Someone types “web designer near me” into Google.
Someone else asks ChatGPT, “who should redesign our nonprofit’s website in Edmonton?”
Same intent. Two completely different machines wake up. And if you understand what each one actually does next, you’ll know exactly where to spend your energy — and where not to.
Quick one before your coffee goes cold. Let’s break it down.
What Google does with “near me”
Google has been doing this for years, and it’s surprisingly simple at its core. When it spots local intent — “plumber near me,” or even just “hair salon” with no location at all — it fires up the local pack: that map with three businesses underneath it.
To pick those three, Google weighs three things:
Relevance. Does your Google Business Profile actually match what the person asked for? Categories, description, services — the works.
Distance. How far are you from the person searching? Google literally measures it.
Prominence. How well-known are you? Reviews, ratings, links to your website, mentions around the web.
Translation: Google is a map with a popularity contest attached.
Your Google Business Profile is the front door for all of it. Not your website — your profile. If it’s half-filled-in, wrong category, no recent reviews… you’re invisible to the map, no matter how lovely your website is.
One myth worth binning while we’re here: you don’t need to stuff “near me” into your page titles. Google knows where the searcher is standing. “Plumber Near Me Edmonton Best Plumber Near Me” as an H1 helps nobody, and yeah, I still see it out there.
What AI does with the same question
Here’s where it gets interesting, because AI tools handle this completely differently.
First surprise: most AI tools don’t actually know where you are. There’s no GPS ping. ChatGPT works from the location you tell it, or a rough guess at best. So “near me” quietly becomes “in Edmonton” — the location comes from the conversation, not a satellite.
Second surprise: there’s no single database. Google has your Business Profile. AI tools read… everything. Review sites, directories, news mentions, your website, other people’s websites. Then they synthesize an answer.
Each one has its own flavour:
- Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews lean on Google’s own local data — so your Business Profile matters here too. Same homework, second exam.
- Perplexity is citation-obsessed. It names its sources, so it favours businesses whose information shows up consistently across multiple places it can link to.
- ChatGPT browses the live web and leans on structured, widely-cited business information.
Think of it like this: Google is a map. AI is a well-read friend who’s never actually been to your neighbourhood. The friend can’t measure how far away you are — they just repeat what they’ve read about you. If the internet says the same clear thing about your business everywhere it’s mentioned, the friend sounds confident recommending you. If the internet is vague or contradictory, you don’t come up at all.
And here’s the kicker: Google gives the searcher ten options and a map. AI gives them two or three names. Sometimes one. There’s no page two of ChatGPT.
(I’ve written before about this shift — SEO gets you clicked, AEO gets you cited — and “near me” is where it hits local businesses hardest.)
The real difference (and why it matters)
Google’s local results are heavily weighted by distance. A decent business nearby usually beats a great business across town.
AI flips that. Proximity is a rough filter, not a ruler. Quality signals — review scores, consistency, how clearly you’re described across the web — carry more weight. A brilliant business twenty minutes away can absolutely beat a mediocre one around the corner in an AI answer.
Translation: Google rewards being close. AI rewards being clearly, consistently good.
The good news: it’s mostly the same homework
Here’s the bit that should make you exhale. You don’t need a separate “AI strategy” for local search. The overlap is enormous:
1. Finish your Google Business Profile. Properly. Right categories, real description, services listed, photos, posts. It powers the local pack, Gemini, and AI Overviews in one go.
2. Treat reviews as content, not decoration. Recent, replied-to, and on more than just Google. AI reads reviews everywhere — and it reads your replies too.
3. Say the same thing about yourself everywhere. Name, address, phone, and what you actually do — identical across your site, your profile, and every directory. Remember the well-read friend: consistency is what makes them confident.
4. Make your website say the quiet part out loud. Who you help, what you do, and where — in plain sentences a machine can quote. “Edmonton web design for nonprofits” beats “innovative digital solutions” every single time.
5. Answer real questions in your customers’ words. Nobody asks an AI for “digital solutions.” They ask “who’s the best web designer in Edmonton for a nonprofit on a budget?” If a page on your site answers that question in that language, you’re the quotable one.
Notice what that list actually is? It’s strategy work. Knowing exactly who you serve, what problem you solve, and saying it clearly enough for a machine to quote. The tools changed. The homework didn’t.
Where to start
If you’re not sure how you show up right now, try it: ask ChatGPT who does what you do, in your city. Then search the same thing on Google. If you’re missing from one — or worse, both — that’s your starting point.
And if you’d rather hand the homework to someone who does it every day, that’s exactly what my Edmonton SEO services cover — the local pack and the AI answers both.
Or let me be nosy on your behalf. My free website audit checks the usual suspects — speed, structure, SEO gaps — and whether AI can actually understand your content.
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