Explore every episode of the podcast Love At First Search (formerly Social Slowdown)
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Knows You. Why Isn't It Recommending You? | 19 oct. 2026 | 00:16:19 | |
AI can know exactly who you are and still never recommend you. That’s the distinction Meg Casebolt explores in this episode of Love At First Search: the difference between being recognized by AI systems and being selected as a strong fit for a specific problem. Recognition answers questions like:
That requires more than identity. It requires enough public evidence for a system to understand your expertise, trust your authority, distinguish your point of view, and connect you to the right problem. In this episode, Meg talks about why broad visibility is not the goal, why smaller specialists can outperform bigger generalists for specific recommendation queries, and why established experts often already have the expertise but lack a clear enough public record for AI systems to recognize the pattern. She also explains why “just publish more content” is often the wrong advice, how fragmented expertise creates ambiguity, and why recommendation emerges from patterns across a body of work rather than from one optimized page or one self-declared claim. The key idea: Recognition means the system knows who you are. Recommendation means it has enough evidence to choose you. And for service providers, consultants, coaches, and other experts, that second outcome is the one that actually matters. Go deeper in the AI Findability Library: https://loveatfirstsearch.com/ai-library/ | |||
| AI Discoverability for Experts: What Modern Search Rewards in 2026 | 12 oct. 2026 | 00:16:39 | |
Search isn’t dead, but Google isn't the only tool that peoplea re using anymore And the path between someone asking a question and finding the right expert has changed. For years, search worked through a fairly simple model: someone typed a query into Google, Google ranked a list of webpages, and the goal of SEO was to earn a high enough position to get the click. That still happens. But it’s no longer the whole system. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI-mediated search tools can now interpret questions, retrieve information from multiple sources, compare what they find, and synthesize an answer before someone ever visits a website. That changes what experts need to make visible. In this episode, Meg Casebolt, founder of Love At First Search, explains how modern search is moving beyond page rankings and keyword-first content strategy toward a system that also has to understand the source behind the information: who you are, what you know, what you’re known for, and whether there is enough evidence to trust and recommend you. You’ll hear about why AI did not suddenly replace search when ChatGPT launched, how individual ideas can be retrieved from webpages and synthesized into larger answers, why Meg no longer starts content strategy with keyword volume, and why expert ideas need to be stated explicitly enough for both humans and machines to understand. Meg also explores how zero-click search changes measurement. Rankings and traffic still matter, but they no longer tell the entire story. Citations, mentions, branded searches, recognition, trust, and recommendation are becoming part of the discoverability picture too. The takeaway: modern search is no longer only about getting a webpage to rank. It’s about making your expertise understandable enough to retrieve, credible enough to trust, and clear enough to recommend. Go deeperFor more on AI discoverability and how search systems evaluate information and expertise:
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| Love At First Search Is Back: Authority, AI Discoverability, and the Future of Search | 06 oct. 2026 | 00:13:30 | |
After nearly three years of podcast silence, I’m reviving this feed — but not to pick up exactly where Social Slowdown left off. Search has changed. My work has changed with it. And the questions I’m most interested in now are less about ranking for keywords and more about how experts become easier to understand, trust, and recommend across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, YouTube, and the rest of the public web. In this reintroduction episode, I explain why I decided to revive an old podcast feed instead of starting from scratch, what happened when dormant listeners immediately started downloading three-year-old episodes again, and how I’m thinking about the value of old content, existing audiences, and accumulated authority. I also lay out the experiment I’m running across the blog, YouTube, this podcast, and LinkedIn: taking the same core concepts, translating them into different formats, and tracking both how humans respond and how search and AI systems pick them up. Over the next several episodes, we’ll get into:
If you’ve been here since Social Slowdown, thanks for sticking around. If you found me more recently, welcome. Love At First Search is now about expert authority, discoverability, and the future of search. Explore the AI Findability Library: loveatfirstsearch.com/ai-library | |||
| Choose a Business Model That Is Set Up to Pay Your Bills With Jessica Abel | 19 sept. 2023 | 00:36:58 | |
