. If you’re optimized for classic SEO, you’re already optimized for AI Search.
✅ Keyword Tip: AI Search Optimization, AI Overviews, AI SEO Techniques
2️⃣ Google Does NOT Support lm.txt
Forget LinkedIn myths—Google doesn’t use or plan to use lm.txt. It’s not a thing in real-world SEO. Avoid wasting time or following influencers spreading misinformation.
✅ Keyword Tip: SEO Myths 2025, Google File Support, Robots.txt vs lm.txt
3️⃣ 404 Errors Are Fine. Soft 404s? Not So Much
Regular 404 errors don’t hurt your site. But Soft 404 errors consume crawl budget and damage your site’s reputation in Google’s eyes. Prioritize fixing soft 404s over standard ones.
✅ Keyword Tip: 404 Errors SEO, Crawl Budget Optimization, Fix Soft 404
4️⃣ HTML Pages Get Indexed Faster Than Media
Google indexes HTML text content faster than images, PDFs, or videos. Media content goes through a separate, slower pipeline. So, if your visuals aren’t appearing quickly in search—don’t panic.
✅ Keyword Tip: Image SEO 2025, Indexing Speed, Media vs HTML Indexing
5️⃣ No Penalty for Schema Overuse—Just Be Accurate
You can add multiple schema types to your pages without fear. There’s no penalty for using lots of valid structured data, as long as it’s accurate and matches your content.
✅ Keyword Tip: Schema Markup SEO, Structured Data Best Practices, Rich Results
6️⃣ Google Understands Topics Beyond Your Website
Google doesn’t rely solely on your website for understanding concepts. If you’re writing about well-known topics like “Root Canal Treatment,” you don’t need to explain the basics repeatedly. But for rare topics, give context, images, and examples to help Google’s systems grasp the content.
✅ Keyword Tip: Topical Authority, Google Knowledge Graph, Contextual SEO
7️⃣ Don’t Confuse Indexing Signals with Ranking Signals
Freshness and other ranking signals only matter at ranking time, not during indexing. Many are confused because they expect Google to rank fresh content instantly. Google clarified: ranking and indexing are separate processes.
✅ Keyword Tip: Ranking Factors 2025, SEO Signal Differences, Indexing vs Ranking
8️⃣ Know the Difference: Trends, Analytics & Search Console
Google Trends: Global interest (not site-specific)
Google Analytics: Only your website’s data
Google Search Console: Mix of global + site-level insights
When tracking organic search traffic, Search Console is your most reliable source.
✅ Keyword Tip: SEO Tools Comparison, Search Console vs Analytics, Organic Traffic Tracking
9️⃣ New Websites Should Use Multi-Channel Traffic
If your site is new and not ranking—even on your brand name—use social media, referrals, and PR to bring in initial traffic. This helps Google identify your ideal audience, which improves your organic rankings over time.
✅ Keyword Tip: New Website SEO, Traffic Generation 2025, Social + SEO Strategy
🔟 Export Your Data to BigQuery
If your site gets decent traffic, save your Google Analytics data to BigQuery to prevent losing it after 16 months. It helps in advanced analysis and marketing decisions. But make sure data is syncing consistently—or the export will silently stop.
✅ Keyword Tip: BigQuery for SEO, GA4 Data Export, Long-Term SEO Analytics
🗣️ Bonus Highlight: Who’s Responsible for AI Overview Mistakes?
One of the most pressing questions asked during the Q&A was:
“If Google expects us to create responsible, accurate AI content, why doesn’t it fact-check its own AI Overviews?”
Google’s Gary Illyes responded diplomatically:
AI answers are pulled from websites, so site owners share the responsibility
Google is working to improve AI Overview accuracy, but will not shut them down
AI in search is here to stay, whether we like it or not
This reinforces that AI Overviews aren’t going anywhere. So your best bet is to optimize your content for factual accuracy and clear context, ensuring your site gets featured—correctly.
😎 The Event Atmosphere: Learning Meets Fun
Aside from the serious SEO talk, the event was super interactive:
Google team members were approachable and responsive
Free goodies included T-shirts, pens, stickers, and chargers
The food (as always) was top-notch
Selfies with Gary Illyes? Absolutely.
Gary’s fun, witty personality lit up the room every time he hit the stage. It wasn’t just a conference—it was an experience.
📌 Final Thoughts: Should You Attend Google Events?
Absolutely YES.
If you ever get a chance to attend a Google event like Search Central Live or Deep Dive:
Grab it.
You’ll meet new people
Learn directly from Google insiders
Grow your network and skills
Plus, events like this give you insider insights months before they go public—a huge edge for SEO agencies and content strategists.
🧠 Conclusion: SEO in 2025 Is About Clarity and Context
Google’s Deep Dive 2025 made one thing very clear:
SEO is no longer about tricks—it’s about understanding Google’s systems, feeding them quality content, and building long-term trust.
Whether it’s AI Overviews, soft 404 errors, or Schema markup—the fundamentals still rule. Focus on clarity, accuracy, technical excellence, and audience intent.
And if you need help optimizing your site for AI Search, Core Web Vitals, or EEAT, we at Soft Market Solution are always ready to help.
✅ Need SEO help?
Contact Soft Market Solution – India’s Trusted SEO Agency
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Email us at: connect@softmarketsolution.com | 📞 Call: +91 6299655909