For years, local businesses have concentrated on one main objective: appearing as high as possible in Google.
That still matters enormously, but the way customers search is changing.
A potential customer might once have typed “roofer Burnley” or “SEO agency Lancashire” into Google and worked through the results. Today, that same person may ask Google a longer conversational question, use an AI-generated search result or ask ChatGPT to recommend businesses that provide a particular service.
This doesn’t mean traditional SEO is disappearing. Far from it.
What it does mean is that businesses need to start thinking about visibility rather than rankings alone.
Search Is Becoming More Conversational
People are becoming increasingly comfortable asking complete questions instead of typing short keyword phrases.
Rather than:
“accountant Blackburn”
someone might ask:
“Can you recommend an accountant near Blackburn that works with small businesses?”
That difference matters.
The search engine or AI platform now needs to understand more than a keyword. It needs to understand the business, its services, location, relevance and whether there is enough trustworthy information available to justify including it in an answer.
Google itself now provides guidance specifically for websites wanting to improve their visibility within generative AI SEO agency features, while stressing that many established SEO principles remain important.
Local SEO Still Provides the Foundation
Despite the attention around AI, the fundamentals of Local SEO services remain extremely important.
A business still needs clear service pages, strong location information, a properly maintained Google Business Profile and a website that search engines can crawl and understand.
Google’s own documentation explains that LocalBusiness structured data can provide information about a company including business details and opening hours, helping Google better understand the organisation behind the website.
This is important because AI-powered search relies heavily on understanding entities and relationships.
Who is this business?
What does it do?
Where does it operate?
Does the information on the website agree with the information available elsewhere?
The clearer those answers are, the stronger the digital foundation becomes.
Content Needs to Answer Real Customer Questions
AI search is also increasing the importance of useful, specific content.
Businesses have spent years producing articles purely because a keyword tool showed a particular phrase had search volume.
That approach is becoming less effective.
A better strategy is to consider what prospective customers genuinely want to know.
What questions do they ask before buying?
What concerns prevent them from making contact?
How does your service work?
Which areas do you cover?
What makes one option different from another?
Useful FAQs, service pages, case studies and expert articles can all help build a clearer picture of a business and its expertise.
Google’s current AI optimisation guidance specifically encourages websites to create valuable, non-commodity content rather than simply producing more pages for the sake of search traffic.
Authority Is Becoming More Important
Another change is the growing importance of authority beyond a company’s own website.
Search engines can compare information across business profiles, directories, articles, reviews, websites and other online references.
This makes digital PR, relevant backlinks, business citations and genuine third-party mentions increasingly valuable.
The objective should not be to manufacture hundreds of meaningless references.
A smaller number of relevant, credible signals can often provide more value than large volumes of low-quality activity.
ChatGPT Is Another Search Journey to Consider
ChatGPT Search provides web-based answers with sources, creating another way for people to research products, services and businesses online.
This is one reason terms such as AI SEO, Generative Engine Optimisation and Answer Engine Optimisation are becoming increasingly common.
They describe a broader objective: helping businesses remain discoverable as search expands beyond a traditional list of ten blue links.
Businesses Should Not Abandon Traditional SEO
The biggest mistake would be to assume there is now a completely separate formula for AI search.
Strong technical SEO, good content, local relevance, clear business information and genuine authority remain central for SEO Lancashire.
The opportunity is to build on those foundations.
At M65 SEO Agency, we increasingly combine traditional SEO, Local SEO and AI SEO strategies because customers are no longer discovering companies through one single search journey.
The businesses that adapt early do not need to abandon what already works.
They simply need to make sure that wherever customers search next, their business is clear, credible and easy to discover.
