These are transformative times for search, challenging its longstanding dominance as the front door to digital knowledge. Replace ‘search’ in the previous sentence with ‘Google’ (let’s be honest). But will that disruption displace Google or elevate it? It’s probably a bit of both, but mostly long-run upside.
These are a few takeaways from a recent discussion with Juan Pablo Nieto, co-founder of SearchMAS. As we make sense of AI’s rapid rise and impact on search, we turn to thought leaders like Nieto for practitioner insight – especially following his recent attendance at the knowledge-soaked L25.
Nieto in particular, brings an international perspective. For those unfamiliar, SearchMAS is a local search marketing company for Spanish-speaking countries, and some Portuguese, given its work in Brazil. As such, it offers SEO, SEM, and retail data analytics to multi-location brands in the growing LATAM market.
Despite the size of these markets, they’ve traditionally been behind in search marketing adoption. So SearchMAS filled that supply gap, while offering a firm handle on the language and cultural nuances of the market. With that, it’s been able to win 30+ clients in about two years (see more backstory here).
High Stakes
With that backdrop, what’s Nieto’s view of the search market? In short, AI increases the surface area of local marketing services and agencies, and gives them more to chew on. Traditional search was maturing to a degree – though not in LATAM – while AI endows it with more dimension and headroom.
For example, the stakes to get SEO wrong or simply neglect it, were high already but not critical for most local businesses. Those stakes are now raised because having your SEO underdeveloped has ripple effects into your AI strategy. That’s simply because AI draws on the same sources that search does.
The good news buried in the previous statement is that businesses that are on top of their SEO game have a head start with AI-engine optimization. The latter continues to formulate itself as a practice area of digital marketing – with monikers ranging from “AI SEO” to “generative engine optimization (GEO).”
But that good news also has a sharp edge on the other side of the sword: for those who have erstwhile ignored or neglected SEO, the negative effects of that neglect will now be felt greater. In other words, they’ll not only endure low rankings in Google search but also absence in places like Chat GPT.
Altogether this creates more of an impetus for local businesses to get their SEO house in order. The general excitement around AI creates a sort of motivational factor that may not have been there from traditional SEO alone. And that gets back to the elevated value proposition for local marketing firms.
“SearchMAS is already leveraging this to reframe how we talk about SEO with clients,” said Nieto. “AI makes accurate, structured data even more critical.”
Native Playbook
Beyond that baseline for AI SEO – inherited from positioning in traditional SEO – there’s extra rigor required, and a native playbook that’s developing. For example, the name of the game, according to Nieto, is for local businesses to optimize their content for AI agents in addition to search engines.
For example, user queries on AI agents tend to be more detailed and in natural language – e.g., “I’m looking for a bar downtown with outdoor seating, a happy hour menu, kid-friendly, and pet-friendly.” Additionally, things like Google’s AI Mode engender conversational dialogues and follow-up questions.
What that all means for local businesses is more granularity in the business details that are provided to data sources like their website, Google Business Profiles, and Yelp. With robust and atomized business details, AI engines can have more raw materials to assemble personalized answers to detailed questions.
All the above will also influence another key shift: SERP dynamics and user behavior. Nieto believes that, given UX elements like AI summaries that link back to sources, we could see fewer clicks but higher conversion rates. In other words, AI summaries serve as a sort of gatekeeper or intent filter.
That in turn has implications for search marketplaces and their unit economics. For example, the CPC model could evolve into a ‘cost-per-qualified-intent’ paradigm, says Nieto. This requires a change in thinking to value outcome metrics (leads, ROI per visit, etc.) versus volume metrics (traffic, CTR, etc.).
That will of course require a large-scale shift from deep-rooted systems and mindsets, which doesn’t happen easily nor quickly. But altogether, this represents an opportunity for local marketing firms to work on deeper levels with SMBs. It also means shifting ground for fast movers to gain a local-marketing edge.
Header Image Credit:Damian Zaleski on Unsplash
