Personal context search is the real SEO apocalypse
Soon, Google could launch a feature that will transform AI Mode into the most helpful AI search tool and likely end any idea of “GEO” becoming a real tactic for Google’s AI.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by North Star Inbound and Airops.
Soon, Google could launch a feature that will transform AI Mode into the most widely used search platform, likely rendering the idea of “GEO” becoming a viable tactic in Google’s AI obsolete. This feature could also expand beyond AI Mode and potentially threaten the traffic of many sites.
Instead of just matching your keywords to web pages, Google wants to understand what you actually need based on who you are and what you, as an individual, need right now. Google calls this personal context.
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Personal search apocalypse
For now, Google has not made any announcements about personal context migrating into traditional search. However, if it works in AI Mode, there is no reason to believe that it won’t also impact traditional search. I am not predicting this coming apocalypse anytime soon, but strategic marketers should pay heed to what could be on the horizon.
The decrease in traffic from AI Overviews resulted in users having their needs met by summaries that understood the intent behind the search and presented solutions to that intent. On more specific searches, AI Overviews have not been that detrimental because, in many cases, that feature is not triggered. Personal context search will take what might typically have been short phrase queries, such as “best car” or “top action movies in theaters,” and extend these queries with all the specifics that Google knows about the user.
The car query sent to Google now becomes “best car for someone who currently drives a leased Honda Civic, commutes 40 miles per day, is environmentally-conscious, and has friends who have recommended the Kia family of cars.”
Clearly, this will add incredible efficiency for searchers, but it will inevitably further crater search traffic for websites. As many have criticized Google over the last few years, the same suite of sites dominates nearly every search across their respective verticals because Google aggregates long queries into shorter phrases. Personal context search is going to do the exact opposite, leading to the most trafficked sites suddenly competing with niche sites that better serve specific queries.
An additional decline could make the first apocalypse, which occurred from AI Overviews, look small in comparison.
This change would impact all searches, including local searches, which will be very useful for users, but may not be as beneficial for places that have enjoyed ranking dominance. You can already see this in action when you search for “coffee near me.” However, this change would mean that you would simply search for a single object or intent, and the real-time personal context would be appended to the rest of that query.
Think about it this way: when you search for "coffee" today, you get generic map results, information sites, and online stores. But what if Google knew you were walking through downtown San Francisco to get to a meeting scheduled in your Google calendar, that you prefer small roasters over chains, your flavor preferences gleaned from your Amazon receipts sent to Gmail, and that you usually order oat milk lattes (paid by Google Pay)? The search would skip the generic results and show you the highly rated local café in the direction you are walking, possibly even suggesting your usual order.
Even better, and this could be a place where Google has an even bigger edge over its competitors, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok: Google could merge another one of its proprietary datasets into this search, incorporating the busyness of the location. They could only suggest locations that wouldn’t impact your arrival time for your meeting.
Personalized search is nothing new, but the processing power to make it useful is. Google had attempted to personalize results based on past search history, but the results were never meaningful enough to be useful. Now, with AI capabilities, they can pull data from your Gmail, Maps, Calendar, Nest, YouTube, and search history to personalize results in a way that will benefit users.
Google’s data is a HUGE moat
There are very few companies in the world that know as much about their users as Google does. Apple, Amazon, and Meta possess extensive knowledge about nearly every person in the world; however, they also have significant gaps in their data. Google has very few holes that it can’t close.
The real power comes from combining all your personal data. Your calendar shows all the people and places you have ever met, your maps data shows all the places you have ever been, YouTube has your watch history, Chrome has the websites you have visited, the links you clicked, and even where you moved your mouse. This is without even considering the additional data that comes from wearables, which will provide even more hyper-personalized information.
Google is everywhere
Every time you, your family member, and even your neighbors install a new Google service or product, according to the terms of service, they permit Google to use their user data to learn and you intersect into that data. These terms apply to the obvious free tools like Google search, but also apply to ever-present hardware devices, even if you don’t own one, such as routers, cameras, doorbells, thermostats, and, of course, Android-operated phones.
