Generative AI Now Dominates Customer Searches
Facts
- 68% of shoppers looking for a local product or service TODAY use long-tail inquiries (prompts) for "zero-click" results from AI Answer Engines such as Gemini (Google), ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot. WHY? Because these new engines provide deeper research and more trustworthy and nuanced responses than traditional search engines.
- "Blue link" organic search results are NOW generally ignored except for industry-supporting information
- Paid Ads still work but capture less than 5% of the search activity
- Google Business Profiles (and the Map Pack) remain important for local businesses because they provide critical source material for the Answer Engines, which read every review looking for data that adds credibility to their results.
Reality Check
Is your website up to today's standards? Give it a test. Choose a long-tail phrase (prompt) that speaks to your product or service and ask Gemini (on Google) for results. You will likely see two or three (no-click) recommendations (some of the other engines might offer up to 10 results), but unless your website has been developed with structured data, it's likely your site won't be included.
Don't Rationalize
Of course you're still seeing customers, but they are likely coming from one of three funnels:
(1) former customers/referrals
(2) signs, drive-bys, and walk-ins
(3) paid advertising (Google Ads, local print ads, radio, TV, billboards)
What Our Clients Say
Eye Clinic - Saved Us Money!
"When we signed up with Illuminate, we were just hopeful we would gain some new business for our retail glasses outlet, but after a month, our calls began to increase. After the 3rd month, we cut back on some advertising services. We are now spending less on advertising and making more sales also!" CS, Brentwood, TN
Law Firm, Marietta GA
"We're in a pretty competitive market. Our law practice is heavily weighted towards insurance claims. We spend a lot on advertising but needed more visibility on the internet. They restructured our website, and relatively soon after, we began seeing an increase in inquiries. We've been very pleased," RB, Marietta GA
Local Car Sales Increased!
"We needed a better response from the internet. So we hired Illuminate to fix our website and carefully tracked the source of our car buyers. After just one month, our sales leads began to increase, so we started cutting back on our advertising, including some of the aggregators." MK, Jackson, MS
What We Do
The Illuminate Group, through its entities Illuminate Creative (advertising), Illuminate Advantage (SEO), and now Illuminate GEO, has provided digital marketing services since 2010. As the internet has changed, we have adapted; however, since early 2026, we have watched the search process rapidly evolve from traditional SEO (keyword-driven) to a full-throated GEO (long-tailed, conversational, nuanced searches). These changes have been seismic in how we must now approach our clients' website performance audits, and the design and use of linked structured data (JSON-LD). This transformation will culminate in our clients remaining digitally dominant in their market areas
Who We Are
Our founder, Roy Krag, established
The Illuminate Group
in 2010, providing niche marketing and consulting services that have helped scores of small business clients throughout the US grow their market and to digitally "dominate" their competition. Before establishing
The Illuminate Group, Roy consulted full-time with companies following a successful career as a C-suite operating executive of a Fortune 500 company.
How We Work
IlluminateGEO will submit a Proposal outlining the scope of services we recommend based upon an audit of the prospective client's internet presence.
Upon acceptance, we will schedule a start date. Generally, within a month after retooling the website, clients will begin achieving higher generative search results!