The local SEO landscape looks a lot different than it did just five years ago, and there’s pretty much one culprit responsible for its transformation: artificial intelligence. 

AI has been reshaping the local SEO world in two ways:

  1. Through the rise of AI-powered tools that can automate SEO tasks (like creating content and doing keyword research). 
  2. Through Google’s continued use of AI in its search algorithms and search results (other search engines, like Bing, also make heavy use of AI). 

Both marketers and search engines have embraced AI in big ways, and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to change anytime soon. 

On Google’s side, it’s been using AI-powered natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU) in its search algorithms. 

In particular, Google’s MUM (Multitask Unified Model) has made its search algorithm sophisticated enough to understand conversational-style language, making it far easier for users to conduct more in-depth searches. MUM is also multilingual and multimodal (meaning it can understand images and sounds). 

Back in May 2024, Google launched its AI Overviews, a new search feature that uses Gemini (Google’s AI) to provide quick responses to user queries. 

Here’s an example of what one looks like:

As you can see, its response resembles that of a chatbot like ChatGPT. It also contains the sources it drew from on the side, which is now a coveted SEO spot for local campaigns. 

Between AI Overviews, MUM, and the rise of AI-powered SEO tools, local SEO campaigns are changing at an extremely rapid pace. 

In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about using AI to enhance your local SEO campaigns, so stay tuned! 

AI in Local SEO: Google Business Profile Optimization 

Having a fully completed, up-to-date Google Business Profile is one of the most important aspects of any local SEO campaign. 

Without a GBP listing, you won’t qualify to appear in Google Maps searches or the local pack, both of which are massively important for local businesses. 

Research by Backlinko found that 60% of mobile users will reach out to businesses straight from the Google search results – which means they’re using the business’s GBP listing instead of their official website. 

So, if you want to generate more calls and in-person visits, an updated and optimized GBP is a must. 

However, keeping up with your GBP takes a lot of time and effort, which is a luxury some businesses don’t have. 

The good news is there are plenty of AI-powered tools that automate the GBP optimization process, so let’s take a look at a few.

Reviewing AI-powered GBP optimization tools

Many tools are emerging that use AI to make the GBP management process quicker and easier. In particular, ProfilePro and Smart Tasks are two AI tools specifically designed to optimize your Google Business Profile, so let’s see if they’re worth your time. 

Pro tip: AI tools are useful for speeding things up, but they are subject to errors, falsehoods, and hallucinations. It’s important for marketers to realize that these tools are meant to enhance existing processes instead of replacing them outright. 

If you’re looking for total GBP management that you don’t have to fact-check, monitor, or think about, our Local SEO service is exactly what you need. Our team of real-world SEO experts will manage every aspect of your GBP listing so that you can rank higher and generate more leads through Google (without having to lift a finger).

ProfilePro

First, let’s take a look at Profile Pro. It’s a Chrome extension that uses AI algorithms to:

  • Recommend SEO-optimized descriptions for your company 
  • Automatically update your business’s NAP (name, address, and phone number) if there are changes
  • Suggest the business categories that apply to you the most
  • Automate responses to reviews 
  • Create engaging posts based on target keywords 
  • Develop questions for your FAQ section 
  • Create product and service descriptions that include target keywords 

Having an AI tool by your side can cut the time it takes to manage your GBP in half. Instead of spending hours coming up with post ideas and responding to reviews by yourself, AI-driven tools will dramatically speed up the process. 

However, since Profile Pro is a Google Chrome extension, you’ll need to use the Chrome browser if you want to put it to work for you. 

It’s also a freemium tool, meaning that there is a free option, but you’ll have to upgrade if you want truly premium features (like unlimited responses). 

Also, since AI tools aren’t foolproof, some oversight is necessary. You’ll need to fact-check its outputs and edit the copy to ensure it’s all 100% accurate and in your brand voice. 

Smart Tasks 

Smart Tasks by Localo is another option for using AI to enhance your GBP listing. 