This level of data can be beneficial for enriching nearly every search someone might conduct. Even if you think you are invisible to Google because you don’t pay for any Google services and even avoid free products like Workspace, they still have incredible power to do lookalike modeling.
Real-time environmental data adds another layer. With faster networks and edge computing, Google can factor in weather, traffic, local events, and other immediate conditions. Queries could include all the weather and future traffic data you didn’t even think to include in your search.
The best cars to buy, movies to watch, and every e-commerce query can all be enriched with data that provides better search results, even with just the metadata in a browser.
Personal recommendations become incredibly specific. Searching “dinner plans” yields restaurants that match your dietary restrictions, budget, group size, and preferred atmosphere based on your dining history. The results feel less like search results and more like suggestions from someone who knows you well.
Personalization changes everything
While better search results mean that raw search volumes decline, that assumes that the demand for search remains static. However, what is more likely is that personal search merges the idea of personal assistants and search, so people end up needing to do even more searches, even when they don’t realize they are searching.
The search paradigm change integrates seamlessly into daily life through wearables, smart glasses, and augmented reality. Imagine looking at a restaurant through AR glasses and instantly seeing its menu, reviews, and whether it accommodates your food allergies. Information becomes a layer over the physical world rather than something you actively seek out.
All of this proactive information delivery eliminates the need for many explicit searches. Your car's fuel sensor triggers automatic display of nearby gas stations with current prices along your route. Your phone knows you're traveling and surfaces boarding passes, weather updates, and local transportation options without prompts.
At all of these touchpoints, Google can once again reclaim the advertising that has been reduced due to fewer searches, as users find information quickly. Additionally, advertising becomes more sophisticated and potentially more effective. Ads can respond to real-time context, showing winter coat promotions to someone whose weather app indicates an unexpected cold snap. Interest-based targeting in search will be far more important than keywords.
Once Google starts down this road, the possibilities for how search and buying change are endless. Instead of researching "best laptop" and sifting through generic lists, you see specific recommendations based on your budget, usage patterns, and existing device setup. Our concepts of buying exactly what we need and how we find it will change behavior permanently.
It’s not a matter of if, but when
While I have always advocated for building SEO around the user journey, personal search will accelerate this to a point that most companies have never even imagined. The concept of search visibility will undergo significant changes. A service website might rank higher in search not because of better keywords, but because it perfectly matches what the user needs based on the intent mapped with personalization. Google could know when you need to fix your car before you even know.
This future means that optimizing for a user of this type should focus on being a great brand and service provider rather than winning at SEO. Niche businesses will see new opportunities for hyper-targeted visibility while years of brand building by big-box conglomerates will suddenly seem irrelevant.
Google previewed this idea at I/O but has failed to launch it to date. There are undoubtedly significant hurdles both from a legal and a practical standpoint. The power of personal context-aware search depends entirely on access to personal data, and that creates profound privacy implications. Google needs to know your location, health metrics, calendar appointments, communication patterns, and behavioral preferences to deliver truly contextual results.
Many people will feel uncomfortable with this level of data integration, especially when they understand the extent to which it becomes comprehensive. The line between helpful personalization and invasive surveillance isn’t always clear.
Different regions will likely respond differently. European users, protected by the GDPR, may have more control over their data but potentially experience less personalized content. American users may be more willing to accept data sharing for better results.
The future is here
Personal search could make Google indispensable in daily life, transforming it from a search engine into something closer to a personal assistant that knows you better than you know yourself. The convenience could be extraordinary, but it also concentrates enormous power in a single company.
The success of context-aware search will depend on Google's ability to strike a balance between personalization and privacy, accuracy and transparency, and convenience and user control. If they get it right, the search becomes invisible, seamlessly integrated into how we navigate the world and you no longer need to be an expert at finding anything, Google will do all the heavy lifting.
We're moving toward a future where the distinction between searching for information and simply living with constant access to relevant information becomes increasingly blurred. Marketers should be keenly aware that this dystopian future is no longer technologically impossible, and they should adapt not by playing defense with tactical SEO, but by adopting a proactive approach that focuses on satisfying every individual user.
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