Across the SEO world, it’s often assumed that people no longer look for local services the way they used to. With tools like ChatGPT becoming a more common starting point, this belief usually shows up as a shift from short, keyword-style queries to longer, conversational prompts. To evaluate that idea, we watched real users as they used ChatGPT to find local providers, including healthcare and aesthetics practices. They were instructed to start in ChatGPT and proceed as they normally would—visiting websites, checking social media profiles, and reading reviews as needed. Our observation was shaped by a few key questions: Are people actually using ChatGPT for local services in the way many in SEO assume? Are users really moving away from keyword-style searches to the point that traditional keyword research and tracking no longer matter? And when their goal is to book or buy, are they truly engaging in long, back-and-forth conversations with ChatGPT? The results run counter to much of what’s being said at conferences and on SEO-focused social channels. 75% of sessions still involved “keyword searches.” A popular belief is that users have stopped searching with keywords and now rely mainly on conversational prompts when using AI. That idea shaped our initial expectations. When we first started observing behavior in ChatGPT, we didn’t plan to pay much attention to keyword usage. However, in a separate user study on Google’s AI Mode, we were struck by how many queries looked almost identical to the traditional keywords SEOs have monitored for years. That earlier insight prompted us to investigate whether similar patterns…