Instead of knocking out GBP optimization tasks for you, it uses AI to provide suggestions for improving your profile. Not only does it analyze your personal data before recommending optimizations, but it also analyzes your competitors. 

It suggests ideas for:

  • Business descriptions (including keywords)
  • Improving your online visibility in crucial local markets 
  • Google Posts 
  • Directories to upload your contact information to 
  • Responses to reviews
  • Keywords to use in your profile 
  • Optimal business name length (so you don’t exceed the max number of characters) 

While this takes the guesswork out of GBP optimization, it’s still up to you to implement the suggestions the tool provides. 

For this reason, it’s not the best option if your goal is to fully automate the management of your GBP listing. However, it does help speed up the GBP management process significantly, so it’s a good choice if you want to enhance your existing methods. 

It’s on the pricier side, with subscription plans starting at $99 per month and ranging up to $499 per month. 

AI-Powered Review Analysis and Responses 

Online reviews are another area where AI in local SEO is shaking things up. 

According to research, 89% of consumers expect businesses to respond to their online reviews. As such, it’s crucial that your business responds to every review you receive, regardless of whether they’re positive or negative. 

Doing so will positively affect your reputation, even if you’re responding to a negative review. 

Why is that?

It’s because, according to BrightLocal, customers are most likely to visit businesses that respond to ALL reviews, not just positive ones. 

Also, the modern consumer isn’t exactly patient, so you can’t let your reviews pile up without providing responses. Wait too long, and you’ll disappoint your customers, making them less likely to A) leave another review in the future and B) patronize your business again. 

63% of customers expect a response to their reviews within two to three days, and a week is pushing it. 

So, you’ll have to churn out review responses just about as fast as new reviews come in, which can be a daunting task for any business. 

That’s why AI-driven review response tools have risen in popularity recently. They use machine learning algorithms and NLP to understand the context of a review and provide an automated response (or a suggested one if you want more control). 

In other words, these tools use AI to conduct sentiment analysis, and it’s bias-free. 

Traditionally, sentiment analysis (like analyzing reviews to determine your company’s public perception) is conducted by humans, but there are several flaws with this process. 

For one, sentiment analysis is time-consuming and mentally exhausting due to analyzing vast volumes of data. Also, it’s normal for bias to creep into sentiment analysis when it’s conducted by humans, which can muddy the waters. 

Analyzing large volumes of data is what AI does best, and it’s not capable of showing bias, making it the perfect tool for analyzing your reviews on Google. 

Advanced sentiment analysis for spotting customer trends and patterns 

Your average review platform will only provide surface-level insights into how your customers perceive your brand. 

For example, they provide you with basic metrics like total number of reviews and your average score out of 5 stars. While this is effective for eyeballing how well your brand is perceived as a whole (if you’re close to a perfect 5-star rating, you’re obviously doing something right), it doesn’t dive any deeper than that. 

With AI-powered sentiment analysis for your reviews, you’ll gain far more detailed insights into your customer’s experiences, preferences, and perceptions of your brand. 

AI tools are able to comb through every phrase of a review, identifying customer sentiments in each phrase, assigning them a topic (like the quality of your food), and labeling them as either positive or negative. 

This advanced sentiment analysis yields the following benefits:

  • Learn what customers think of each product and service you offer. Knowing your business’s overall rating out of 5 stars doesn’t let you know which of your products and services your customers enjoy the most. AI-driven sentiment analysis will pinpoint areas in your reviews where customers mentioned specific products and services. It will then categorize and rank them so that you can learn which of your offerings performs the best with your audience.  
  • Gain valuable insights from mostly positive (or negative) reviews. A customer may give you a 5-star rating but then go on to mention specific things that they didn’t like in the actual review. The same is true for negative reviews (i.e., they may mention a few things they actually liked). These insights are often missed by traditional reputation management tools and review platforms, but AI-powered tools will pick up on them so that you don’t miss out on valuable feedback. 
  • Cross-compare locations to find areas for improvement. Lastly, AI sentiment analysis is so strong because you can split your reviews by location. This will help you determine if there are certain locations that aren’t performing as well as others. 

