{"id":20723,"date":"2025-12-16T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/?p=20723"},"modified":"2025-12-15T15:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:01:10","slug":"local-ai-search-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipullrank.com\/local-ai-search-data","title":{"rendered":"Local Visibility in AI Search: Findings from 6.9M Citations"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u201cThe funnel as we know it is moving,\u201d says Christian Ward, Executive VP and Chief Data Officer at Yext. Thanks to AI, it\u2019s moving off your website and into a chatbox (or in various forum discussions online), and marketers in the local business space need to pay attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

It\u2019s vital to ensure that the right people find your business wherever they\u2019re searching without having to filter through too many irrelevant results. Like with <\/span>Relevance Engineering<\/span><\/a>, your brand strategy must be omnimedia and span social media, YouTube, Reddit, and other places.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Although <\/span>some studies<\/span><\/a> point out that Google is still the top source for search right now, there\u2019s a lot more nuance to that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s like measuring a baseball player by the number of swings at bat,\u201d Christian said. \u201cThat\u2019s not how you measure search. Search has to be around the time you spend on a platform because that\u2019s where the money is made, and it\u2019s got to be measured on outcomes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

And while AI outcomes aren\u2019t that great yet, they are slowly getting better.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Yext performed <\/span>a citation study on 6.9M citations<\/span><\/a>, asking 1.6M questions across three models (ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity) to find the impacts of AI Search on local visibility. This article will go through the data and findings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Impact of Search Fragmentation\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Search is fragmenting. People are starting their searches on LLMs, Reddit, TikTok, and other places, and often moving to Google later on in the process to fact-check or make a final purchase. AI Search is decentralizing the search process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Christian created the below chart two years ago. It’s evolved, yet still highlights how people use a wide range of platforms to search, but Google still dominates the market and sits in the middle (especially for fact checking). <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Even if TikTok is your first stop for research, eventually the platform will add an LLM of its own. And while users are starting exploration in AI but going to Google to execute, that won\u2019t last so we need to be prepared.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s gonna stop really soon as AI models add more executions,\u201d Christian said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Growth of AI\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In just 2 years, ChatGPT acquired as many users as the entire internet did in 13 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Unlike with old-school dial-up internet, when no one in the house could use the phone while you were online, there\u2019s no cognitive burden to AI. You can just use it easily.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

And with the creation of AI Mode and constant improvements to Gemini with each release, Google will clearly be focusing its attention on AI.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t see Google <\/span>just <\/b>continuing to do search,\u201d said Christian.<\/span><\/p>

As search continues to fragment and more partnerships pop up with AI companies, we\u2019ll see changes in how we measure success. Direct purchases within LLMs will impact traffic and clicks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Walmart\u2019s deal with ChatGPT for in-app purchases contributes <\/span>20% of Walmart\u2019s referral traffic<\/span><\/a>. This partnership with OpenAI means that Walmart can\u2019t capture all the metrics that it used to, but at this point, they don\u2019t even care. They just want the customer to check out, regardless of whether it\u2019s on Walmart\u2019s site or in ChatGPT.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In fact, <\/span>traffic to many sites<\/span><\/a> is down, but many businesses are still getting relevant clicks because visitors to their sites likely did extensive research before arriving.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIf they play their cards right in how they are cited and the knowledge they provide, I think they\u2019re going to have phenomenal business outcomes,\u201d Christian said.<\/span><\/p>

However, this brings up another question. Should sites develop two types of content: one for machines and one for people? Or is a combination of the two the way to go?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThere are so many strategic applications for that for business,” said Garrett Sussman, Director of Marketing at iPullRank.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

There\u2019s a lot of data we still need to see to truly understand all of AI\u2019s impacts on search fragmentation, but that probably won\u2019t happen, and Christian says we need to just get used to that. There will be discomfort around monitoring, strategy, and search behavior as AI Search becomes a more integrated part of the way we search. We’re not going to get all of the data that helps us determine resource allocation and return on investment.<\/span><\/p>

But some changes will have a more positive impact, like improvements to memory and personalization in LLMs. Memory will be the step that solidifies where and how we search.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Evolution of Memory\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Memory and personalization will be a huge part of the future development of AI systems, according to Sam Altman of OpenAI who has <\/span>said that ChatGPT-6 will be all about improving its memory<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The main issue for Google and OpenAI is that with more memory in search, there is an impact on ads and a company\u2019s ability to show you valuable ads at the right stage in the search journey. Memory context and location will have a huge impact on how different the search results are for everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThe reality is, if I can’t have the right to show you steak restaurants because you\u2019re a vegan, that\u2019s a problem for the available ad space,\u201d Christian said.<\/span><\/p>

Memory in AI shrinks the ad reach because there\u2019s only a limited number of products or services that make sense. You can\u2019t deliver broad ads because people will stop asking broad questions. At the same time, it increases the value of the ad itself because you\u2019re further down the funnel to your target.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a better user experience for us,\u201d Garrett added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

But how does this play out next year?<\/span><\/p>

Every so often throughout the evolution of computer technology, we\u2019ve seen inventions jump from compute to memory improvements, and OpenAI is heading toward a memory jump.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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If ChatGPT can master memory, it will have a huge advantage in the market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIf it starts getting to that level, I think you will see a very big upswing in the value proposition to the consumer,\u201d Christian said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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An AI company\u2019s greatest risk is users not trusting them because they can switch to another LLM so easily. If you ask one of the AI models a question, and it answers it wrong, you will probably go use another model. Google\u2019s built up brand trust over decades. They have more at stake to get it right. AI introduces a complex risk to that trust due to the probabilistic nature of generative output.<\/span><\/p>

For users, there is no cognitive burden when using LLMs for search. You don\u2019t have to learn a whole new system because they\u2019re all pretty much the same and very easy to operate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

There’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all solution to this, but accurate citations will have an impact. And how you format your content will control your chances of being cited.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI think AI has a trust problem,\u201d Christian said. \u201cIf trust is the currency by which AI will be judged and scored, then citations are the receipts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Citations. That\u2019s why Christian is obsessed with where they fit in the puzzle. They are critical to the LLM-to-internet ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>

Citations are dependent upon: the [QUESTION], the [CONTEXT], the [LOCATION], and the [MODEL].<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The above example of a query shows the various ways people can find your business due to how your company is talked about online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>