In this episode of Chat With Sean, I’m joined by Greg Gifford - one of the most respected voices in local SEO and Chief Operating Officer at SearchLab.

We dive deep into how local search is evolving as AI enters the ecosystem, from why review recency now outweighs volume, to how Google Business Profiles, citations, and maps data are becoming critical again in an AI-driven world.

Greg explains why local search hasn’t been disrupted as fast as informational SEO, what businesses should actually focus on today, and how new features like AI-powered price-checking and automated calls could reshape local competition.

We also explore why many businesses still miss basic local SEO fundamentals, how to think about Google as a pattern-recognition system, and why location data will remain a cornerstone of discovery — no matter how advanced AI becomes.

Topics covered include:

- The most important local SEO trends right now

- Why review recency is a powerful ranking signal

- Google Business Profile optimisation that actually matters

- Citations, consistency, and AI hallucinations

- AI calling local businesses for pricing

- Why local search is harder for LLMs to solve

- Reviews, reputation management, and response strategy

- Multi-location SEO at scale- Local SEO predictions for 2026