Phil Risher says keyword stuffing for Google rankings is dead. AI platforms now drive recommendations, so businesses need unique content that answers real customer questions asked to AI assistants. Success now means measuring share of voice and mention rate on specific AI prompts.
Google trained you to compete for rankings. AI is training you to compete for recommendations. What does this mean for your business? The old playbook of jamming keywords in is dead. The new playbook of being the recommendation is alive and well. And the reason is, is because Google tells us that we need to create non-commodity content. And what that means is we have to create unique things that's from real customer questions because people are asking questions to AI platforms now. They're not just looking for keywords and they're not just going to websites. Now people are going to Google and they're typing in, my thermostat is on, but there's no air coming out of my vents. What should I do? And they're looking for a recommendation or an answer that Google is pulling in. This is fundamentally the change that's happening. So what can you do right now? If you're creating content or you're working with a marketing company to create content and they're still talking about keywords and rankings and trying to rank on certain things, that is a dying game plan. The new game plan is What is my share of voice on this specific prompt? And what is my mention rate? And these are the new terms that are happening from an SEO perspective when we talk about being the recommendation. It's not about rankings anymore. It's about being the recommendation.
