S2 Ep 38 How Real People—and Bad Reviews—Are Beating SEO

🎧 Show Notes — Episode 38

Title: How Real People—and Bad Reviews—Are Beating SEO

Overview:
In Part 2 of this three-part conversation with Robert Mitchell (Chief AI Officer at WSI), we dig into the uncomfortable truth that’s catching a lot of business owners off guard:

Your website might be technically optimized—but if your reputation isn’t, you’re still invisible.

This episode unpacks how the rise of AI-powered search is shifting visibility away from traditional SEO, and toward what real people are saying about you—across TikTok, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and beyond.

💡 Key Themes & Insights:

• Reputation is the new ranking factor
  AI isn’t just crawling your metadata—it’s crawling the internet’s opinion of you. If your customer reviews, brand mentions, and user-generated content are weak or missing, you won’t show up in generative answers.
  
  
• Famous ≠ Findable
  Robert shares his thoughts on why a real-world example: a well-known Toronto law firm failed to appear in AI-driven results, despite its brand dominance. Why? Lack of digital proof and a weak reputation footprint.
  
  
• Search is happening everywhere now
  Buyers aren’t just Googling. They’re staying inside platforms like TikTok, reading reviews, watching creator reactions, and forming trust before they ever land on your site.
  
  
• Bad reviews scale faster than you think
  Negative content—especially unmonitored—can quickly overpower your polished SEO efforts in the eyes of AI models trained to surface consensus over claims.