Voices of Search Podcast

Predict how Google or ChatGPT’s AI Assistants Will Surface Local Businesses Differently 18 Months from Now

Date: December 3, 2025
Host: Tyson Stockton
Guest: Helen Pollitt (iStock)

Episode Overview

In this forward-thinking episode, Tyson Stockton and guest Helen Pollitt deep-dive into the future of local search, exploring how Google and ChatGPT's AI-driven assistants are poised to transform the way local businesses are discovered and engaged with over the next 18 months. Through their lively discussion, they predict major shifts in consumer habits, the rising importance of AI agents, and what local businesses must do to stay competitive in this new landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Rapid Evolution of AI-Assisted Local Search

• Helen Pollitt humorously begins by envisioning a “doomsday hypothesis” where AI reads your mind and takes you to your destination automatically, highlighting the pace and unpredictability of AI advancements.
• She quickly grounds the prediction:

  “The biggest change that we're going to see in the next 18 months is people's use of agents. So, this idea that you can essentially have your own personal assistant in bot form that goes out and does your research, chooses options for you, and in some instances even transacts on your behalf… I think that will become more prevalent.”
  — Helen Pollitt [00:54]

2. The Rise of Personal AI Agents

• Helen foresees a sharp uptick in consumers using AI agents for everyday tasks such as booking restaurants or comparing prices—tasks that were previously manual.
• She predicts adoption will vary by demographic, with some groups embracing these bots faster than others.
• Local businesses must ensure their websites are accessible to these bots. For example, booking systems with CAPTCHAs could prevent AI agents from completing purchases:

  “If all of your booking system has a captcha on it, for example, it might well be that they can't actually do the booking.”
  — Helen Pollitt [01:42]

3. Website Optimization for AI Agents

• Businesses must proactively adapt by:
  • Making transaction systems AI-agent-friendly.
  • Tracking how AI agents evolve and what technical requirements are needed for full functionality (bookings, info retrieval, etc.).
  • Key advice:

  “Just really kind of keeping up with how are AI agents evolving? What are they being used for? What do they need from a website enabled to be able to complete transactions, bookings, etc. And is your website allowing them to do that?”
  — Helen Pollitt [01:59]

4. Local vs. National Search Dynamics Shrinking

• Tyson Stockton notes that this shift isn’t unique to local businesses; it represents a broad change in consumer behavior that applies equally to local and national searches:

  “It's more of like a shift in consumer behavior as far as adapting to using these emerging tools, systems… I feel like we're going to get more of a shared or kind of similar experience across it as well.”
  — Tyson Stockton [04:08]

5. Hyper-Personalization & Brand Challenge

• Helen predicts a surge in hyper-personalization:

  “They'll learn to understand your subtext that you're maybe not explicitly saying … They already know what your size is. They already know the shops that you usually buy at. So they'll be able to recommend the T shirt in the right sizes from the shops that you like to purchase from.”
  — Helen Pollitt [04:45]

• Breaking into that circle of recommendations will hinge on strong brand recognition:

  “That's going to be very brand focused, I think.”
  — Helen Pollitt [05:08]

6. Marketing Roots Revisited

• Tyson reflects that these trends bring classic marketing fundamentals to the forefront:

  “It's that consumer, that more traditional marketing, consumer behavior driven elements that we discuss becoming more and more prevalent.”
  — Tyson Stockton [05:25]

• Helen agrees:

  “Yeah. It's just gone full circle.”
  — Helen Pollitt [05:36]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Helen Pollitt on AI agent usage:

  “More people are using bots to book restaurants or to compare prices and those kind of things that they might have had to manually do themselves in the past. It may well be that they start to become a bit more automated through AI agents.” [01:21]

• Tyson Stockton on the narrowing gap between local and national search:

  “We're going to get more of a shared or kind of similar experience across it as well.” [04:20]

• Helen Pollitt on hyper-personalization:

  “They're going to have to break into that somehow and that's going to be very brand focused, I think.” [05:08]

Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:43 — Episode topic introduction: Predicting local business discovery via AI in 18 months
• 00:54–02:35 — Helen explains AI agents and their impact on local business discovery
• 04:08 — Tyson contextualizes the changes as industry-wide, not just local
• 04:45–05:25 — Helen elaborates on hyper-personalization and the pivotal role of brand loyalty
• 05:36 — The discussion comes “full circle” to marketing fundamentals

Summary Takeaways

• AI personal assistants (agents) will rapidly change how consumers interact with local businesses, moving much of the search, decision, and even transaction process to automated agents.
• Businesses must adapt websites for AI accessibility—eliminating barriers like CAPTCHAs and ensuring smooth transactional flows for bots.
• Consumer behavior is central to this shift, blurring lines between local and national search strategies.
• Hyper-personalization will define discovery, making brand recognition more critical than ever.
• The future of local search will build upon, not abandon, the foundations of traditional marketing and consumer behavior.

This episode offers both a timely warning and practical guidance for marketers and local business owners—adjust your strategies now, or risk disappearing from tomorrow’s AI-driven searches.