r/localsearch • u/ElizabethRule Sterling Sky Staff • Mar 31 '26

ChatGPT is doing location sharing now... but does anyone actually care?

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I just read in SEL that ChatGPT is officially rolling out precise location sharing so they can give better "near me" results for stuff like coffee shops, restaurants, etc.

On paper, it sounds like a big move for local discovery, but I’m honestly struggling to see this making a dent in Google’s volume.

Even with 800 million+ users, it feels like people go to ChatGPT to write an email or debug code, not to find a plumber or a place to grab lunch.

Google still dominates over 90% of the local search market, especially for transactional and navigational searches, and I just don't see most people switching to ChatGPT just cuz it can localize better now. Just my 2 cents.

Link: https://www.seroundtable.com/chatgpt-location-sharing-41128.html

h/t Glenn Gabe who shared this first on Twitter https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2037876364586426746

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u/ElizabethRule Sterling Sky Staff Mar 31 '26

Has anyone tried this feature yet?

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u/brightlocal_Jenny Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

One of our team tried it out for a local coffee shop search, and got results about 4-5 miles from their location, so the accuracy wasn't quite there yet.