Field notes · Local search
"Near me" moved: local search when the answer is an assistant.
People still search locally. They increasingly do it by asking ChatGPT, Gemini or an AI Overview for the best dentist, attorney or med spa in their city — and the answer is assembled from entity data, reviews and third-party lists, not from your homepage.
What changes
- Profiles outrank pages. Google Business Profile accuracy, hours, services and categories feed both the local pack and the assistants.
- Reviews are content. Volume, recency and what reviewers actually say get quoted back inside answers.
- Consistency is a ranking signal in disguise. One name, one address, one phone number, one service list — everywhere.
- City pages still work when they are genuinely about that city: real service area, real staff, real specifics. Templated city pages read as templated.
Measure per city, not per keyword
Run the same question set for each market — "best cosmetic dentist in Las Vegas", "personal injury attorney Newark NJ", "med spa Los Angeles" — and track who gets named. That is the local scoreboard now.
Our markets
DigitalOS runs local SEO, AEO and GEO as one program from three home markets — Las Vegas, Nevada; Newark, New Jersey; and Los Angeles, California — for clients across the United States.
Related: AI Visibility · AEO explained.