Guest

Michelle Bourbonniere, PhD — SEO strategist, researcher, and founder of Words on the Rise
Freebie: Cheat Sheet to Showing Up Well in AI Answers → words on the rise.com/ai

What we cover

• Is SEO dead because of AI? What’s still true, and what’s changing
• The big shift: AI tools now have access to live search results (and why that matters for small businesses)
• How Google’s AI can personalize results based on what you’ve read vs. haven’t read (helpful… and creepy)
• Why AI Overviews and AI Mode are rewriting your message — and how that affects trust + conversions
• The difference between using AI for generating (emails, scripts) vs searching (recommendations, providers)
• Why being “a dietitian” isn’t enough: how AI personalization can reward specific audiences + specialties
• Off-page SEO is evolving: brand mentions can matter more than backlinks in AI search
• Reddit: how to show up without being salesy (and why etiquette + credibility matter)
• Michelle’s “3 R’s” framework for AI visibility:
  • Recognition (does AI understand your brand?)
  • Reputation (what does AI say when someone searches your name + reviews?)
  • Results (do you appear when someone searches for a provider like you?)
• A practical starting point: test your visibility in an incognito window
• The “wait, WHAT?” moment: AI pulling info from your terms & conditions because it’s the clearest writing
• Are blog posts still worth it? When they do make sense, and when they’re not the best use of time
• Recipe blogs and indexing reality: why Google may ignore “one more chocolate chip cookie recipe”

Action steps mentioned

• Open an incognito browser window and test prompts your ideal clients would ask
• Check whether AI gets your business basics right (services, specialties, location/licensure)
• Make your most important info clear + concise on the pages you actually want AI to cite
• Build consistent brand mentions across platforms (podcasts, bios, socials, community spaces)

Listen/learn more

• Download Michelle’s cheat sheet: https://wordsontherise.com/ai
• Subscribe to her newsletter for ongoing AI search updates (sent about every two weeks)