TL;DR
Google employees on the Search Off the Record podcast advised publishers not to break articles into tiny, chatbot-style chunks to chase LLM citations. The company says ranking still favors content made for human readers and that chunking is not a reliable signal for search ranking.
What happened
On Google’s Search Off the Record podcast, staffers John Mueller and Danny Sullivan pushed back against a rising SEO practice called content chunking, in which publishers split articles into very short paragraphs and many question-like subheads to appeal to generative AIs such as Gemini. Sullivan said Google does not use those formatting signals to boost ranking and that publishers should prioritize writing for people rather than trying to optimize specifically for LLM ingestion. He noted he consulted Google engineers before making the statement. The article argues content chunking can look like desperation from sites chasing inconsistent traffic, and while it may sometimes correlate with temporary gains, Google expects systems to evolve to prefer human-focused content. The conversation referenced in the report begins at about the 18-minute mark of the podcast episode.
Why it matters
- Long-term search visibility is tied to human engagement signals, not formatting tailored to LLMs.
- Tactics designed solely to please AI models may stop working as ranking systems evolve.
- Publishers chasing short-term traffic lifts risk producing content that is less useful to readers.
Key facts
- Advice came from Google staff on the Search Off the Record podcast (around the 18-minute mark).
- Speakers named in the report include John Mueller and Danny Sullivan.
- The practice criticized is known as 'content chunking'—breaking articles into very short paragraphs and question-style subheads.
- Google does not use bite-sized content signals to improve ranking, according to Sullivan as reported.
- Sullivan said he consulted Google engineers before making the statement.
- The article cites generative models such as Google’s Gemini as the context for the trend.
- The piece characterizes chunking as an emerging SEO superstition that can produce apparent short-term effects.
- The report was published by Ars Technica and written by Ryan Whitwam on 2026-01-11.
What to watch next
- Follow future Search Off the Record episodes and official Google communications for any updates to this guidance.
- not confirmed in the source: Whether publishers who continue chunking will see sustained ranking improvements over time.
- not confirmed in the source: How rapidly LLMs like Gemini will change how they ingest or cite web content.
Quick glossary
- SEO: Search engine optimization; practices aimed at improving a website’s visibility in search engine results.
- LLM: Large language model; a type of AI trained on vast text data to generate or summarize language.
- Content chunking: A formatting approach that splits information into many very short paragraphs and micro-headings, sometimes designed to be easily consumed by AI systems.
- User engagement signals: Metrics such as clicks and dwell time that search engines may use to infer how useful content is to real users.
Reader FAQ
What is content chunking?
It’s the practice of breaking articles into many very short paragraphs and question-style subheads, sometimes to make pieces easier for AI to ingest.
Does Google penalize sites that use chunking?
not confirmed in the source
Should I write for humans or for LLMs?
The Google staffers reported recommend focusing on human readers, since human behavior remains an important ranking signal.
Where did Google make these remarks?
The comments were made on Google’s Search Off the Record podcast; the discussion begins at about the 18-minute mark.
ONE CHUNK OF CONTENT, PLEASE Google: Don’t make “bite-sized” content for LLMs if you care about search rank Google says creating for people rather than robots is the best long-term…
Sources
- Google: Don't make "bite-sized" content for LLMs
- Google: Don't Turn Your Content Into Bite-Sized Chunks
- Google doesn't want you to create bite-sized chunks of …
- Google: Don't Turn Content Into Bite Sized Chunks for LLMs & AI
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