Jessica Abel's background as an author led her to assume that mass marketing and a large audience was the ONLY way to succeed as a business owner; Thankfully, she finally figured out that her business models needed to first pay her bills, and THEN she could make decisions about audience and marketing style. In this week's episode, Jessica (she/her) and I discuss:
Connect with Jessica: A little bit about Jessica: Jessica Abel (she/her) is a graphic novelist, author, creative business coach, and the founder of Autonomous Creative, a coaching company that helps mid-career creative professionals build businesses that can pay their bills AND honor their creativity. Abel founded the company in response to the ever-greater struggle creatives face in making a living. Pushing back on the “starving artist” mythology, Abel focuses on business fundamentals, stripped of jargon and adapted to the unique needs of creative professionals, and puts the tools of making real money in less time—without creative compromise—into the hands of the artists, writers, and entrepreneurs who need them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Why a Traffic-Based Business Model May Not Be Right for You With Jessica Lackey | 12 sept. 2023 | 00:37:09 | |
By now we know that what works for one, may not work for another. And in this week's episode, I'm talking with Jessica Lackey all about business models, and how sometimes what makes sense for other people may not make sense for you and your business. Maybe the traffic-based business models that we're sold can actually be less profitable than a lower, slower pace of business. Jessica Lackey is a strategy and operations advisor who is on a mission to radically disrupt mainstream business culture in an effort to create sustainable businesses with a human-centric approach. With a background in corporate leadership, McKinsey & Company consulting, and a Harvard Business degree, Jessica knows a thing or two about hustle culture and what it feels like to judge success by the bottom line…at all costs. Now, she combines her deep experience in consulting, Fortune 500 operations leadership, and coaching to help businesses grow without sacrificing the well-being of their clients, team, and community. Here's what you can expect from this episode:
Connect with Jessica:
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Bring More Feminine Energy Into Your Business With Marissa Lawton | 05 sept. 2023 | 00:35:17 | |
Marissa Lawton is an 8-year online entrepreneur and conduit for ancient women’s wisdom who guides feminine seekers to reclaim their divine power and channel it into their businesses. As a former licensed therapist who left the medical model of mental health care, Marissa had a behind-the-scenes look into how patriarchal systems and structures continue to diminish women’s ability to co-create the lives and businesses that serve their innate needs. And her Work in the world is to change that. By helping women reconnect to nature’s rhythms, Marissa aims to reintroduce long-denied mysteries and reestablish deep feminine roots in the entrepreneurial space. In this week's episode, Marissa and I are talking about how you can bring more feminine energy into your business. We discuss:
Connect with Marissa:
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| The Challenges and Advantages of Entrepreneurship with Diann Wingert | 29 août 2023 | 00:45:14 | |
In this week's podcast episode, I'm thrilled to be speaking with Diann Wingert, a fellow female solopreneur with ADHD. Diann Wingert became a business strategist, coach, and mentor after a 20-year career as a psychotherapist. Her mission is to help ambitious outliers with big ideas and busy brains get focused, fired up, and flame retardant. Diann is the creator of The Boss Up Breakthrough, host of The Driven Woman Entrepreneur Podcast, and an expert on creative female entrepreneurs with ADHD traits. In this episode, we talk about:
Connect with Diann:
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| All Things Social Media, Neurodiversity, and Accessibility With Briar Harvey (Part 2) | 24 août 2023 | 00:35:12 | |
This is the second part of my 2-part conversation with Briar Harvey about all things social media, online marketing, neurodiversity, mental illness, and accessibility. If you haven't already listened to Part 1, you can listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1887252/13429205 We also talk about our ability to focus, the importance of our choice of words, and how the average attention span has decreased significantly over the past decade. About Briar Harvey: Briar Harvey is a storyteller and systems witch. She believes that everything has a story and exists within a system. The trick then, is figuring out how to change the rules and tell a better story. She is an IDEA Consultant (that's Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) with a focus on Neurodivergence (that's ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, etc). She helps companies create and implement accessibility plans that increase employee retention by at least 50%. In her free time, she writes stuff and records podcasts. She’s the founder of The Neurodiversity Media Network, a collaborative and accessible media company that is hosting and curating all the news that is relevant to neurodivergent folks. Find her at briarharvey.com and neurodiversitymedianetwork.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| All Things Social Media, Neurodiversity, and Accessibility With Briar Harvey (Part 1) | 22 août 2023 | 00:59:20 | |
