In May, Google released a Core Algorithm update that fully integrates it's Gemini 3.5 Flash Model turning traditional search into an interpretative dance of user intent. Now, the algorithm will use the rising intelligence of AI to reward real, lived experience, expertise, and, yes, true authority.
A Brief History of Search
If you have leaned into the digital age across the last two decades, you have experienced the evolution of search. In the earliest days, keyword stuffing and consistent manipulation of site structure would win. SEO became a full time job and the hottest new career track with agencies popping up to dedicate armies of twenty-somethings eager to unlock the latest secrets to search domination.
With the increasing convenience of high quality photos and videos alongside the intense rise of social media, the next game to play was pushing out all forms of content as often as possible on as many channels as possible. Relevance mattered very little, just consistency in posting and giving the bored masses the opportunity to scroll endlessly.
Fast forward to just a few years ago when emergence from lockdown unleashed a new level of addiction to the endless scroll and marketers were rewarded for understanding why side-by-side dance videos could transform your brand (full transparency, I still don’t understand TikTok).
And now, here we are in the age of AI, where week over week, the technology gets better, faster, stronger. Outsmarting the machine is brutal war.
To the Genuine Go the Spoils
“AI Slop,” will probably be the phrase of 2026. The earliest tinkers in AI believed they were the only ones programming their agents to post and respond on social media. This phenomenon churned out maddening quantities of posts, likes, and comments touting “exceptional insight” and “architects of [insert expertise here]” formatted in redundant one liners spaced out like paragraphs.
The gods of the internet began to toil—how do we get the humans back online?
Google said, “No more slop.”
LinkedIn said, “No more slop.”
And here we are. If you don’t know who you are and what you do and why you’re different from everyone else doing what you do, well, you won’t win no matter how many bots are working for you.
Why? Because you can’t fake your authority with funny cat videos and “dialing it in” with your AI agent.
Are you building your authority or is it already there but you’re not leveraging it? Confidence, authority and a sound marketing strategy are the wave of the future.
Google will no longer exclusively reward the most content and it will penalize low-effort content (i.e., your AI agent’s output). It won’t reward the version of you that is programmed to show up to your Zoom calls or record your podcast.
I suspect by now we have all been a victim of someone’s “AI Slop,” in emails, text messages, blogs, and social posts or read the countless stories of interviewees being greeted by a droid for virtual meet ‘n’ greets.
If you listened to my old podcasts, as predicted, “real” is the new black.
But I’m not an Authority, What do I do?
This is my favorite question. This question built my career, but like you I didn’t believe I was an authority on anything.
When I work with clients, I ask them the dreaded and now very taboo question uttered by the wallflowers forced to play business card roulette at awkward Chamber of Commerce mixers, “What do you do?”
Inevitably, an incoherent stream of words tumbles forth, even though they know exactly what they do, the words just won’t come.
Strike one against your authority.
For decades, my job was to help doctors step into their authority (I just didn’t know that’s what I was doing at the time). And, your first question is, “Why do doctors need help with that? Isn’t the authority built-in to the profession?”
Ah, you would think, right?
Well, as Oprah once shared a short clip I saw on LinkedIn, everyone—even Beyonce—asks, “Was that good enough?”
Doctors are no different. Often, it is hard to see ourselves as the expert and the unique value of our expertise. “I’m a doctor,” is only part of the equation.
“I’m a gastroenterologist,” Now we’re getting more specific. There are still a lot of gastroenterologists out there.
“I do colonoscopies and follow-up with lifestyle and nutrition recommendations based on the outcomes of the procedure.” More specific, but is that interesting?
“I’m a gastroenterologist that specializes in healing the microbiome of the gut eroded by stress and poor diet. My clients are high-level executives managing stress that isn’t going away. Instead of just a better diet or stress management techniques, I focus on what the client needs to maintain a healthy gut–even under high stress. The gut is often referred to as the second brain, so my clients aren’t just at a lower risk of disease, they are focused and more productive too.” Now that’s really specific.
If you were to continue this conversation, wouldn’t you want to know more? Maybe asking, “Wow, that sounds interesting. So, your clients get better focus after working with you? How does that work?”
Do you see how specializing suddenly changes everything? And, if you were to interview this gastroenterologist, you might find that in his work history he primarily worked with patients in high stress jobs and began to recognize that telling them to change jobs or stress less wasn’t going to happen. To serve his patients, he had to get more creative and the outcomes not only kept patients healthy, it offered added benefits of focus and productivity.
Would you read a book written by this doctor? Follow him on social? Listen to him on a podcast? As someone that is always stressed and is always seeking ways to be more productive and focused—you bet.
You’re Sitting on a Goldmine
When I work with clients, digging into their history and experience is an important step, but even before that there is self-worth work that has to be done. It’s hard to show up as the authority, when you don’t feel confident in your own skin.
Unlocking confidence and authority, is the power duo that makes my job as a marketer so much easier. The story surfaces and then we build the structure and assets that multiply your reach without the slog of endless cold calling and hit or miss networking events.
Clients and revenue find you because you’re showing up consistently as you.
A recent client shared how our work together helped him close his highest-paying client to date, “Dani helped me value my own work, improve communication, and increase revenue by attracting higher-quality clients. I just closed my highest-revenue client yet because I had the tools to speak about how I could solve her deeper, more transformational problems.”
Google is now forcing anyone that wants to compete online down this path. Be the authority or be lost in the sea of sameness. If you don’t want that to be you, it’s time to step into your authority.
Got gaps in your authority? Let’s find out so you don’t get left behind.
