How to Stay Discoverable as Search Evolves with Carolyn Shelby

Understanding GEO, building a memorable brand, and using AI as an assistant with Carolyn Shelby from Yoast. ----- Welcome to episode 596 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we are kicking off our Yoast mini-series by sitting down to interview Carolyn Shelby from Yoast! How to Stay Discoverable as Search Evolves with Carolyn Shelby If you've been wondering whether you need to start over with your SEO strategy, Carolyn Shelby from Yoast has some reassuring news. She sees "generative engine optimization" (aka GEO!) as an extension of SEO because both come down to making useful content visible, accessible, and easy for machines to understand. In this episode, Carolyn shares how to keep your site crawlable, why key information should be clearly presented in text, and how firsthand experience gives AI a reason to cite and link to you. The conversation also explores how AI is changing the way people discover content and how creators earn from it. With search spreading across chatbots, social platforms, and video, and fewer people clicking through traditional search results, Carolyn emphasizes building creating memorable content that draws your audience back to your site. If you want to stay discoverable as search continues to evolve, this episode is for you! Three episode takeaways: GEO is an extension of SEO, not a whole new discipline: Carolyn explains that generative engine optimization and SEO rest on the same foundation: making useful content visible, accessible, and easy for machines to understand. That means keeping your site crawlable, presenting key information clearly in text, and offering original research or firsthand experience that gives AI a reason to cite and link to you. A memorable brand brings people back to your site: With search spreading across chatbots, social platforms, and video, and fewer people clicking through traditional search results, discovery is changing, and so is monetization. Carolyn recommends building a memorable brand and creating distinctive content that draws your audience back to your site. AI works best as an assistant, not an autopilot: Along with configuring SEO tools like Yoast, Carolyn shares how to use AI as a personalized drafting and learning assistant. The key is to give it specific context about what you need and to review its work before you publish. Resources: Yoast Binging with Babish — YouTube Dan Martell WisprFlow The SEO Update: Yoast's podcast! Follow Yoast on Instagram Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group Thank you to our sponsors! This episode is sponsored by Yoast. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.