📜the scary truth

Hey! It’s Dr. Marcella Wilson.

In today’s issue:

• The #1 reason AI bots are ignoring most sites.
  

• A simple checklist of mistakes that might be holding you back.
  

• The weird fix that gets you recommended in AI search results.

P.S. Don’t stay invisible. Tomorrow at 2 pm EST (11 am PST), I’m going live to show you how to finally get found in AI search. Seats are almost full → Register now

PROMPT OF THE WEEK

Today’s Prompt

It’s the most wonderful time of year - for parents! Kids are headed back to school.  So take advantage of it with some back-to-school holiday sales. Try this prompt…

“Write a fun and persuasive Facebook post announcing a limited-time back-to-school sale for [PRODUCT or SERVICE NAME]. Highlight how it helps students, parents, or teachers, create urgency with a deadline, and include a call-to-action to shop now. Use a friendly tone and keep it under 100 words.”

Pro Tip: Swap “Facebook post” for “email subject line” or “Instagram Reel script” to instantly get different formats from the same prompt.

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BEYOND THE SCROLL

Most Stores Will Miss AI Search Traffic. Will Yours?

Here’s a frightening stat that keeps me up at night: 73% of businesses won’t show up in AI search this year.

That means when a shopper asks:

“What’s the best under $50 backpack for college students?”

AI bots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overviews won’t recommend your product even if your product fits perfectly.

Why?  Because AI bots don’t guess. They only recommend stores they can actually read. AI  bots don’t read your site the way humans do. They can’t “see” your clever headlines or your pretty layout. Instead, they scan for machine-readable signals like structured data, reviews and detailed product infomation.

If those signals are missing or incomplete, you’re invisible to AI.

Up until last year, Google and traditional SEO was about ranking in a list of links. But AI search is about being the answer itself. If your site isn’t structured so bots can understand it, you won’t even make the list.

Think of it like a job interview: if you walk in without a résumé, you don’t get considered. Structured data and optimized content is your résumé and 73% of businesses never hand one in.

CHECKLIST: Are You Making These Visibility Mistakes?

Here are the top errors that keep businesses invisible in AI search:

1. Missing Structured Data  → No “resume” for bots to read.

• Without structure data (aka “schema”), bots can’t “see” your products clearly. 
  

• They need to know price, availability, reviews, and product category in a format they understand.

Clueless as to what “structured data” and “schema” is?  Then check out my webinar tomorrow where I break it all down…

2. Vague Product Titles

• “The Bella Bag” means nothing to AI.
  

• “Bella Leather Laptop Backpack – Women’s” is descriptive, keyword-rich, and instantly clear to bots and humans alike.
  

3. No Reviews or Ratings → AI Bots won’t recommend products without social proof.

• AI tools love recommending products with social proof.
  

• A store with “4.7 stars, 325 reviews” will always beat one with none even if the product is identical.
  

4. Thin or Generic Descriptions → A single sentence that doesn’t answer buyer questions.

• “A stylish bag for everyday use” doesn’t cut it.
  

• Bots want detailed specs that match user intent: size, material, weight, durability, “fits 16-inch laptops,” etc.
  

5. No FAQ Content → Missing the Q&A format AI loves to pull answers from.

• AI often answers in a Q&A format.
  

• If your site has FAQs (“Does this backpack fit under an airplane seat?”), bots can directly pull those answers and recommend you.
  

6. Outdated or Incomplete Information → Price, availability, or shipping details missing from your product data.

• Missing shipping details, currency, or “in stock/out of stock” info confuses bots.
  

• Worse, if AI thinks your product is unavailable, it won’t recommend you at all.
  

7. Over-Reliance on Paid Ads → Bots don’t index ads, so you’re paying for visibility you can’t sustain.

• Paid ads don’t factor into AI recommendations.
  

• If you’re only running ads and ignoring AI optimization, you’re burning money while competitors earn free visibility.

If you nodded “yes” to even two of these, chances are you’re in the invisible 73%. But don’t feel bad about this because you’re not alone. Most businesses fall into the “invisible 73%” without even realizing it.

The good news? Every one of these errors is fixable. By tightening up your product data, adding structured details, and making your store AI-friendly, you can quickly move from being skipped over to being recommended.

SCROLL-STOPPING TAKEAWAY

Here’s the bottom line: AI isn’t the future of search because it’s happening right now. Shoppers are already asking AI bots to make buying decisions, and if your store isn’t showing up, you’re leaving money on the table. Don’t wait until Q4 panic sets in. Make the shift today, get visible in AI search, and step into the 27% of businesses that will actually be seen (and sold).

BEHIND THE PROMPT

Wanna to Fix This Before Q4?

If you saw yourself in that checklist, don’t panic. That’s exactly why I’m hosting a free live training TOMORROW:

➡️ “Invisible No More: How to Get Found by ChatGPT, Google AI and other AI Tools”

In this session, I’ll walk you through:

• How AI bots actually decide which products to recommend.
  

• The biggest mistakes that keep businesses invisible (and how to fix them fast).
  

• The quick visibility playbook to move into the 27% of businesses that do show up.
  

👉 Enroll here to make sure you’re not invisible in AI search → Register for the Webinar

SCROLL TO THE END

Here’s how I can help you show up in AI search results:

1. Save your seat for my free webinar: “Invisible No More - How to Get Found by ChatGPT, Google AI and other AI Tools.” I’ll show you how AI decides who to recommend and give you a peek at the process. → Register for this free webinar

2. Join the course – Learn exactly where and how to add this info to your Shopify store → Enroll today

3. You’ve probably spent $27 on weirder stuff this month. This one actually helps your content get noticed. → Grab my Seen and Sold kit

See ya next week!

Dr. Marcella Wilson

P.S. - Thanks to all the time I saved with AI last week, I whisked my daughters off to Milwaukee for their friend’s quinceañera.  It was my first quinceañera and wow was it a party!  So much joy, love, food and fun.  I danced until my feet gave out and laughed until my stomach hurt. 💃✨

Have you ever been to one?