Buckle up for Part 1 of a 2-part episode with Briar Harvey about all things social media, online marketing, neurodiversity, mental illness, and accessibility. We talk about the fear of missing out on social media, what it's like to run an online business AND consume content as someone who is neurodivergent, and more. About Briar Harvey: Briar Harvey is a storyteller and systems witch. She believes that everything has a story and exists within a system. The trick then, is figuring out how to change the rules and tell a better story. She is an IDEA Consultant (that's Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) with a focus on Neurodivergence (that's ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, etc). She helps companies create and implement accessibility plans that increase employee retention by at least 50%. In her free time, she writes stuff and records podcasts. She’s the founder of The Neurodiversity Media Network, a collaborative and accessible media company that is hosting and curating all the news that is relevant to neurodivergent folks. Find her at briarharvey.com and neurodiversitymedianetwork.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Planning Your Marketing Strategy With Michelle Mazur | 15 août 2023 | 00:45:28 | |
This episode is all about planning your marketing strategy as an entrepreneur. Michelle Mazur talks about the importance of figuring out your messaging before your marketing. We talk about:
Connect with Michelle: More about Michelle Mazur: Michelle Mazur works with brilliant business owners who are shaking things up...but having trouble talking about it. She combines the tools of successful social movements with the qualitative research skills she earned in her communications PhD to help them craft their powerful, captivating message. The author of 3 books (including the newly-updated 3 Word Rebellion) and featured in Fast Company, Entrepreneur and Inc., she knows that speaking about what you do in a clear and captivating way is the key to reaching the people you could help the most. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Social Media, Content Creation, and Figuring Out What Makes You Happy in Your Business With Jen Liddy | 08 août 2023 | 00:34:52 | |
In this week's episode, Jen Liddy talks about how her Facebook account got hacked and caused her to completely rethink her marketing strategy for her business. We also discuss:
Connect with Jen: Click here to read the blog post This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| SNEAK PEEK: Social Slowdown Book Introduction | 01 août 2023 | 00:20:55 | |
Last week I launched my new book, Social Slowdown: Market Your Business Without Sacrificing Your Mental Health. So for this week's podcast episode, I figured I'd give you a sneak peek into the book with an audiobook version of the introduction. If you want to read the whole book, you can get it for just $3.99 for the Kindle, or for $9.99 for a paperback copy - OR you can get a signed paperback for $20. About this book: In a digital world dominated by social media, Meg Casebolt made a bold decision that would challenge the status quo. Seeking respite from the incessant noise and distractions, she embarked on a 100-day social media break, uncertain of the consequences it might have on her business. To her surprise, Meg discovered that her hiatus had no detrimental impact on her thriving SEO marketing agency. Curiosity piqued, she delved deeper into the experiences of fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners who shared their secret desires to break free from the clutches of social media's grip. Driven by a desire to understand the dangers lurking beneath the surface, Meg embarked on a profound exploration of the hidden perils of social media. With meticulous research and personal anecdotes, she unraveled the insidious links between addiction, depression, anxiety, and patriarchal oppression that often go unnoticed in the digital landscape. Meg, in her wisdom, realized that boundaries were the key to reclaiming control and finding balance in the digital realm. Drawing from her own transformative journey, she shares five invaluable strategies to establish healthier relationships with social media—ways to protect your mental well-being, safeguard personal privacy, and nurture genuine connections in an era of superficiality. But Meg doesn't stop there. She extends a lifeline to those yearning for liberation from the clutches of social media's alluring yet detrimental embrace. With passion and expertise, she unveils a comprehensive array of 20 marketing alternatives—innovative, impactful strategies that can catapult businesses to success while enabling them to ditch social media for good. Join Meg on an eye-opening odyssey as she dismantles the myths and illuminates the shadows surrounding social media. Through her empowering words, she invites entrepreneurs and small business owners to embrace a new paradigm, one that champions mindful engagement, authentic connections, and unparalleled growth beyond the constraints of the digital universe. This book is an invitation to reimagine the future—a future where you can thrive without surrendering your sanity to the endless scroll. Are you ready to embark on this transformative journey and discover the untapped potential that lies beyond the confines of social media? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Behind the Scenes of the Social Slowdown Book: Publishing and Pre-order Issues | 27 juil. 2023 | 00:25:49 | |
