Your customer's search started before Google

Got a question from a client last week: "Can we ramp up the SEO?"

Common question. Wrong framing.

Because "SEO" doesn't mean what it meant five years ago.

The customer journey changed. And most marketers — whether you're running one location or fifty — have no idea.

Let me show you what I mean.

The old search

Someone needs an HVAC repair. They pick up their phone. They type "AC repair near me" into Google.

Google shows them a map with three pins. Below that, ten blue links. The searcher scans the star ratings, maybe clicks one or two, checks the reviews, picks someone, calls.

The job of SEO was to get you into that map pack. Get your reviews up. Get your website ranking. Be visible when someone searched.

That behavior still exists. It still matters. But it's no longer the whole pizza pie.

The new search

Same person. Same broken AC. But now they open ChatGPT first.

They don't type "AC repair near me."

They type: "My AC is blowing warm air and making a clicking noise. Who's a reliable HVAC company in the Phoenix area that does same-day service and won't try to upsell me on a new unit?"

And ChatGPT doesn't return a list sorted by reviews and distance.

It returns a recommendation with reasoning:

"A clicking noise with warm air often indicates a failing compressor or a refrigerant issue. For same-day service without aggressive upselling, here are a few options in Phoenix known for transparent pricing..."

Then it names specific companies. Explains why each one fits.

References their services, their approach, what customers have said about them.

The journey now has two steps

The old journey

1. Google discovers
2. Customer filters
3. Customer chooses

The new journey

1. AI discovers
2. AI filters
3. Google verifies

The new journey is impacted by AI filtering…and may one day end with an agent choosing!

Here's what's actually happening:

Step 1: Ask AI for a recommendation.
Step 2: Go to Google to verify — check the website, read reviews, confirm they're legit.

The AI is doing the filtering that humans used to do. It's reading the reviews so you don't have to. It's matching your specific situation to providers who fit.

Google becomes the verification step, not the discovery step.

This is a massive shift. And it's happening right now, in real time, while most are still optimizing for "AC repair near me."

What this means for online visibility

You can dominate Google and be invisible in AI.

You can rank #1 in the map pack, have 500 reviews, show up for every local keyword — and ChatGPT might not mention you at all when someone asks for a recommendation.

Why? Because the signals are different.

Google cares about proximity, reviews, GBP completeness, links, website authority.

AI cares about: Can I explain why this business fits what the person is asking for?

That means:
→ What your reviews actually say (not just the star rating)
→ What services you describe and how you describe them
→ Whether there's enough information to make a recommendation
→ Whether you're mentioned in places the AI can reference

A company with 200 generic 5-star reviews might lose to a company with 80 reviews that specifically mention "same-day service," "no pressure," "explained everything before starting."

The AI is reading the content. It's not just the counts most humans obsess over.

For multi-location businesses, this compounds

Same brand. Different AI visibility.

Phoenix Visible

Scottsdale Invisible

Denver Visible

Dallas Invisible

AI knows where users are located creating the potential for every location to have different visibility.

If you're managing a regional chain or franchise network, the AI visibility problem multiplies.

Your Phoenix location might appear in recommendations while your Scottsdale location is invisible. Your Denver market might be strong while your Dallas market doesn't exist to AI at all.

And unlike Google — where you have Search Console data, rank tracking tools, and clear visibility into each location's performance — there's no dashboard AI LLMs give you showing you which of your 50 locations appear in AI recommendations and which don't.

The inconsistency is the problem. One location has reviews mentioning "emergency service." Another has reviews that just say "great job, thanks." Same brand. Same services. Completely different AI visibility.

For enterprise brands, this is a network-wide blind spot. You're managing GBP profiles, running LSAs, tracking rankings — and meanwhile, an entire discovery channel is emerging where you have zero visibility into your own presence.

The question you should be asking

Not "how do we rank higher on Google?"

But “where are our customers starting their journey online to find what we do?”

And, "when someone asks AI for a recommendation in our category, in our markets, do our locations get mentioned? Which ones? Why those and not others?"

Most businesses — single location or fifty — have no idea. They've never checked. They don't know how to check at scale.

Meanwhile, the customer journey is splitting fast. Some percentage of your future customers — we don't know how many yet, but it's growing — are starting with AI and only coming to Google to verify.

If you're invisible in that first step, you're not in the consideration set. You're competing only for the people who still ONLY search the old way.

The good news

You can check this. You can see whether you appear. You can understand why or why not.

And the things that make you visible in AI are — mostly — things that are good for your business anyway. Clear service descriptions. Reviews that mention specifics. Information that helps someone understand what you actually do and who you're good for.

This isn't about gaming a new algorithm. It's about being clearly describable. Being recommendable. Giving AI something accurate to say about you — across every location, in every market.

More on what that actually looks like next week.

Talk soon,
Garrett

P.S. — Quick check you can do right now: go to ChatGPT, don’t log in, pick your toughest market, and type a query with specifics — not just "plumber in Dallas" but "who's a reliable plumber in North Dallas for a slab leak who can come this week?" See what comes back. That's your current AI visibility in that market. Now imagine doing that for all your locations.