We explore consumer acceptance of AI Overviews, how consumer review behavior differs from survey expectations, and why Datos data shows Google search remains strong despite AI adoption.Sign up for free to read| Near Media
Optimizing for ChatGPT via Bing There's an ongoing debate about whether and how much ChatGPT is pulling from Google results vs. how reliant it is on Bing. Bing Places is probably in the mix for local but it's unclear how much ChatGPT uses it. It doesn&| Near Media
Google is consolidating LSA with a single badge - we cover other recent LSA changes, the degradation of organic results, the dark patterns that elevate LSA usage and new BrightLocal data showing less than half of small businesses have claimed their Google Business Profiles. Sign up for free to read| Near Media
LSAs Are Eating the Pack Local Services Ads (LSAs) are in more than 70 local business categories. Originally introduced in 2015 in a few home services industries, they were intended to offer a simplified, fixed-price-per-lead ad product that delivered more obvious, concrete value to small businesses than AdWords, which were| Near Media
Google's Secret Weapon vs. AI: Trust If asked whether AI results are trustworthy, a majority of users will say "yes." The percentages vary depending on how the question is framed. But if they're prompted to consider issues like hallucination, accuracy, bias, plagiarism, privacy, and| Near Media
In Part 2 of this interview, Will Scott of Search Influence explains how AI is changing Local SEO. Learn how to use semantic SEO, no-code tools, and content repurposing to “barnacle” onto authority sites, boost brand visibility, and thrive in an AI-first search world. Sign up for free to read.| Near Media
Local Comparison: Google Beats ChatGPT More than two-thirds of consumers have used ChatGPT for local business discovery. Yet local search is not a common use case for AI. That's because most consumers see Google as a more accurate source of local data and information. That perception is confirmed| Near Media
Will Scott joins Near Memo to reframe Barnacle SEO for the AI era. Learn how to stay visible in AI overviews, leverage trusted sources, and why “garbage engine optimization” might be the new SEO enemy.... Sign up for free to read.| Near Media
Report: Apple 'Answer Engine' Coming We've speculated for years about the possibility and potential impact of an Apple search engine. Yet Google has paid Apple billions annually to not develop its own search engine. When the antitrust court's remedies decision finally comes this month| Near Media
ChatGPT, AI Mode Give Yelp New Relevance For the past several years at least, Yelp user traffic and review growth have been flat. But over the past 12-18 months product and UX improvements have helped to generate usage growth. (Ad revenue increases have come largely from higher CPCs.) Generally, Yelp| Near Media
We talk with map expert Goetz Weber about why today’s maps fail to deliver personal, contextual experiences & what needs to change. From intent modeling to the limits of monetization, from ChatGPT to Snap, he lays out a compelling vision for mapping 2.0: visual, social, & AI powered. Sign up to read| Near Media
And Now, Google Web Guide Last week Google introduced yet another AI SERP into the mix: Web Guide. The blog post characterized this new UI as an "AI organized search results page." That means we have AI Overviews, AI Mode, AI Organized Pages (e.g., restaurants) and now| Near Media
New data shows AI Overviews reduce website clicks and disrupt the local pack. Greg and Mike explore the implications for search, traffic, and branding in the AI era—plus some fun with burritos and Bosch dishwashers. Sign up for a free account to read.| Near Media
Pew: Click Decline Is Real A recent report from the Pew Research Center confirms something we already knew: AI Overviews (AIOs) kill clicks – the so-called "great decoupling." Pew combined survey and behavioral data (n=900 adults) purchased from Ipsos – people who'd consented to allowing| 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