Google Search and the North Country's Visibility Problem

Over the past few years, I've found myself having the same conversation over and over again with business owners throughout the North Country.

Sometimes it's a restaurant owner wondering why they aren't seeing more traffic. Sometimes it's a nonprofit trying to attract new supporters. Sometimes it's a contractor looking for more calls, a retailer trying to compete with larger companies, or a tourism organization wondering how to reach new audiences.

The details change, but the conversation often follows a similar path.

Eventually, I start asking questions about their online presence.

Do they have a website?

When was the last time it was updated?

Are they collecting reviews?

Are their business listings accurate?

How are people finding them online?

More often than not, the answer eventually circles back to Facebook.

Most business owners didn't start a business because they wanted to become experts in Google. They started a business because they love food. Or construction. Or fitness. Or theater. Or helping people. Or creating something meaningful in their community.

The internet was simply supposed to help customers find them.

For a long time, that seemed to work well enough.

Then this past month, Google announced what it described as the biggest upgrade to Search in more than twenty-five years.

I've spent the better part of the week reading through the announcement, observing reactions, and trying to separate the technical language from what it actually means for communities like ours.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that artificial intelligence isn't really the story.

Google isn't really the story either.

The story is visibility.

For most of Google's existence, search worked in a way that was relatively easy to understand. Someone searched for something. Google provided a list of websites. The user clicked through those websites and decided who they trusted.

That process shaped how many businesses approached the internet.

Build a website.

Show up in search results.

Get people to click.

The customer does the rest.

Google is now moving toward something very different. The company's vision for Search is increasingly centered around helping people get answers directly. Instead of simply providing links, Google is trying to understand information well enough to help users make decisions, complete tasks, and find what they're looking for more quickly.

At first glance, that may sound like a technical change.

I don't think it is.

I think it's a behavioral change.

Think about how often you use your own phone.

When was the last time you searched for something and clicked through ten different websites before making a decision?

Most of us don't do that anymore.

If we're looking for a restaurant, we want a recommendation.

If we're looking for a contractor, we want someone we can trust.

If we're planning a vacation, we want to know where to stay, where to eat, and what is worth our time.

The internet has quietly shifted from exploration to recommendation, and Google is building Search around that reality.

So here was my next question: if Google is increasingly helping people make decisions, how does it decide which businesses become part of those recommendations?

The more I sat with that question, the more I kept coming back to something I've been observing for years.

Many businesses throughout the North Country are still operating with an online strategy that was built for a different version of the internet.

Some businesses are still using Facebook as their primary website.

Others haven't updated their website in years.

Many have very few reviews.

Some have incomplete business information online.

Others are investing enormous amounts of energy into social media while neglecting the information that helps search engines understand who they are and what they actually do.

For years, that may have been enough.

Today, I'm no longer convinced it is.

Because the question is no longer whether Google can find your business.

The question is whether Google understands your business.

Those are two very different things.

Google can't confidently recommend what it doesn't confidently understand.

It can't tell someone where to stay, who to hire, where to shop, or which organization to support if the information available is incomplete, inconsistent, or difficult to interpret.

And according to Google's own announcement, Search is increasingly becoming a system that gathers information from multiple sources and synthesizes it into answers.

That means websites matter.

Reviews matter.

Business listings matter.

Directory profiles matter.

Articles matter.

Community mentions matter.

The overall picture of a business matters.

The challenge is that many of the businesses I know and care about have spent decades building trust in the real world while leaving very little evidence of that trust online.

That wasn't necessarily a problem ten years ago.

I think it is becoming a problem now.

And that realization is what brought me to a much larger concern.

The North Country has always depended on discovery.

We depend on visitors discovering our communities.

We depend on travelers discovering our restaurants, attractions, theaters, trails, retailers, nonprofits, and local businesses.

We depend on people finding reasons to stop here, stay here, spend money here, and eventually tell other people about what they experienced.

Visibility has always mattered to this region.

The difference is that the systems driving discovery are changing.

What happens when someone in Massachusetts asks their phone where to stay in the White Mountains?

What happens when a family planning a vacation asks what they should do while they're here?

What happens when a homeowner searches for a contractor, an accountant, a fitness center, or a local service provider?

If Google is increasingly becoming the front door to those decisions, then whether Google understands the North Country becomes incredibly important.

And that's where I find myself asking a question that has been bothering me all week.

Why aren't we talking about this?

More specifically, why aren't the organizations that exist to support businesses talking about it?

Where are the conversations at chamber events?

Where are the discussions among economic development organizations?

Where are the workshops for small business owners trying to understand what is changing?

Where are the tourism conversations about what happens when artificial intelligence increasingly becomes the gateway through which visitors discover destinations?

I don't ask those questions as criticism.

I ask them because these organizations matter.

They care deeply about helping businesses succeed.

Many of the people working in those organizations have dedicated enormous amounts of time and energy to strengthening our communities.

But the more I think about it, the more I wonder whether they're facing the same challenge as everyone else.

The rules changed.

Most of us are still operating from a playbook that was written for a different era of the internet.

Maybe that's why this announcement has been sitting so heavily with me.

This isn't really a business problem.

Business owners are doing what they've always done. They're serving customers, solving problems, supporting their communities, and trying to keep the lights on.

The bigger question is whether the systems designed to support those businesses are evolving quickly enough to meet the moment.

Because if they aren't, we're going to continue teaching businesses how to succeed in an internet that no longer exists.

And that concerns me far more than Google's announcement itself.

The North Country has never lacked hardworking business owners.

It has never lacked community.

It has never lacked people willing to help.

What I'm not sure about is whether we're having the right conversations.

And if we're not, I worry we'll wake up one day and discover that while we were busy promoting the North Country, the rest of the world quietly changed the way it discovers places like ours.

This isn't a technology story. It's a North Country story.

And I think it's one worth paying attention to.

-Amanda

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About Clear View Advantage

Clear View Advantage helps businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations become easier to find, understand, and trust online. Based in Littleton, New Hampshire, founder Amanda McKeen works with clients throughout New England to improve visibility through online reputation management, business listings, reviews, website clarity, and digital strategy.

At its core, the work is about something simple: helping good organizations get the recognition they deserve in a world where more decisions are being made online than ever before.