# local search (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover local search. Page: Feed: --- ## [EP 270 - The Hidden Advantage: How Brand Awareness Decides the Click in Legal Search](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-270-the-hidden-advantage-how-brand-awareness-decides-the-click-in-legal-search/) _2026-08-20 · Near Media · Near Media_ We end the brand-building series with Greg walking through our original research: the "Choosing a Lawyer" study of the Atlanta personal lawyer market. Survey data, ad-creative testing, and a user-testing combine to show how prior brand awareness steers online behavior and the final hire. ## [EP 269 - Tactics for Building a Local Brand in the Age of AI Search — An Agency Panel](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-269-tactics-for-building-a-local-brand-in-the-age-of-ai-search-an-agency-panel/) _2026-08-14 · Near Media · Near Media_ We close the run of solo interviews with a working session on what "brand" means for a local business and which tactics move the needle now that answers are generated, not just ranked. Join Paula French, Joy Hawkins, Andrew Shotland, and Matt McGee to explore the tactics that helped the most ## [EP 268 - AI Overviews, Brand Search & Local SEO: Cyrus Shepard on Earning the Click - from the archives](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-268-ai-overviews-brand-search-local-seo-cyrus-shepard-on-earning-the-click-from-the-archives/) _2026-08-07 · Near Media · Near Media_ Cyrus Shepard joins us on the Near Memo to connect what the Google antitrust trial and API leak revealed about click data to the questions local operators care about: how Google decides a result was good, why brand search keeps correlating with rankings, and what AI Overviews do to that ecosystem . ## [Start with Google, Alexa+ Local, SEO v. AEO, Local AI Varies, Chat UI Wins](https://www.nearmedia.co/start-with-google-alexa-local-seo-v-aeo-local-ai-varies-chat-ui-wins/) _2026-08-06 · Greg Sterling · Near Media_ Local Search Still Starts with Google According to our research, somewhere between 60% and 70% of AI users have used AI for local search. There are questions about frequency and trust. But regardless of what industry you're in, AI is probably somewhere in your customer's journey ## [EP 267 - You Can't Outspend a Bad Intake Experience: Brand-Building for Legal](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-267-you-cant-outspend-a-bad-intake-experience-brand-building-for-legal/) _2026-07-30 · Near Media · Near Media_ Gyi Tsakalakis, of AttorneySync, joins us for Part 3 of our brand-building series — bringing the brand conversation down to earth in professional services, and specifically in legal, where a client hires once in a lifetime, can't judge quality, and every ad on the screen looks the same. ## [LSA-Max, ChatGPT + Yelp, Legal Karma, Google Self-Preferencing Fine](https://www.nearmedia.co/lsa-max-chatgpt-yelp-legal-karma-google-self-preferencing-fine/) _2026-07-24 · Greg Sterling · Near Media_ LSAs Now P-Max PPL Local Services Ads (LSAs) are merging into Google Ads and will run as Performance Max campaigns optimized for pay-per-lead goals. Google says, "This transition allows you to manage all your Google advertising in one unified platform while keeping the pay-per-lead ## [EP 266 - Cyrus Shepard: What Local Brand Actually Means to Google and AI](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-266-cyrus-shepard-what-local-brand-actually-means-to-google-and-ai/) _2026-07-22 · Near Media · Near Media_ Cyrus Shepard, founder of Zyppy, joins Greg Sterling and Mike Blumenthal for Part 2 of the Near Memo brand-building series — this time on the technical side: how Google and AI systems actually model a brand, and what a local business can do about it. ## [Today at Noon: All About Local Search - Live Panel](https://howaboutsomemarketing.substack.com/p/today-at-noon-all-about-local-search) _2026-07-21 · How About Some Marketing? · How About Some Marketing?_ Local search is changing fast in 2026. ## [EP 265 - Decoding Local Branding with John Jantsch](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-265-decoding-local-branding-with-john-jantsch/) _2026-07-16 · Near Media · Near Media_ We explore local branding with John Jantsch, examining how to build trust through offline distinctiveness, mine customer interviews to identify primary differentiators and leverage programmatic referral loops to thrive in this bold new world. All with an eye towards increasing profitability ## [Future of Websites, Review Abstracts, Search Shift, Apple Sues OpenAI](https://www.nearmedia.co/future-of-websites-review-abstracts-search-shift-apple-sues-openai/) _2026-07-16 · Greg Sterling · Near Media_ Local Websites in a Sea of Slop People increasingly feel that the "open web" is over. The web is now dominated by a small number of powerful "gatekeepers." Beyond this, more paywalls are going up, less traffic is being delivered by Google and AI slop is ## [Point a Domain, Start a Pit (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/oEIOM1VLyCRj) _2026-07-16 · **Sponsored**_ Point any domain to a blacked-out, poison-green coming-soon page with an email waitlist. ## [EP 264 - Why Small Businesses Need 'Trust Artifacts' in the Age of AI Search Friction - Raj Singh, Mozilla](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-264-why-small-businesses-need-trust-artifacts-in-the-age-of-ai-search-friction-raj-raj-singh-mozilla/) _2026-07-10 · Near Media · Near Media_ Discover why small business websites are shifting from growth engines to "trust artifacts" to battle AI search friction, click fraud, and generative slop. ## [Next Webinar: The Hardest Design Project of My Career](https://howaboutsomemarketing.substack.com/p/next-webinar-the-hardest-design-project) _2026-06-29 · How About Some Marketing? · How About Some Marketing?_ Live, 12PM EST (Noon) - Tuesday, June 30th ## [Webinar - How Gumshoe Helps Brands Understand What AI Thinks About Them? Friday March 20 2026 at 12PM Noon](https://howaboutsomemarketing.substack.com/p/webinar-how-gumshoe-helps-brands) _2026-03-19 · How About Some Marketing? · How About Some Marketing?_ Live ## [How Press Releases Are Powering AI Overviews](https://howaboutsomemarketing.substack.com/p/how-press-releases-are-powering-ai) _2026-02-19 · Emanuel Petrescu · How About Some Marketing?_ Webinar with Randy Rohde "The News Guy"