Google Research used to be pretty separate. That is, it was a separate product area from other product areas. It is no longer. This is an organizational issue however, and while it would seem like it mattered, it did not. It only changed who was the SVP overseeing it at some super high level. The VP was the same for many many years, and the person really in charge.
But this is irrelevant to the second part of your question, where you mention: "and that there was no separate staffed labs doing more academic research."
They do not do "more academic research", so in that sense, your recruiter was right.
Research at Google is not about academic vs industrial. The practical difference between the research scientist and SWE ladders is that in research scientist, publishing is valued as well. Outside of research, it's certainly nice, but not really part of the job description.
However, unlike most other places, publishing alone is not the goal. If all you ever did was research and publish, you'd be fired :)
Google expects research scientists to do real coding, real work, and be as good of SWE's as their SWE's.
It is a very hybrid approach, and different from most other places.