Best Local SEO Niches - Will Bard Have A Large Impact On Local SEO?

[Tim Colling]

Interesting testing today. I asked Bard, "home care companies near me" and it responded as shown below.

Then I asked it, "What city am I in?", and it replied as shown below.

So the results seem contradictory:
1. In the first query, it seemed to be able to tell me which companies were "near me", implying that it knew what my location was.
2. In the second query, it denied knowing what my location was.

So, which one is the truth, Google? ‍♀

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Making stuff up, or hallucinating as they like to call it, seems to be very common.

Joy highlighted some other examples of this in this video. Not bard specifically but with chat GPT.

 

[Tim Colling]

Thanks, @Colan Nielsen I did indeed see that video from Joy.
The real concern that I have is how this will affect all of us doing local SEO. <sigh>

 

[Colan Nielsen]

The real concern that I have is how this will affect all of us doing local SEO. <sigh>

Time will tell

I'm an optimist, and I see AI ultimately creating more opportunities for the SEO discipline.

 

[Tim Colling]

Good point, Colan. What I should have said is I wonder what changes this will bring to local SEO.

 

[Gesundheit]

I'm neither clairvoyant nor an expert on this matter, but my guess is that BAM local may be one of the few existing SEO niches that may continue to do well on an AI-powered SERP.

Integration of maps will likely persist and will probably be integrated into an AI response. That kind of data wouldn't be open to the same subjectivity as, say, the best educational toys for toddlers. Consequently, I would imagine it will still be visible and even highlighted. Google's already been comfortable making assumptions on navigational queries for years.

Whether or not BARD can intake location data at the moment is likely just a right now thing. Once AI search is fully integrated into the traditional search experience, I can't imagine they wouldn't use that data as often as they could.

Or, I could be totally wrong.