AIOs & AI Mode: The Subtext Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google, was recently interviewed by Lenny Rachitsky on his podcast. Among other places, Stein has worked at Google, Meta and Yahoo. This is his second go at Google, following a consumer product leadership role at Instagram, where he| Near Media
In Part 2 of our interview with Ana Martinez of Uberall we discuss how AI is changing local visibility. From adoption curves to Google’s AI Overviews, shifting consumer behavior, and the renewed value of citations, we explore what businesses must do to stay visible in an AI-driven marketplace.| Near Media
Unpacking Local AI Citations A new analysis, from Yext looks at how location, context and search intent affect which citations appear in AI results. The study critiques brand-level visibility analyses (see Profound) as being superficial and insufficient for local marketers. The study digested nearly 7 million citations from 1.6| Near Media
Local Apps in ChatGPT One of ChatGPT's major strategic challenges is local search. OpenAI is making big investments in shopping with its new Checkout capability and Agentic Commerce Protocol, but so far not in local. Local is equally if not more strategic than shopping, but not as easily| Near Media
Uberall CTO Ana Martinez explains how AI is reshaping culture, products and customer engagement in their Location Management tools—from rethinking roles and workflows to launching UB-I and the Location Performance Score.| Near Media
From GBP suspension increases to the future of reviews to Liz Reid’s AI roadmap, the Near Memo breaks down what Google’s latest moves mean for small businesses, SEOs, and consumers navigating an increasingly AI-driven search world.| Near Media
AI Mode, Agents & Local It's still not clear whether and how AI Overviews, AI Mode, Web Guide (i.e., AI Organized pages) and Gemini and Gemini in Chrome will co-exist. Many people believe AI Mode is the future of Google's SERP. I'm not| Near Media
Review extortion has become increasingly common on Google Profiles since WhatsApp was added as a messaging option. What you can do to limit the risk.| Near Media
From review extortion scams to new AR tools in Google Maps, ChatGPT’s local blind spots, and YouTube’s rise as a strategic powerhouse — here’s what’s shaping the future of Google and local marketing.| Near Media
Local Searchers Want More from AI The early 2022 - 2024 narrative that Google would be displaced by AI has given way among many SEOs to its polar opposite: ChatGPT hasn't had any impact on Google. That's equally untrue. What we see is a pattern of| Near Media
Near Media is the go-to advisor for executives at multi-location brands and vertical agencies seeking to optimize their search strategy and tactics.| Near Media
Barry Schwartz joins The Near Memo to discuss review extortion, contradictions in Google’s “open web” claims, the decline of publisher traffic, affiliate content debates, and how AI overviews are reshaping perceptions of search quality.| Near Media
Google says, “Good SEO is good GEO.”| Near Media
Google tightens business action link rules, calls the open web “in decline” in court and then retracts, and we explore an AI deal with Apple’s Siri. We break down what these moves mean for businesses, publishers, and the future of search.| Near Media
Special Cyrus Shepherd interview. What on-page factors are associated with sites that see big gains or declines after Google updates? How one quality rater thinks Google Quality Rater Guidelines should influence our sites. What is the future of SEO and Google?| Near Media
SGE Comes to Google Maps Just as Google is seemingly integrating AI into everything it does, last week the company said that AI is coming to Google Maps. "Simply say what you’re looking for and our large-language models (LLMs) will analyze Maps’ detailed information about more than 250 million| Near Media
SGE Pushes Everything Else Down In the first really compelling study of the impact of SGE on the Google SERP, Authoritas examined results from 1,000 commercial keywords in the US. The main conclusion: traffic from top organic rankings will suffer meaningfully if Google more broadly rolls out the current| Near Media
