Strategy guide from Forbes Top 5 AI Leader, Hema Dey of Ifel International
Google completed the rollout of the May 2026 Core Update this week. This is the second major algorithm change in 43 days and the most significant change in how customers find businesses since Google was founded.
For 25 years, when customers searched for businesses on Google, a list of websites popped up and they clicked through to find what they needed. That model is over. Google is now leveraging advanced Gemini AI to directly answer questions and recommend the names of companies before a customer visits a website. A study that analyzed over 25 million AI-powered search sessions found that 93% of users never click through to any website. They receive and act on Google’s AI recommendations.
Most teams fail not because they lack talent. They’re failing because no one understands what Google’s AI shift actually means. That’s exactly the purpose of this workshop. ”
— Hema Dey
For small businesses across the country, the impact is immediate and significant.
“This is not a technical SEO story,” says Hema Dey, founder and CEO of Iffel International Inc. and a Forbes Top 5 AI Leader. “This is a story of business survival. Businesses that understand what has changed and adapt their strategies in the coming weeks will further develop an advantage that will be very difficult for competitors to buy.”
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What will change and why small businesses will be most affected?
Google’s new AI-first search environment creates a two-tier visibility environment that disproportionately impacts small and medium-sized businesses. Large brands with dedicated marketing teams and decades of online authority are more likely to automatically appear in AI-generated recommendations. Small businesses have built visibility around keyword rankings and website traffic. Those metrics no longer tell the whole story.
A new study released this week by Search Engine Land reveals that AI overview has increased the average time users spend on Google pages by nearly four times. Users now read Google’s AI answers before rating individual business listings. This creates what researchers call a second impression, the moment when a buyer looks at a business listing after reading the AI’s answers and decides who seems trustworthy enough to contact them.
“The website is no longer the first impression,” Day said. “This is number two. Whether you read Google’s AI’s answers and make a call depends on how trustworthy the business is at the time. This includes reviews, content quality, expert writing, and the technical foundations that tell the AI who the business is and why it deserves to be recommended.”
The four business profiles most at risk
1. Businesses with less than 20 Google reviews. The number of reviews has become a visible signal of competition. A company with 30 reviews will seemingly lose out to a competitor with 300 reviews, regardless of the quality of their service.
2. Businesses whose website content has not been updated for more than 12 months. 2024 content automatically loses to 2026 content on second impression. Recency has become a signal of trust.
3. Companies whose websites are built without structured data. Schema markup is the technical code that tells Google and AI platforms exactly what your business is and what it’s about, and it’s the foundation of AI visibility. Websites without this will not be visible to the AI recommendation layer.
4. Companies whose marketing agencies still measure success solely on keyword rankings and website traffic. These metrics do not measure whether your business is recommended by AI. AI is now a major driver of new customer acquisition for service-based businesses across the United States.
Workshops and corporate training
Hema Dey is now accepting bookings for corporate workshops and training sessions using The AI Translator as a foundational curriculum for organizations looking to prepare their teams for this environment. Sessions are offered in half-day and full-day formats and can be delivered in-person or virtually to teams at all levels.
Organizations that purchase The AI Translator on Amazon on June 10, 2026 will receive a corporate discount for attending workshops and training. Minimum purchase requirement is 20 copies for corporate workshops and training sessions and 50 copies for keynotes. All purchases must be made by June 10, 2026 to qualify. The price will increase on June 11, 2026.
“Most teams fail not because they lack talent or commitment,” Day said. “They’re failing because no one understands what Google’s AI shift actually means for their particular role or their particular organization. That’s exactly what these workshops were designed to do.”
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