Local customers are encountering and using a variety of AI interfaces. Because of this, local brands need to adapt their toolkits to capture search behavior that is evolving — AI has changed organic search at the local level.
This guide will help local brands access available data to cut through the AI noise and learn how to track actual consumer behavior.
The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.
AI vs. traditional search, by the numbers
AI messaging might easily convince you that their products have replaced all technology that came before them. Numbers tell a different story.
According to original data from an August 2025 Sparktoro study, just 20% of Americans are using AI tools 10+ times per month, while 40% are accessing them only 1+ times per month.
Despite industry hype that traditional search has been “killed” by AI and that SEO is ”dead,” Sparktoro reports that 95% of Americans continue to engage with traditional search engines like Google each month.
In fact, Semrush found that when new users adopt ChatGPT, their usage of Google search increases:
In the study, Sparktoro founder Rand Fishkin states:
“My takeaway is that traditional search isn’t going anywhere, even for the heavy adopters of AI. The more data we gather, the more I’m convinced the ‘AI vs. Search’ narrative is largely made up by media and influencers seeking attention, rather than an accurate reflection of reality.”
Later, he adds:
“Growth/adoption appears to be shrinking over time, as the combined set of AI tools we analyzed (ChatGPT, Claude, CoPilot, Gemini, Perplexity, and Deepseek) hasn’t had a 1.1X+ growth month since September of 2024. That’s not to say AI tools aren’t continuing to get more users, but rather, that the growth trajectory is slowing.”