Yes. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is still extremely important, particularly for small businesses that rely on local customers. ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools are changing the way people research businesses, products and services, but they have not replaced Google search or local search.
For most small businesses, the right strategy is simple. Get your SEO right first. Make sure Google understands what your business does, where you operate and which services or products you provide. Make sure you can measure genuine enquiries from your website. Then work on making that same information easy for AI platforms to understand. Good SEO strategy underpins both.
SEO is still king for local search
Think about how people look for a local business. Someone needs an electrician in Geelong, a physiotherapist in Hobart or a bookkeeper on the Gold Coast. Google is still one of the most obvious places to start. That person may search for “electrician Geelong”, “physio near me” or “bookkeeper Gold Coast”.
For the business to appear prominently, Google needs to clearly understand the relationship between the business, the service and the location. For example, Armstrong Creek Electrical provides electrical services to customers in Geelong and surrounding areas. That is a very simple sentence, but it clearly establishes who provides the service, what they provide and where they provide it.
This type of clarity is good for customers, good for SEO and increasingly important for AI search. Local SEO also extends beyond the website. Your Google Business Profile, business details, reviews, location information and other online references help reinforce who your business is and where it operates. For a small business that relies on customers from a particular town, suburb or region, local SEO remains a priority.
Don’t choose between SEO and AI
One of the biggest mistakes businesses could make right now is thinking they need to choose between SEO and AI optimisation. You don’t. The two increasingly overlap.
A strong SEO website already does many of the things that can help AI systems understand a business. It clearly explains services, answers customer questions, establishes locations, contains evidence about the business, has logical page structures and uses helpful internal links. If your website barely explains what you do, AI platforms do not magically fix that problem.
The starting point is still good website content and good SEO. From there, we can make that information even clearer for AI systems.
AI traffic is small, but the conversion rate is fascinating
We have started paying particularly close attention to AI referral traffic in Google Analytics across GOOP Digital clients. At this stage, AI traffic is still relatively small. As a rough rule of thumb from what we are seeing across our own client base, identifiable AI traffic can account for around 4% of website traffic.
That is an observation from our client data, not an industry benchmark, and the percentage varies significantly from business to business. But traffic volume is not the most interesting part. Conversions are.
For some of the businesses we monitor, AI-generated traffic is converting at extraordinarily high rates, often somewhere between 40% and 60%. Again, this varies considerably between websites, industries and the way conversions are measured. But the trend is interesting enough that small businesses should be paying attention.
Why could AI traffic convert so well?
Someone using Google might type “family lawyer Geelong”. Someone using ChatGPT may ask a much more detailed question, such as: “I’ve separated from my partner and we own a house together. Can you recommend a family lawyer in Geelong who handles property settlements?”
The second person has potentially explained the service they need, their circumstances and their location before they ever visit a website. By the time an AI platform refers that person to a business, they may already be much further through their decision-making process.
That could help explain why some AI traffic appears to be highly qualified. There may not be much of it yet, but the visitors who do arrive can be extremely valuable.
Traffic alone is becoming less important
This is also why small businesses need to change how they judge whether their digital marketing is working. Website traffic is useful, but more traffic does not automatically mean better marketing.
If 1,000 people visit your website and nobody contacts you, those 1,000 visitors have not generated much value. If 100 highly relevant visitors produce 10 genuine enquiries, that is considerably more useful to the business.
This is where key events in Google Analytics become important. Small businesses should be measuring genuine actions such as phone calls, quote requests, contact form submissions, appointment bookings, email enquiries and online purchases.
Rather than simply asking, “How much website traffic did we get?”, a better question is, “Which sources are producing genuine enquiries?” That becomes particularly important as AI referral traffic grows.
What should a small business do about AI now?
Don’t abandon your existing SEO strategy and start chasing the latest AI trend. Start with the fundamentals.
Make sure your important services have their own useful pages. Clearly explain what your business provides and who those services are for. Clearly state where you operate. Keep your Google Business Profile accurate. Build genuine customer reviews. Answer the questions customers regularly ask. Make sure your website provides strong reasons for someone to contact you.
Then look at your AI visibility. Your website should contain clear factual information that helps an AI system understand your business.
For example, rather than saying, “We offer quality solutions for all your needs”, say, “ABC Plumbing provides blocked drain repairs, hot water services and emergency plumbing for homes and businesses in Geelong.”
The second version tells a person, a search engine and an AI system exactly what the business does. That is the direction websites need to move in.
Measure enquiries, not just rankings
Rankings still matter. If your business ranks prominently for important local searches, more potential customers have an opportunity to find you. But rankings should not be viewed in isolation.
At GOOP Digital, we increasingly want to understand what happens after someone finds a business. Did they call, request a quote, book an appointment or submit an enquiry, and which source produced that action?
SEO, Google Ads, direct traffic, social media and AI referrals can then be judged on the business opportunities they are actually creating. That gives a small business owner a far more useful picture than simply looking at rankings or website visitor numbers.
SEO first, then build for AI
AI search is coming quickly and businesses should be preparing for it now, but that does not mean SEO has suddenly become irrelevant. For local businesses in particular, strong SEO remains one of the most important foundations for being found online.
The encouraging part is that SEO and AI visibility are not competing strategies. Clear service pages, useful content, strong local signals, accurate business information, good reviews and a website that answers genuine customer questions can help your business perform across traditional search and emerging AI platforms.
The order matters. Get your SEO foundations right, track the enquiries those foundations produce, then build your AI visibility on top of them.
If you are unsure whether your website is properly set up for SEO, local search and AI visibility, contact GOOP Digital to discuss where your biggest opportunities are.