How to keep showing up in AI search
From trust signals to social traffic, here’s the founder’s playbook for visibility
AI isn’t “the future” of search, it’s the present. And it’s already deciding who gets found and who gets ignored.
This week, I’ll show you how to keep showing up in an AI-first world, earn trust from both humans and algorithms, and use social to fuel your visibility.
Today’s agenda:
📍 Local SEO is going AI—here’s how to stay visible
🤝 The trust signals AI (and buyers) actually look for
🚦 Turn social clicks into AI search authority
💼 Briefly: GPT-5, Gen Z’s BS detector, and CMO content wins
⏱️ Up & coming: LLM traffic surges 527%—and it’s not from Google
✍️ AI is rewriting the rules of local SEO
Remember when ranking for “best [your service] near me” was just about keywords and backlinks? Those days are numbered.
In my recent chat with Becky Beach on The Becky Beach Show, we dug into how AI-powered search is changing local SEO—and fast.
📌 Here’s the gist:
Google’s already prioritizing location-heavy listings for “near me” searches.
If you’re outside the city center, you’re probably getting pushed down.
AI and large language models (LLMs) will reward websites with rich, structured, story-driven content, like client stories, detailed scenarios (“What to do when your water heater leaks”), and even comparison charts.
🧑💻 In fintech, SaaS, or any service-based business, the principle is the same: In an AI-first search world, your website is either your top salesperson… or invisible.
🎧 Listen to the full conversation and start planning for AI search before it becomes your main referral source.
🤝 Trust is the new SEO
If AI search decides who gets seen, then trust decides who gets the click and the client.
LLMs don’t just scrape facts; they recommend credible sources. That means the same trust signals that win over human visitors also help AI rank you higher.
So if your website is all product shots and polished marketing copy but no real people, you’re invisible twice:
To prospects who want to know who they’re dealing with.
To AI systems that are looking for real, verifiable stories and authoritative content.
🍐 Start with the low-hanging fruit:
Tell your story on your About page.
Show the humans running your company—leadership bios, team photos, behind-the-scenes shots.
Link to credentials or track records that prove you’re legit.
These are signals that both buyers and AI look for. And in an AI-first search era, your About page could be just as important as your homepage.
📄 Read the full playbook to make your site the one AI trusts most.
🚦 Fuel your AI-ready website with social traffic
If you’ve invested in making your website AI-friendly with rich, specific, credible content, the next step is simple: feed it traffic.
However, you can’t just wait for AI or Google to send people your way. Social media is your distribution engine.
Your ideal buyers are already hanging out on platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and (for some industries) Instagram. These are your distribution engines.
📢 Share content that gives them a reason to click:
Bite-sized insights from your blog or podcast
Quick charts, data points, or before/after stories
Thought leadership takes on what’s changing in your market
Make sure every post points back to your website, where deeper engagement (and conversions) happen.
Every visit you send strengthens your brand signals, builds credibility with AI, and increases the odds you’ll be the answer surfaced in a high-value search.
🚀 Schedule a Discovery Call and I’ll walk you through the exact social-to-website funnel that turns traffic into qualified leads.
Briefly
🤖 GPT-5 is here with bigger memory, video capabilities, fewer hallucinations, and more autonomy—meaning AI can now surface richer, more media-driven content.
🏠 Airbnb is going “AI-first,” starting with customer service. A custom AI agent is now handling 15% of support cases without human reps, with plans to expand into travel search and booking next year.
📱 Gen Z marketing = authenticity over virality. Jayde Powell says brands chasing every trend risk losing trust. Instead, focus on consistent tone, style, and community-building, not just posting more often.
📊 AI is rewriting the content playbook. New CMO research shows the winners will pair AI tools with human oversight, optimize for AI-driven search, and double down on authentic, multi-channel content.
Up & Coming
Traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Gemini is up 527% in just five months, according to the 2025 Previsible AI Traffic Report.
Some sites are already getting 1%+ of all sessions from these platforms without a single Google click.
SEO isn’t just about rankings anymore. It’s about being the answer AI chooses to surface. Read the full report →