Google’s New Patent Says Local SEO Is About Identity, Not Pages
Summary
A 2023 Google patent describes how AI could build a full picture of a business from websites, reviews, and other public information. For local businesses, the takeaway is simple: the goal is no longer trying to rank more pages. The goal is teaching every AI system one clear, consistent story about who you are.
The patent is called “Data extraction using LLMs.” In plain English, an LLM is the kind of AI behind ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI answers. When this post says “Google’s patent,” that is what it is about.
The patent, in plain English
The patent was filed in 2023 and came back into the news after a recent Search Engine Land write-up.
It describes a system that does three things:
- pulls information from websites and public sources
- reads that information with an AI system
- builds what Google calls a “deep, holistic characterization” of a business
Google uses the word “entity” in the patent. That just means a person, company, place, product, or idea. In this post, when we say business, we mean that same thing.
The point is not to pull out facts. The point is to build a clear picture of the business behind the facts.
If a customer asks ChatGPT, Claude, or Google’s AI Mode (the chat-style version of Google Search) “who is the best HVAC company in Bartlett,” the AI has to know your business is real and trustworthy before it will recommend you. That clear picture is what the patent is describing.
Why this matters for local businesses
For more than 20 years, local SEO has been about pages, keywords, links, and reviews.
That work still matters. But the goal is moving.
Search is becoming more like a chat and more like a friend giving advice. Before an AI can recommend a business, it has to understand the business itself. That means the AI is not just reading your website. It is comparing your website, your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your service pages, your directory listings, and anywhere else your business shows up online.
If all of those say the same thing in the same way, the AI has a clear picture. If they say slightly different things, the AI has to guess.
Related reading: our earlier post on why reviews are now an AI trust signal breaks down how that shift happened.
Old SEO was about helping AI find your pages. The new SEO is about helping AI understand your business.
What “identity-first” actually looks like
Identity-first SEO is not a new trick. It is the habit of telling one consistent story about your business, everywhere AI can look.
In practice, that means five things match:
- Your business name is spelled the same way everywhere.
- Your address, phone, hours, and service area are the same on your website, your Google Business Profile, and the directories that list you.
- Your services are described in the same words, in the same order, on every page.
- Your reviews describe the same kind of work, the same kind of customer, and the same kind of result.
- Your about page, your directory listings, and the hidden code on your site that describes your business to search engines all tell the same story.
When those five match, the AI has a clear picture of your business. When they do not, the AI has to guess the missing parts. And when the AI guesses, you lose control of how your business gets described.
The places AI looks first
If you want to know what an AI sees when it looks at your business, start with the top 10 places AI looks:
- your own website (about page, services, contact)
- your Google Business Profile
- the top 5 review platforms in your industry
- 2 or 3 industry directories
- your social profiles
- any news coverage or press mentions
Write down the basic facts about your business. Name, address, phone, hours, services, areas served, founding year, license or certification numbers. Then check each of those 10 places against your list.
If anything is different, that is the work.
What to do this week
You do not need a new website. You need three things this week:
- Write down the basic facts about your business. One short sentence for each: name, address, phone, hours, services, service area, and what makes you different. Keep it on one page so you can copy it anywhere.
- Pick the top 10 places AI looks for your business. Check each one. Flag anything that does not match the list you wrote.
- Fix the most visible gaps first. Your Google Business Profile, your website about page, and your top review platform. Those three shape more AI answers than the rest combined.
If an AI had to describe your business in one sentence, would it say the same thing your website says? If yes, you are in good shape. If not, that gap is the next 90 days of work.
Bottom line
Google’s patent is not a trick to rank higher. It is a sign of where search is going.
The goal is no longer to publish more pages or rank for more keywords. The goal is to tell one clear, consistent story about who you are, and to put that story everywhere AI looks.
That is a lot more boring than chasing algorithm updates. It also lasts longer.
The businesses that win the next phase of search will not be the ones with the most content. They will be the ones with the cleanest, clearest story.
Sources
Want a deeper look than a blog post can give you?
Start with the Free Score to see what AI systems are actually saying about your business, where the gaps are, and what to fix first.