Show notes · timestamps

Timestamps are approximate against the recorded episode. Update after final upload if Substack's chapter timestamps shift on import.

0:00 · Cold open. Google's announcement about agentic phone calls and what it means for every small business.

1:00 · The history lesson. The cheap windows in Google Ads (2010) and Facebook Ads (2014) and what happened to the owners who got in early.

4:30 · Why this announcement is the start of a third cheap window. Paid AI search ads opening up.

6:00 · What Google actually announced. AI placing the phone call to local businesses on the customer's behalf. Home repair, restaurants, dog grooming, plumbers, landscapers.

7:00 · The phase change. From 6% to 45% of US consumers asking AI for local recommendations in one year. Projections of 70% by next year.

8:30 · A year ago this was a curiosity. Today it is existential for local business.

12:00 · The four signals AI uses to decide whether your business exists. Schema markup, llms.txt, definition-style content, review-rating threshold.

14:30 · Signal 1. Schema markup, the label maker for your website. Why pricing guesses by AI hurt the business in both directions.

15:30 · Signal 2. llms.txt. The plain-text file at the root of your site that AI tools pull to ground their answers.

15:45 · Signal 3 + 4. Definition-style content and the review-rating threshold. A 4.0 Google rating is now AI-invisible. The cutoff nobody warned the local business community about.

17:00 · The Friendship Fitness reflection. Conflicting business info across Yelp, local directories, multiple phone numbers. AI needs one truth source.

19:50 · Three moves to ship this week. Definition paragraph. Entity consistency audit. Schema + llms.txt with developer help.

21:30 · The closing window. The $50K floor on AI search ads dropped to zero on May 6. The pure-organic window is closing.

22:00 · Cost-per-click math today vs. where it goes next. The 2010 Google Ads playbook applied to 2026 AI search.

27:00 · Why operators with five-star reputations are quietly losing customers without knowing it. Birdeye 2026 GBP data. The funnel didn't break, it got smaller and more qualified.

30:00 · What I would do if I owned a service business in Columbus this morning.

34:00 · Open Claude tonight. Type best [your category] in [your city]. See who comes up. That's your shopping list problem.

35:30 · Close.

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