I recently joined Jeremy Rivera on his podcast the Unscripted SEO Podcast to talk about SEO, Pinterest, and AI search and honestly, it was one of those conversations where I got to geek out on all the things I love most about the search world.

You can listen to our full conversation on the podcast episode, and here’s a rundown of the biggest topics we covered and what I think is most beneficial for you as a small business owner in 2026.

Why I always lead with the human side of SEO

One of the things I kept coming back to throughout the conversation is something I see constantly with my clients: they get so focused on writing for Google or AI tools that they forget about the actual humans who are going to hire them!

Your website copy needs to do both. But if I had to pick one to prioritize, it’s always the human first. A page that speaks clearly to your ideal client will also give search engines and AI tools what they need — structured, credible, specific information. A page written for bots at the expense of real people just doesn’t convert. And at the end of the day, conversions are what grow your business, not rankings.

Pinterest is a search engine — and more businesses should be on it

This is my hot take that I’ll stand behind forever: more businesses should be on Pinterest.

I think a lot of people still picture Pinterest as a platform for wedding planning and home decor. And while those categories are huge there, Pinterest works for a much wider range of businesses than most people realize. The key isn’t being a visual business — it’s having content. If you have blog posts, videos, portfolio photos, or any content people can land on, you have something to pin!

What makes Pinterest different from Instagram or Facebook is that people go there to search, not to scroll. They’re looking for information, ideas, solutions. That search intent is exactly why Pinterest strategy and SEO strategy overlap so much — keyword optimization in your pin titles, descriptions, board names, and profiles works the same way it does on Google.

There are so many benefits of Pinterest, and here’s the part I love most: pins have an incredibly long shelf life. Unlike social media posts that get seen for a day or two and then disappear, pins can drive traffic for months or even years!

Not sure if your business should be on Pinterest? Check out 7 Questions to Ask to See if Pinterest Is Right for Your Business.

The Pinterest SEO bonus nobody talks about

One thing Jeremy pointed out that I think is worth highlighting: Pinterest boards can rank on Google. When I do keyword research for SEO clients, I regularly see Pinterest boards and individual pins showing up in Google search results. So you’re not just getting traffic from Pinterest’s own search — you’re also getting a second shot at Google rankings through your Pinterest content.

That means one piece of content can potentially bring you traffic through your website’s organic ranking, Pinterest’s internal search, and Google’s indexing of your Pinterest pin. That’s a triple win from a single piece of content!

What I’m telling clients about AI search right now

AI search came up a lot in this conversation (you can’t talk about SEO anymore without including AI search), and my approach to it is really rooted in the same fundamentals as traditional SEO. A few things I’m focused on with clients right now:

• The most important information on your page needs to be at the top of a page. AI platforms often only crawl part of a page when generating a response, so if your key services, location, or differentiators are buried halfway down, there’s a good chance they won’t factor into an AI recommendation at all.
• Distribute your FAQs throughout your service pages instead of having one standalone FAQ page. AI tools pull structured, question-and-answer format content to generate direct answers — having that content close to the relevant context on each page gives it more utility.
• And on the off-site side, the fundamentals still matter: directories, Google Business Profile reviews, mentions across the web.

My top five on-page priorities

Jeremy asked me what I focus on when someone hands me a site to optimize, and I gave him some of my top priorities from things I see all the time with clients’ websites:

• Add more copy. I’ve had clients come to me with two sentences on their homepage. That’s not going to work for Google, for AI, or for the potential client trying to figure out if you’re the right fit.
• Balance text and visuals. Too much of either is a problem. If you’re in a visual industry, your images should be part of the experience — but walls of text with no visual breaks will lose people too.
• Use keywords intentionally. They need to be present and natural, not forced or stuffed.
• Fix your heading structure. Multiple H1s on a single page is one of the most common issues I see, and it’s usually because clients like how the H1 styling looks without realizing it has an actual SEO function.
• Put your location in the body copy if you’re a local business. This is the number one local SEO mistake I see — location only in the footer, nowhere else on the page. If you want to rank for local searches, your city or service area needs to be in the actual content of your service pages and about page.

What actually matters with data reporting

We also got into how I think about KPIs and data reporting, which I think is worth touching on. The end goal is always conversions — but as an SEO consultant, I don’t have any control over my clients’ sales process. What I can measure is traffic quality. Are people staying on your site for a reasonable amount of time? Are the right people finding you?

I’ve also started paying more attention to impressions as a leading indicator, especially as AI Overviews affect click-through rates. A site that’s holding its impressions but losing clicks has a different problem than a site losing both — and the response strategy is different too.

Go listen to the full episode!

If you want the full conversation, head over to the Unscripted SEO Podcast with Jeremy Rivera to hear our chat. We went deep on a lot of this and it was a really fun conversation.

And if anything here resonated and you’re ready to get your own SEO, Pinterest, or AI search strategy in place, get in touch and see how we can work together!

Visit the Unscripted SEO Podcast by SEOteric with Jeremy Rivera for more great SEO conversations and tips!