Google added a new help document to its search developer documentation named Google Search’s guidance on using third-party SEO tools, services, and advice and updated the older Do you need an SEO? document on Friday. Google primarily added in topics around generative AI optimization and more guidance on trusting third-party tools and other SEO advice. Why. Google said it posted these document updates and changes because it wanted to “highlight important considerations when evaluating third-party SEO tools and advice, and to simplify some sections and remove outdated examples in existing documentation.” Third-party SEO tools, services and advice. Google’s new help document named Google Search’s guidance on using third-party SEO tools, services, and advice digs into advice from Google on how you should consider advice from third parties and using third-party SEO services and tools. This includes how to: Evaluate and verify external SEO advice against official Google guidelines Think critically about using third-party SEO tools and services Assisting in sitemap generation Establishing indexing directives Offering to generate “SEO-optimized” content for you Providing advice they claim will improve the ranking of your existing content Promising improvements for AI experiences and search formats (also known as “AEO” or “GEO” tools) Google added that it does not endorse any third-party tool and warns about tools claiming so. It also warns about tools or services that claim “using a service or tool doesn’t guarantee ranking success.” Google added, “Third-party tools don’t have access to our internal ranking data. They can’t guarantee performance.” Google does…