Welcome to Issue 107 of Clearly YOU. Not a subscriber? Let's fix that: https://kimscaravelli.com/newsletter/
⏰ It's time to change the words on your website. Like NOW.
You can love AI or hate AI. Or if you're like me, you can do both at the same time.
Regardless of your feelings about it, if you have a website, the game just changed. If you want real people to see what you do for a living, you need to stop catering to the search engine Gods and start nurturing a positive relationship with AI agents.
And not to panic you, but... you need to get on it within the next 90 days. It's going to be a swift pivot.
Google announced the biggest overhaul of search in 25 years. The "ten blue links" model is being replaced by AI agents that scan the web, synthesize information, and deliver answers directly to users. No click required.
Your website still needs to appeal to the people who land on it. But instead of obsessing over Google and its precious keyword phrases, you need to draw the attention of AI agents, or they simply won't send people your way. Period.
The good news is that this isn't about redesigning the core structure of your website, rebranding, or any of that gobbledygook. It's about words, plain and simple.
AI agents don't read the way people do.
They're not charmed by personality or clever turns of phrase. They're scanning for facts they can use to answer a real question: Who is this for? What does it do? How much does it cost? How is it delivered?
When they can't find clear answers, they move on. When they can, they use your content to point people in your direction.
So it's time to go through every page and ask yourself: If an AI agent read this, could it answer a buyer's question?
Warm and friendly may still be your tone, but tone means nothing to these machines. They want answers. They want clarity. And they want proof, whenever possible.
Before you start moaning and groaning...
Think of this as an opportunity to purge those peppy but vague taglines, sweep away the jargon, and ditch the rambling sections that exist mostly to repeat keyword phrases.
The game has changed. Fortunately, the offering is the same: clear, useful words that tell people exactly what you do. You were always going to need those.
Cool Quote
"Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late."
Seth Godin
3 Helpful Facts About How AI Agents "Read" Your Website
✅ Fact #1: AI agents can't use a question as an answer.
If your headline or tagline is a question, like "Ready to grow your business?" or "Looking for an affordable solution?", an AI agent reads it and gets nothing. Those words don't help it tell someone what you do, who you serve, or what you offer, so it just moves on.
The fix is simple. Replace question headlines with statements that answer questions.
Swap "Ready to grow your business?" with a statement that identifies one clear way you help grow businesses. And instead of asking if they're looking for something affordable, put in a price point, or something else that demonstrates affordability.
Boring? Maybe. But it's what AI agents need to see. And honestly, it's what page visitors want to see as well.
✅ Fact #2: AI agents are looking for proof.
Testimonials, statistics, and credentials used to be the cherries on top of a well-structured page. Nice to have. Confidence boosters. But now they are must-have elements that are doing some heavy lifting.
AI agents are scanning for evidence they can use to vouch for you. They recognize numbers, credentials, and testimonials as proof that your website has authority and credibility.
What doesn't work: "Quality you can trust." "Passionate about what we do." "Committed to excellence." An AI agent can't verify any of that, so it won't use it.
What does work: Cold, hard facts like "300+ organizations trained" or "certified by...", and glowing testimonials that name a specific result.
If your proof points are buried at the bottom of your page, move them up. If you don't have any, it's time to get some.
✅ Fact #3: AI agents follow your links. All of them.
For years, we were told that internal links and external links were important for SEO. So we added them. Lots of them. And then, gradually, we stopped being quite so fussy about where they actually went and whether they were purposeful (or even made sense).
That casualness is going to cost you now.
AI agents follow your links the way a careful reader would. A broken link tells them the site is poorly maintained. A link that promises one thing and delivers another erodes their confidence in everything else on that page. For instance, a button that says "Learn about our services" and goes to your contact page, or a URL that reads "page?id=4872" instead of something recognizable, matters a lot to those agents.
Go through your site and check two things: that your links actually work, and that they go somewhere logical. It's less glamorous than rewriting your headlines and text boxes, but it matters just as much.
Stuff Worth Sharing
If you want to dive deeper into what's happening - and I highly recommend learning more and learning quickly - here are a couple of solid, reliable sources:
TechCrunch — "Google Search as you know it is over" https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
Time — "Google Shifts to AI Search, Heralding Major Change in How People Use the Internet"https://time.com/article/2026/05/20/google-search-ai-internet/
For the Word Nerds
Gobbledygook (gob-ul-dee-gook)
It's one of my favourite phrases, even though I have to never get the spelling right on my first try. It comes out of my mouth with the same cadence as "son of a bitch" which is wildly satisfying.
Nobody knows exactly who coined it, but the credit usually goes to Texas congressman Maury Maverick, who used it in a 1944 memo complaining about bureaucratic writing. He said it reminded him of the sound a turkey makes: all noise, no meaning.
Which is exactly what AI agents think of your vague taglines.
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Want fast tips to help you communicate with more clarity? My book, Making Words Work, keeps is simple and doable.
Thanks for reading. If something resonated, I’d love to hear from you.
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