You’re publishing useful content. You’re sharing it. You’re showing up where your buyers spend time.
And getting found can still feel harder than it should.
I’ve worked in digital marketing since 1996, so I’ve seen plenty of changes in how people find businesses online. AI is changing it again.
People can now find experts, businesses, and answers through AI tools without visiting Google or clicking through to a website first.
I recently spent 2 podcast episodes talking with Jennifer Britton on the Flow Flex Scale podcast (links below) about online visibility, AI search, content, and some of the experiments we’re both running.
Looking back at our conversation, I realized how much my thinking about visibility has changed over the past year.
I still believe in creating useful content, showing up consistently, and building relationships with the people you want to serve.
I’ve changed what I pay attention to.
AI search is changing how people find experts
For a long time, I could talk about online visibility and know Google would be a big part of the conversation.
Now someone might discover you without visiting Google or your website first.
Jennifer gave me a great example. Two people booked discovery calls with her on the same day. When she asked how they’d found her, both said Claude had recommended her.
Those prospects had a problem. They asked an AI tool for help. Jennifer’s expertise was connected to their questions, and they took the next step.
That changes one of the questions I’m asking about visibility:
Can AI systems figure out what you know and which problems you can help someone solve?
I’ve written quite a bit about AI search in Your Visibility Edge, so I won’t repeat all of that here. Jennifer and I go deeper into it on the podcast.
For me, the practical change is paying closer attention to whether my expertise is clear enough online for people and AI systems to understand it.
I’m looking at my old content differently
I’ve been publishing online for decades. I have years of articles on my website plus 2 years of Your Visibility Edge.
Recently, I used AI to review that body of work. I wanted to identify the topics I consistently talk about, the questions I’ve already answered, and the questions my content doesn’t answer well enough yet.
That changed how I looked at my archive.
An older article can answer a question someone is asking today. A group of articles can show a pattern of expertise. Something I wrote years ago may contain an idea worth updating for the way people search now.
If you’ve been in business for years, you’ve probably accumulated articles, presentations, podcast interviews, workshops, videos, emails, and client materials.
There’s a good chance you already have answers your future buyers are looking for. Those answers may be sitting in older content that AI search systems can find, cite, and connect with your expertise.
The opportunity is to make those answers easier to find.
AI has made my judgment more important
Jennifer and I also talked about repurposing. She has a useful 3 Rs framework: repurpose, republish, and re-syndicate.
AI makes all 3 much faster. Give it one article and it can produce enough variations to keep you publishing for weeks.
Which creates another problem.
Just because AI can create something doesn’t mean I should publish it.
This is a line I keep coming back to from our conversation:
“AI can generate a ton of information, more than you will ever need or want, but your expertise is where the judgment lies.”
I decide which idea deserves another format. Which point needs more explanation. Which AI suggestion doesn’t sound like me. Which question my reader needs answered next.
AI gives me options quickly, and my experience tells me what to do with them.
Yours does too.
Find out what AI knows about you
You may be wondering how to tell whether AI can connect your name with your expertise.
Try this.
Open ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini and ask a question a prospective buyer might ask when searching for an expert in your field.
Don’t include your name.
For example, a career coach might ask:
“Who are some career coaches who work with women over 50 making a career change?”
Then try 2 or 3 variations based on problems your buyers bring to you.
Look at the names and sources that appear. More importantly, look at why those people appear. What content is being cited? What questions does it answer? What evidence of expertise can you see?
If you don’t appear, you’ve learned something useful. If you do appear, you’ve learned something useful too.
Either result gives you a place to start.
Make your expertise easier for people and AI to find
Every new AI feature can make you feel as if there’s another thing you’re supposed to learn.
I’ve been putting more of my attention on what I’ve already created.
You have years of knowledge, stories, answers, client experience, opinions, and judgment. AI gives you new ways to examine that work, find gaps, update useful ideas, and make more of it available to the people searching for answers.
The question I keep asking myself is:
How can I make what I already know easier for the right people to find and use?
That’s a useful question for your business too.
Jennifer and I cover much more in our 2-part conversation, including AI search, repurposing, interactive tools, and how we’re experimenting with AI in our businesses.
Listen to Part 1 - EP11: Visibility and AI SEO: Staying Findable in the New Search Era
Listen to Part 2 - EP12: Using AI to Amplify Solopreneur Expertise and Build Practical Tools
Want to go further with the AI search test?
The Get Cited by AI Skill Bundle takes you beyond the quick test above. The Skills help you examine how AI sees your expertise and find changes you can make so your content is easier to find, understand, and cite.
I’m curious, have you checked to see if AI search tools are citing your content?
This is excellent, Denise. Love that you are bringing this to the people who are working with writers. I've done something similar for the authors/writers so people can find them and their books. The framework is 3-fold - Findable. Selectable. Trustable. This is such an important topic and you've handled it beautifully.