What Counts as Local SEO Now That AI Overviews Exist?
Introduction A local seo service used to have a fixed shape: Google Business Profile management, a handful of citations, some review requests, and a local landing page or two. That shape doesn't match what Google's AI Overviews, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity now expect before they'll mention a business by name. If you're still buying or selling the 2022 version of local SEO- you're paying for a scope that no longer matches what "ranking locally" requires in 2026. This isn't a "local SEO is dead" piece. It's closer to the opposite: local SEO matters more now, because a business that gets cited inside an AI-generated answer earns a far higher-intent lead than one that merely sits on page one. But the boundary of what counts as local SEO has moved, and most small business owners and a fair number of agencies haven't caught up. Why the Definition of Local SEO Stopped Being Simple AI Overviews turned local SEO from a ranking cont...