Ohhhh gosh y'all... You're probably wondering why I'm releasing a podcast episode today instead of Tuesday, and if you pre-ordered the Social Slowdown book, then you already know that we ran into some ~technical~ issues. Well, I'm here to be fully transparent about what went awry. If you're listening to this episode on July 27th, 2023, - then today is the day that my book's pre-orders were SUPPOSED to go live. But as we all know too well, being a business owner comes with its own obstacles. In this episode, I talk about the pre-publishing errors I encountered with the Social Slowdown book, what I learned from this experience, and the reality of making mistakes as a business owner. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Hiring Lacy Boggs to Help Me Write My First Book | 18 juil. 2023 | 00:55:33 | |
I hired Lacy Boggs to help me write the first draft of the Social Slowdown book, and today she's here with me to talk all about the writing process. We also talk about:
Lacy Boggs is a content strategist, author of the bestselling Kindle ebook, Make a Killing With Content, and the mastermind behind the podcast, "Ace Stone, Marketing Detective.” As director of The Content Direction Agency, she helps small business owners create and implement content marketing strategy that feels like a playground for ideas and results in deceptively powerful nurture content to create massive growth.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Social Slowdown Book: Coming July 27th, 2023! | 11 juil. 2023 | 00:18:40 | |
Did you hear?! The Social Slowdown book is coming out on July 27th, 2023! If you didn't already know, I wrote a book, taking all of the best bits and pieces from this podcast and putting them together into an easily digestible format. In this episode, I explain WHY I wrote this book and what you can expect from it. You can pre-order the e-book for $3.99 or the paperback for $8.99 on Amazon. For the full show notes, transcript, and more info, visit https://www.socialslowdown.com/social-slowdown-book-coming-soon/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Changemaking, Self-Publishing, and Intentional Growth With Erika Tebbens | 07 mars 2023 | 00:49:18 | |
Erika Tebbens is a Growth Strategist for visionary entrepreneurs, leaders, and changemakers who are looking to make their mark doing things differently –– and leave a legacy of positive impact. She provides growth consulting and training through her company, Erika Tebbens Consulting; her podcast: Sell it, Sister!; and through being a featured speaker on podcasts and for communities such as The Tory Burch Foundation and Honeybook/Rising Tide. She's also the author of You've Got This!: A Counterintuitive Guide to Powerful, Inevitable Changemaking This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Ep. 59: Switching to a 9-Grid Instagram Strategy with Jordan Gill | 27 déc. 2022 | 00:50:52 | |
"So I went to my team and was like, 'We are gonna only have 9 posts on our Instagram and we're gonna archive everything else" - Jordan Gill
Jordan Gill is a 7-Figure Business Strategist whose mission is for high-achieving business owners to prioritize rest without sacrificing revenue! She’s helped over 400 coaches and consultants work with clients only 4 days a month with VIP Days! When she’s not spreading the gospel of VIP Days, she’s working on one of her thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles or traveling the world with her husband and bonus son. Jordan helps service providers and strategists structure and sell virtual VIP days. Click here to get her Free VIP Day Roadmap! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Ep. 25: Overcoming Comparisonitis on Social Media with Maryellen Dance | 11 avr. 2022 | 00:40:53 | |
Hey friends! Today I'm here with Maryellen Dance of the Okay-ish Podcast to talk about comparisonitis on social media.
Listen to the Okay-ish Podcast For the full show notes and transcript, visit https://www.socialslowdown.com/overcoming-comparisonitis-on-social-media-with-maryellen-dance/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||
| Ep. 1: What is the Social Slowdown Podcast? | 13 nov. 2021 | 00:06:37 | |
Welcome to Social Slowdown, the podcast for entrepreneurs and micro-businesses looking for sustainable marketing strategies without relying on social media. I'm Meg Casebolt, your host, and founder of Love At First Search. Before we dive into the episodes, I wanted to give you an idea of what to expect from this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com | |||