Sensis said it first, and got it wrong

In 2005, Telstra's CEO stood in front of the media and dismissed Google in two words: "Google Schmoogle." Sensis, owner of the Yellow Pages, was going to be bigger than Google. The board valued the business at $12 billion.

Nine years later, Telstra sold 70% of Sensis for $454 million. By 2009, Yellow Pages was handing its own business listings over to Google Maps just to stay findable. The company that owned Australian search laughed at the thing that replaced it. Then it got replaced.

The old SEO playbook is losing clicks

• Chasing a page-one Google ranking as the finish line.
• Optimising for keywords instead of the actual questions buyers ask.
• Treating one search engine as the whole game.

Owning the recommendation is what's gaining value

• Being the answer inside an AI Overview or ChatGPT response, not just a blue link underneath it.
• Structured, citable content that AI models can lift and attribute, not thin pages built to catch a keyword.
• Consistent entity signals across your site, listings and third party mentions, so every platform describes your business the same way.

Most local businesses haven't touched any of this yet. That's exactly why the early movers are gaining the most ground, and why it's showing up in the results.

Fletchers Real Estate, our client of 19 years, now ranks No.1 in AI Mode. La Tortilleria shows up as the No.1 result in Google AI Mode for its category. Spring Osteo is recommended ahead of its competitors in ChatGPT. None of that happened by accident, and none of it happened through old-school keyword SEO alone.

See the AI SEO results - Aug 2026 →

Buying into AI search, in practice

1. Find out where you already stand. Get a free audit from us.
2. Build for citation, not just ranking. Structured data, clear answers to real questions, and content AI models can lift cleanly and attribute correctly.
3. Keep your entity consistent everywhere. Website, Google Business Profile, directories, reviews. Mixed signals cost you the recommendation even when your business is the right one.

Old-school SEO isn't wrong, it's getting serious diminishing returns on the investment. The businesses treating AI search as a fad right now are one "Google Schmoogle" away from a Sensis-sized mistake. AI is already choosing winners in 2026. The only question left is whether it's choosing you.