AI review response tools: what’s out there?

Now, let’s examine some of the AI review response tools available for your GBP listing. 

These tools claim to make it possible to manage hundreds of reviews at once, but are they actually worth using? Let’s find out. 

EmbedSocial Reviews Responder

First, let’s look at the review responder that EmbedSocial has to offer. 

It’s a comprehensive tool that enables lots of customization, such as personalizing your autoresponders to fit your brand’s voice. 

You’ll also be able to manage and respond to all your Google reviews in one location, which is convenient if you have multiple properties to keep track of. In fact, EmbedSocial’s tool was specifically designed for businesses with multiple locations that have difficulty managing their GBP listings. 

It’s a great tool if you’re sick and tired of switching tabs a million times to perform simple tasks. 

You can also customize your autoresponders based on star ratings, which is a handy feature. For instance, you could program it so that all 5-star reviews receive thank you’s, while lower star ratings receive follow-up emails. 

To us, nothing beats a review response written by a human, but AI is definitely an attractive alternative for companies who lack the personnel to respond to all their Google Reviews. 

GMB Briefcase 

Next, GMB Briefcase also offers automated review responses for your Google Reviews. Like EmbedSocial’s tool, it also consolidates multiple locations into a single dashboard for your convenience. 

It’s unique in that you can choose between fully automated responses, semi-automated templates, or fully manual responses. This kind of flexibility makes it easier to stay faithful to your brand voice, especially if you have a team of human editors that you can use to spruce up the AI’s outputs. 

GMB Briefcase’s AI is also customizable so that you can tweak your auto responses based on customer feedback, such as responding with a concerned follow-up to a negative review. 

How AI Enhances Local SEO Keyword Strategies 

Before we wrap up, let’s look at how you can use AI to improve your local keyword strategies. 

In particular, tools like ChatGPT are excellent for uncovering lesser-known keywords that you may not find using traditional keyword research tools. 

Long-tail keywords are especially valuable in the era of AI Overviews and AI-powered search algorithms, as users are able to make longer, more conversational searches through Google. 

Also, longer keywords in the form of questions are often what trigger AI Overviews, so you’ll need to include some long-tail keywords in your strategy if you want to appear in them. 

Here are a few ways you can use ChatGPT to uncover golden keyword opportunities for your local business. 

For the purposes of this example, imagine that you operate a roofing company for residential properties in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

The great thing about ChatGPT is that to get started you just have to ask it what you want:

As you can see, it gave us some service and location-based keywords. However, you should always refine your prompts by getting more specific each time. 

Next, let’s ask ChatGPT to provide us with some keywords that focus on residential services and feature questions that are likely to trigger AI Overviews:

Voila, we now have keywords tailored for our specific niche (residential properties). ChatGPT also suggested some questions that may trigger AI Overviews:

Not bad, but will these suggestions actually work? Let’s punch one into Google and see if we get an AI Overview:

Sure enough, this long-tail keyword does indeed trigger an Overview, so creating content for it will heighten your chances of being one of its featured sources. 

This is just one way you can use AI tools to enhance your keyword strategy, just remember to verify their outputs and check each keyword’s metrics using traditional tools. 

Wrapping Up: Practical AI Tactics for Local SEO 

Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of what we’ve covered so far:

  1. Google uses AI-powered search algorithms to better understand search queries. 
  2. You can use AI to optimize your Google Business Profile for better local SEO. 
  3. AI-driven sentiment analysis will uncover deeper insights into your customer’s perception of your brand. 
  4. AI chatbots like ChatGPT can help inform your local SEO keyword strategy. 

HOTH Local SEO has got you covered. It’s our fully managed service where we take the entire process off your hands so that you can enjoy simple SEO success. If you’d like to discuss your specific needs with us, feel free to reach out for a free consultation!