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One Bad “AI” Experience Doesn’t Mean It’s All Garbage

Last Updated: July 31, 2025

Let’s be real for a second.
You tried out something with “AI” slapped on the label… maybe it was clunky, confusing, or just plain didn’t work. So now you’ve decided AI is all hype and you’re done with it. Forever. End of story.

But hold on. That logic’s about as solid as saying, “I bought a blue Jeep once and it broke down, so I’ll never drive another blue car ever again.” Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, right?

AI isn’t one thing. It’s dozens of things. Hundreds, even.
What most folks don’t realize is that “AI” isn’t just one app or one tool. It’s a whole category of technology. There’s machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, LLMs (like ChatGPT), recommendation engines, and more. They all do different jobs, in different ways, for different industries.

Saying all AI is bad because of one bad experience is like swearing off restaurants forever because you got food poisoning once. Sure, that one place sucked. But you still need to eat.

You’re already using AI, even if you don’t know it.
Think AI is some far-off, futuristic thing? It’s already in your truck, your phone, your bank app, your email spam filter, and your GPS. It decides which posts you see on Facebook, which ads follow you around online, and even which route your map app suggests when traffic piles up.

Whether you love it or hate it, AI is already baked into your day. And we’re just getting started.

Soon, AI will be in every home. Seriously.
This isn’t sci-fi. We’re on the doorstep of having voice-powered AI assistants in every home, scheduling appointments, answering questions, handling chores. It won’t be long before we’re talking to robots like Rosie from The Jetsons, and they’re talking back with real answers.

You can refuse to use AI, but your customers won’t.
Look, nobody’s saying you have to become some tech wizard overnight. But here’s what matters: your customers are using AI. They’re asking their phones who to call when the pipes burst or the AC goes out. They’re talking to Alexa, Google Assistant, and who knows what else.

And if those tools don’t know your business exists, guess what? You’re invisible.

You don’t have to love AI. But you do have to show up.
There’s a difference between using AI to run your business and just making sure AI tools know you’re out there. That means having a strong online presence, accurate business listings, and content that helps search engines (and AI tools) understand what you do and where you do it.

Because if someone asks Siri for an electrician in their area and Siri’s never heard of you, you’re not getting that call. Simple as that.

Adapt or get left behind.
It’s tough. We get it. Change is uncomfortable. But this isn’t some tech fad that’ll blow over. AI is the new electricity… it’s going to be in everything. And businesses that get ahead of it will win. The ones that don’t? Well… they’ll be watching their competitors run away with their customers.

So before you write off AI entirely, ask yourself: am I mad at the technology, or just frustrated that I haven’t seen it work yet? Because the reality is, AI can work for you. And your business? It needs to be found.

From Yellow Pages to Google to AI: This Isn’t About Trusting or Liking, It’s About Survival

Last Updated: July 31, 2025

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If you’re a small business owner saying, “I don’t trust AI stuff, and I’m not using it,” we’re not here to argue with you. You don’t need to like AI. You don’t even need to use it. But you do need to understand something very important: It’s not about whether you use AI. It’s about the fact that your customers already are.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been here.

Remember the Yellow Pages?

Back in the day, if you needed a plumber, an electrician, or a good HVAC guy, you reached for that fat yellow book. Then Google showed up. And at first, plenty of people said, “I don’t need that internet stuff. I’ve got ads in the book, and my phone’s still ringing.”

And for a little while, that was true. But slowly (and then all at once), the phone stopped ringing. Because customers stopped looking in the book. They started searching online. And if your business wasn’t showing up in Google, you simply didn’t exist.

Now we’re at the next leap forward. We’re moving from Google to AI. And this time, it’s not going to take years. It’s going to take months.

The Shift Has Already Started

AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s SGE (Search Generative Experience), Perplexity, and others are changing how people search. They’re not scrolling through 10 blue links anymore. They’re asking questions, and expecting a clear, confident answer.

  • “Who’s the best local roofer?”
  • “Is there a plumber near me that answers the phone on Sundays?”
  • “Find an HVAC company with great reviews that services older homes.”

These questions are being asked right now and AIs are answering them with recommendations. If your business isn’t part of that data? You don’t get mentioned. Period.

This Time, You Won’t Get the Luxury of Delay

Back in the Yellow Pages days, if you were slow to adapt to Google, you had time. Revenue might dip, and you could course correct. Things moved slowly enough that you could recover. But AI adoption is happening fast. And what’s worse, AI tools aren’t updating your info in real-time. They’re retrained every few months at most. If you miss the next training cycle, you could be shut out until the one after that. That means you could be waiting 6-12 months with:

  • No visibility
  • No recommendations
  • No chance to compete

So whether or not you trust AI, you still have to get your business in front of it because your customers both trust and use it.

