This month, Google threw the SEO industry into a scramble when they started blocking LLM (large language model) and search scraping tools that didn’t have JavaScript (JS) enabled (more from SEJ’s coverage here). This change, enabling JS, makes it harder to extract data from search because JS can move/hide/remove objects from an HTML page and customize the page for different viewers (i.e., users could potentially see different results than SEMRush, Ahrefs, etc.). If SEO is the business of understanding the SERP, then not having data to make decisions or track results makes the life of an SEO very difficult. The challenge for the SEO industry was short-lived, most SEO data providers were back up in 24 – 72 hours, but it did beg the question: Why is Google starting to lock down the ability to scrape their search results? The reason is why Google will win the LLM wars and you should continue to invest in ensuring your local clients are a part of the Google ecosystem.
We believe that the answer is simple, especially in the context of the other big news this month from Deepseek entering the LLM ecosystem, as articulated by Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff:
What happened with Google didn’t have anything to do with the SEO industry, but they were caught up in a growing battle with other LLMs that compete with Gemini (Google’s LLM service). Whether you believe DeepSeek was built for $5M or not is not what’s important. What’s important is that the model has achieved a certain level of sophistication very quickly which means the barrier to entry on the LLM market is not model design. So the next barrier to entry must be the training data, as Benioff points out above, and that’s what Google is trying to protect from other LLM entrants by requiring JS to use Google Search.
Google has a unique data set across all of its products:
- Google Maps: Comprehensive map data, real-time location data, foot traffic trends, etc.
- Google Business Profile: Service data, reviews, UGC content, etc.
- Google Search, Gmail, etc. – The list goes on and on!
Their data is unmatched in the local space. Gemini can use that data to improve performance of the LLM and they want to make sure those results are differentiated from ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Claude, etc, which is why they are restricting access to their data. What’s more, it’s no accident that Google rolled out Gemini to all Gsuite users the same week that they started locking down data collection of Google Search. Now that Gemini is integrated into Gsuite, it will increase Gemini usage and provide more data back to the model to improve performance. That flywheel of slowing others’ data collection of Google’s unique local data AND Gemini collecting new data from Gsuite is immense and can’t be rivaled by any other company other than maybe OpenAi/Microsoft. Assuming Google can protect and innovate on their data, it makes them nearly unbeatable in today’s LLM wars.
So, why does this matter? Two reasons:
- Google is going to win the LLM wars for local businesses- Google has more data (and more data in local businesses) than any competitor in the space. Staying in the Google ecosystem matters (SEO, PPC, etc.) to generate leads at the local level for clients i. They may not be the only player (competition is good!), but they will continue to have a sticky place in the ecosystem, especially for local businesses.
- Larger datasets will matter – Your data is now an asset that differentiates you just as Google’s data differentiates Google. Combining that data with that of other channels, systems, ecosystems, etc. will enable your business to build internal AI models or “tuned” AI models that better speak to your customers and differentiate from competitors.
Google’s latest move is a clear signal: data is the new competitive moat in the LLM wars. At Semify, we help local businesses stay ahead of these shifts through our white label SEO and PPC programs, ensuring that our partners have the tools, data, and strategies to compete in a rapidly evolving AI-driven world for Google and others.
