Why Do So Many Businesses Still Believe Google Local SEO Is “Just Keywords”?

12amagency has published a new article entitled The Top 5 SEO Lies Local Businesses Still Believe — And What To Do Instead, which sheds light on the most important aspects of Local SEO for Small business owners. Small business owners, dentist, plumber or any local small business owners and other interested individuals can view the full article at https://12amagency.com/blog/local-seo-strategies-for-business-growth-2025/

The article includes several interesting pieces of information, one in particular is New research reveals that outdated beliefs about SEO are causing local businesses to waste money and miss out on AI search visibility. . This should be of particular interest to Small business owners because Local businesses still believe a shocking number of outdated SEO myths — and they’re costing them visibility, leads, and revenue. 12AM Agency, an AI-driven SEO & marketing firm for service-based businesses, analyzed more than 1,200 conversations with law firms, HVAC providers, medical practices, and home service companies in 2025-2026. The result: the industry is trapped in 2015-era thinking..

One of the most important piece of information the article tries to convey and communicate is The reality is AI-driven search cares more about credibility and entity structure than keywords alone.. The best example of this is perhaps found in the following extract:

‘THE TOP 5 SEO LIES — AND THE TRUTH Lie #1: “Ranking on Google automatically means more business.” Truth: AI assistants influence more buying decisions than Google results now. If you’re invisible to AI, you lose the lead before they even open a browser. Lie #2: “I just need more backlinks.” Truth: AI wants contextual authority, not volume. A few targeted links outperform 500 generic ones. Lie #3: “SEO takes 6-12 months to work.” Truth: Modern AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) can produce visibility gains in weeks, not years. Lie #4: “My website looks great — that means it’s optimized.” Truth: Most service business sites are still just digital brochures with no structured data, no E-E-A-T signals, and no conversion architecture. Lie #5: “We can figure SEO out in-house.” Truth: AI visibility requires technical, content, schema, and entity layers — far beyond a basic marketing generalist.’

In discussing the article’s creation, Robert Portillo, Co-Founder at 12amagency said:

want to rank together and earn together.

Anyone who has a specific question about a past, present, or future article can contact 12amagency via their website at https://12amagency.com/

The complete article is available to view in full at https://12amagency.com/blog/local-seo-strategies-for-business-growth-2025/.

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