Here’s How to Stay in the Game

If you’ve invested in solid website architecture and good SEO, you’re in great shape to take advantage of this shift. If not, the time to act is right now. As we talked about in a previous article about how we’re no longer playing the “Top 10 Game,” you’ve got to start aiming to be the top 1 (or 3 if you’re lucky).

1. Double Down on SEO

The same SEO practices that helped with Google? They matter even more for AI. Think of it as SEO on steroids. With fewer spots available, you’ve got to be on your game.

2. Watch Out for Technical Debt

If you’ve been kicking the can down the road (cheap platforms, sloppy hosting, cut-rate domains), it’s about to catch up with you. Start fixing these problems immediately. WordPress users can add new AI-friendly features like an llms.txt file in minutes. If you’re stuck in a closed system like Wix or Squarespace, you may not be able to add it at all. You saved a few bucks, but now you may need a full rebuild just to stay competitive. That’s technical debt in action. Start clearing these things out before it’s too late.

3. Add a Strong FAQ Strategy

AI loves websites that answer questions clearly and directly. Build a global FAQ page, and sprinkle smart, natural-language questions across all your service and location pages. Make sure you’re using proper markup though or you might end up wasting your efforts.

4. Create AI-Friendly GEO Pages

Make location pages that speak clearly to AI tools. Keep them simple, specific, and packed with the info bots look for, not just humans. It’s important to remember that the AI bots read and infer things differently than humans. You need to speak to them with authority, confidence, and boldly. Prove your worth to them with awards and recognitions received and boast about your track record, time in business, etc. If you don’t tell the AI explicitly, it thinks you don’t do it.

Bottom Line: You’re Not Competing Against AI. You’re Competing for Its Attention

This isn’t a choice between “using AI” and “not using AI.” This is about showing up where your customers are looking. And right now, they’re asking AI for help.

So the question isn’t “Do I trust AI?” The question is: “Will I let AI ignore my business while it recommends my competitors?”

You’ve seen this kind of transition before. The ones who move early win. The ones who wait get left behind. Let’s make sure you’re in the first group.

 

 

AI‑Driven Search Survival FAQs


The shift is critical because consumers now ask AI tools like ChatGPT or Google’s SGE questions like “Who’s the best local roofer?”, and if your business isn’t part of the AI data set, it won’t be recommended. This transition is happening over months, not years, so businesses must adapt quickly to remain visible and competitive.


No. Unlike the gradual transition from Yellow Pages to Google, AI adoption is happening fast. If your business misses the next training cycle, which may only happen every few months, you risk losing visibility for 6–12 months.


SEO becomes even more important in an AI context—what the blog calls “SEO on steroids.” You need top technical SEO, strong content architecture, and structured Q&A content to be visible to AI-driven assistants.


Technical debt refers to outdated platforms, cheap hosting, or closed systems like Wix/Squarespace that limit your ability to add AI‑friendly features like llms.txt. Without fixing these, you may need a full site rebuild to stay competitive.


Create global FAQ pages with smart, natural‑language questions and mark them up with proper schema. Also add AI‑friendly GEO pages—location‑specific pages that speak directly to AI bots using awards, service data, and credibility markers.


No—you don’t need to like or personally trust AI tools. But your customers are already using them. If AI doesn’t recognize your business, you effectively don’t exist to potential customers. It’s about survival, not preference.

Top 10 Things That Really Matter for Local SEO (And 3 That Don’t)

Last Updated: July 23, 2025

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If you’re running a business you don’t have time to waste chasing every shiny SEO trick or listening to smooth-talking salespeople promising “AI magic” overnight. The truth is, local SEO boils down to a handful of proven moves that actually bring customers through the door.

This post cuts through the fluff and gets real about what actually matters in 2025, especially with AI and voice search shaking things up. We’ll tell you what to focus on, what you can skip, and how to grab some quick wins even if you’re juggling a dozen jobs and no extra hours in the day.

Top 10 Local SEO Factors Ranked by Impact (with AI Optimization Insights)

1. Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimization (Including Proper Business Categories)
This is your digital storefront. If your GBP isn’t dialed in, you’re basically invisible. Fill it out fully, pick the right business categories, add some photos, and update it now and then. No fancy tricks, just the basics done right. AI assistants love pulling info from here, so if you want your business to pop up when someone says, “Hey Siri, find a plumber nearby,” this is your bread and butter.

