Local SEO in the AI-search era

A year ago “local SEO” meant Google Business Profile, Maps pack, and a half-dozen citation directories. Today it means all of that plus a second front: whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews cite you when a buyer asks a question in their area.

The two surfaces, one foundation

The temptation is to treat AI-search optimization (GEO) as a separate discipline. It isn’t. The same fundamentals that win the Maps pack — clean NAP, structured data, real reviews, authoritative content — are what LLMs surface from. The difference is in packaging.

• Traditional SEO rewards crawlable, keyword-aligned content.
• GEO rewards content structured around entities, claims, and citations that an LLM can lift cleanly into an answer.

That means an FAQ block, a “what makes us different” section with concrete numbers, and clear service-area declarations are not just nice-to-haves anymore. They are how you get quoted.

What to actually audit

In order of impact for a typical local services business:

1. GBP completeness — categories, services, attributes, products, hours, photos, Q&A.
2. Schema coverage — LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, and Review markup.
3. Service-area pages — one URL per service × city, internally linked, real content (not spun).
4. Review velocity — automated post-visit requests, monitored response times.
5. AI-search citation tracking — monthly check of where you appear in ChatGPT / Perplexity / AI Overviews for your money queries.

The fifth one is the new bit. Most local agencies are still pretending it doesn’t matter.

The honest forecast

Maps and Google search will keep sending the largest share of intent-bearing traffic for the foreseeable future. But the share of decisions that get made before the click, inside an LLM answer, is climbing fast. The businesses winning in 2027 are setting up the second surface now.