Best of 2025: Clients Aren’t Googling You, They’re Asking AI | Branding Momentum Podcast Episode

Veronica Di Polo
1 day ago
3 min read

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This week I’m bringing back one of the most important episodes of the entire year. Because if 2025 taught us anything, it’s this: your clients aren’t Googling you. They’re asking AI about you. And if the machine can’t find you, you don’t exist. It really is that blunt.

Your old SEO habits aren’t enough anymore. Keywords, backlinks, long-tail phrases — all of that mattered when people used to click. Now they ask a question, and AI gives them one answer. Not ten links. Not a list. One.

And if you’re not part of that answer, you’re invisible.

The Old Way Stopped Working

We used to obsess over page one of Google.

First result. First paragraph. First click.

We wrote entire blogs just to get there. But now nobody scrolls, nobody compares, nobody “opens in new tab.” People ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Siri — whoever their assistant is — and trust whatever comes back.

AI doesn’t browse. It fetches. It scans everything available about you and decides whether you’re relevant enough to include. If your business isn’t findable, it’s skipped.

This is why AEO matters.

AEO: Answer Engine Optimization

Yes, it sounds technical, but it’s not as dramatic as people think. If SEO was built for search engines, AEO is built for AI engines. Instead of trying to rank, you’re trying to become the answer.

And the only way to do that is consistency.

Your name, your offer, your niche, your expertise — repeated everywhere.

Website
Instagram
YouTube descriptions
Email signature
Your Link in Bio
Your podcast show notes
Even the comments under your own podcast episodes

I’ve been doing this for months and the difference is real. AI pulls from whatever it can find, so your job is to make sure it can actually find you.

💡 Free Resource — The AI Visibility Sprint

Are you invisible in AI search? 3 days. 3 moves. Stop AI from skipping your name.

👉 Day 1: The gut-punch invisibility test (ouch, but necessary)

👉 Day 2: Your first breadcrumb — 5 minutes, zero stress

👉 Day 3: An AI-ready FAQ that keeps working while you drink rosé

Start free AI Sprint → https://veronicadipolo.mykajabi.com/aisprint

Instagram Just Changed the Entire Game

Instagram now indexes posts into Google. That means every caption you write, every carousel, every description becomes part of your discoverability. If your post includes your name, what you do, and who you help, you suddenly become findable in a completely different way.

This is where tiny tweaks turn into visibility.

The Behind-the-Scenes Work Nobody Notices (But AI Does)

I’ve updated everything this year. Link in bios. Website pages. Hidden schema. Rewritten descriptions. Spotify comments. Even FAQ pages that only exist for AI, not for humans.

These aren’t public blog posts. They’re hidden onboarding points for the algorithm.

AI crawls them
AI summarizes them
AI decides whether you show up

It’s not glamorous, but it works.

Your First Step (And It’s an Easy One)

Tell ChatGPT: “Create an AEO plan for my business for 2025.”

Then tell it to break it down step by step so it’s not overwhelming. And yes, it will give you a long list. That’s normal. Pick one thing and start:

Add your name to every image description.
Update your About page.
Refresh your Instagram bio.
Rewrite your YouTube descriptions.
Add a consistent line to every platform you use.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about being findable.

👉 Hit follow so you don’t miss the next breakdown. If you want to learn how to make your lead magnets AEO-ready, tuned for visibility, and impossible for AI to ignore, listen to the full episode on the Branding Momentum Podcast.

I’m Veronica Di Polo, a marketing strategist based in Moraira, Spain, helping service-based business owners get leads with words that sell.

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