A word of caution though: Don’t get aggressive here. Do not stuff keywords where they don’t belong and do not make multiple listings unless you actually have multiple places where customers can walk in to see you. These tactics are terrific ways to get your listing suspended.

Quick win: Spend 20 minutes today to claim or update your profile. It pays off.

No Time? Not to worry, we can help you with this through our GBP Optimization service.

2. Consistent Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) Across the Web
If Google finds different addresses or phone numbers all over the place, it gets confused and so do your customers. Make sure your business info matches exactly everywhere. That means your website, Google, Facebook, and all directories need to display the exact same spelling of your name and address and all use the same phone number. Stop messing around with sketchy citation sites and link-farming schemes, they won’t save you.

Quick win: Take 10 minutes to do this advanced search: “YOUR COMPANY NAME -5555 CITY STATE” Of course, swap in your actual company name, city, and state. The “-5555” is the last 4 digits of the one phone number that should be out there for your business. The minus in front of it tells Google to show you only places where your company name appears without your correct phone number. Now you have a list of citations to start fixing.

3. Online Reviews and Reputation Management
Reviews aren’t just for bragging rights, they’re your credibility on the line. Get good reviews, respond to them, and keep customers coming back. It’s not rocket science but it takes hustle. AI-powered assistants also scan reviews before recommending you. It’s very important, especially for AI optimization, that you get keywords into your reviews and review replies. You really want your customers to mention the services performed and the city & state where the work was done. You can also make sure to include these things in your replies.

Quick win: Spend 5 minutes replying to your customer reviews on Google Maps. Make sure you include the service performed, city & state, in each one. Remember to be polite, appreciative, and friendly, even if the review was not 5-stars.

4. Distance From Searcher
Google lists local businesses who are nearest to the searcher first, no surprise here. This one’s mostly out of your hands but knowing it means you can’t just rely on SEO alone. Get out in your community, hand out cards, and build local connections. And heads up, if some smooth talker tries to sell you a “magic bean” that cancels out distance? They’re full of nonsense. Don’t waste your time or money.

Quick win: Start working on adding content to your site that combines your city & state with your services, just like in #6 below. That one task addresses both of these issues. The more you do, the more you extend your reach.

5. Backlinks from Local and Authoritative Sources
A backlink is just a link to your site that lives on someone else’s site. Think of them as online word-of-mouth. Links from trusted local sites or industry groups make Google trust you more. Forget buying cheap links and using paid link-farms, they’ll get you nowhere fast and may end up getting you a penalty.

Quick win: In about 15 minutes, you can first, do a search for your phone number in quotes: “555-555-5555” See what comes up. Then, if you don’t see Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing, etc. then pick one directory and make a new listing. Be sure to include your website so you get that coveted backlink.

No Time? Directory listings are time-consuming, which is why most people outsource them. Our Directory Dominator service is here if you ever need it.

6. Localized Website Content (Including Voice Search Optimization)
Write like you’re talking to your neighbors. Include your city and neighborhood names naturally, and answer the common questions customers ask, especially ones they might speak aloud to their phone. Voice search is booming, so ditch the robot talk. You can also add pages to your site for every combination of service and city. For example, separate pages for “house rewiring in Dallas TX” and “house rewiring in Fort Worth TX” can help you to stretch your reach as far as possible.

Quick win: Spend 10 minutes (preferably each day) writing a super simple blog post. All you need is a “before” picture, an “after” picture, and 2 sentences. Just write what you did and where and post the pictures. This way, you start building a lot of pages with localized content. If you write more, you’ll get more power from your efforts, but just doing something, is helpful.

7. Website Performance (Mobile-Friendliness and Page Load Speed)
If your site loads like molasses on a cold day, people bounce and Google notices. Most searches happen on phones, so make sure your site looks good and works fast on mobile. Just keep in mind that this is basically a bar you have to get over, but there’s no bonus points for how far you surpass it. You just need to make sure your load times are good enough to pass muster. There’s no bonus prize for the fastest-loading site.

Quick win: Find the largest images on your site (by file size, not by resolution.) Use an online converter tool to convert that image into Google’s preferred .webp format. Bonus points if you can manage to get the file size under 100 KB without making it look low-res/grainy.

8. Behavioral Signals (User Engagement)
Google and AI keep track of how people interact with your listing, clicks, calls, time on site. The more positive action, the better your chances. Make sure your menus are clearly displayed and sensibly laid out. Don’t make users go 4 layers into an expanding menu to find what they need, and don’t make them hunt for your contact information.

Quick win: Spend 5 minutes looking at your site’s navigation. If you have items that are buried more than one layer deep, it’s too much. Try to flatten it. You don’t want users to have to expand out multiple items to find what they need. Your best and most-competitive services should be very easy to find. Same goes for your contact information…do not bury it because people will give up and move on to your competitor.

9. Social Media Engagement
This isn’t a direct ranking factor but it’s a good way to build brand awareness and reach younger customers. Don’t get distracted by complicated platforms, pick one or two and keep it simple. Better to be good at one or two than bad at 5.

Quick win: Remember those blog posts you started doing in #6 above? Use those to create posts on social media. It’ll cost you another 2-3 minutes, but now you get fresh content going out to your favorite social media channel which can be very helpful.

10. Structured Data Markup (Schema.org)
If you’ve got the time (or someone to help,) adding structured data helps search engines understand your business better and show richer info in results. It’s technical but useful. At least get proper markup on your address and phone number. These are critical data points so you want to be sure that search engines and AI’s can find and understand these bits of info.

Quick win: Here’s a template for some JSON markup you can put on your site. Just put this into the header section and swap out the values to match your business data. This should be a very, very basic task for a “web guy” or your tech-savvy teenager. Here’s the template.

Honorable Mentions

  • Age of Domain
    Older domains sometimes carry more trust but have minimal direct impact compared to other factors. If you’ve got a domain you’ve been using for a long time, make sure you keep control of it. If you have to start over with a new domain, it’s going to be painful. If you don’t have the user name and password for the site where the domain was registered, you need to figure out who does and what sort of safeguards you have (or can put) in place.

  • Citation Quantity
    Fewer, consistent, and accurate citations in reputable directories matter more than lots of inconsistent listings. Putting a link in a plumbing directory to your car detailing business is not going to help much. In fact, it might hurt you. Focus your limited time on the big, important directories first.

  • Geo-Targeted Advertising
    Paid local ads can boost visibility but don’t affect organic rankings directly. This can be a place you can get quick wins, but it’s not directly related to your local SEO and AI optimization efforts.

3 Things People Think Matter, But Don’t (Or Don’t Anymore)

  1. Keyword Stuffing in Your Business Name
    Adding keywords like “Best Plumber” to your business name might seem like a shortcut but Google sees this as spammy and can penalize you. Stick with your real business name to stay natural and trustworthy.

  2. Quantity Over Quality in Citations
    Citations are just mentions of your business information on other people’s websites. Having dozens of business listings isn’t useful if the info isn’t consistent or if the sites aren’t reputable. Focus on a smaller number of accurate, high-quality citations.

  3. Exact Match Domain Names (EMDs)
    Having a website address that exactly matches a keyword used to help rankings a lot. Now Google cares more about useful content and a good user experience than about your domain name so focus on strengthening your brand, rather than keyword stuffing your domain.

Real Talk: The Other Stuff Nobody Tells You

Running a local business is tough. Slow-paying clients, flaky vendors, and tight cash flow can mess with your marketing plans. If you can’t pay for fancy tools or agencies right now, don’t sweat it. Nail the basics first, the ones above. They don’t require a big budget, just some grit and consistency.

Also, watch out for silver-tongued sales reps promising quick “AI optimization” or “voice search hacks.” There’s no magic button. Local search and AI are BOTH all about the fundamentals done right.

Final Thoughts

Local SEO doesn’t have to be rocket science or a full-time job. Focus on these proven steps, keep it real, and don’t get distracted by the noise. Whether you’re juggling 12-hour days or flying solo, small efforts in the right places bring big results over time. Ready to get your local SEO working for you? Start with your Google Business Profile today and take it from there.

 

Local SEO FAQs


Google Business Profile (GBP) optimization involves fully completing your business profile, selecting appropriate business categories, adding photos, and keeping the information updated. This enhances visibility in local search results and voice search queries.


Consistent NAP information across all online platforms ensures that search engines can accurately associate your business with its location, improving local search rankings and user trust.


Online reviews serve as social proof and influence both user decisions and search engine rankings. Encouraging customers to leave reviews and responding to them appropriately can enhance your business’s credibility and visibility.


Proximity to the searcher is a significant factor in local search rankings. Businesses closer to the searcher’s location are more likely to appear in local search results.


A mobile-friendly website ensures a positive user experience on smartphones and tablets, which is essential as mobile searches for local businesses continue to rise.


Avoid practices such as keyword stuffing, purchasing backlinks, and using fake addresses or multiple listings for the same business, as these can lead to penalties and reduced visibility.

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