Streets Ahead: Agentic Shopping, Reviews, and the Rise of Fresh Content
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses Google’s agentic shopping move in AI-Driven commerce, review recency and volume driving local visibility, and freshness as the new authority in AI search
Agentic Shopping: Google’s Next Move in AI-Driven Commerce
The News Just in time for peak holiday spending, Google has rolled out agentic Shopping in AI Mode. It utilizes a new, AI-driven experience designed to reinvent how consumers search for and buy products online. Now live in Search and the Gemini app, the tool lets shoppers describe what they’re looking for in natural language and receive personalized, visual results, complete with side-by-side comparisons, real-time pricing, and nearby availability.
Powered by more than 50 billion product listings, Google says the multimodal system “understands complex shopping needs and helps you browse millions of products as if you were talking to an expert.”
Beyond product discovery, the new experience bundles several friction-removing features to streamline the path to purchase. Using Google’s Duplex technology, it can confirm stock levels or promotions at local stores, send updates through text or email, and — with user consent — complete checkouts using Google Pay at supported retailers like Wayfair, Chewy, and Quince. Together, these capabilities represent Google’s evolving vision for agentic shopping: AI that supports consumers from first inspiration all the way to completed purchase.
Why This Matters Google is moving toward a world where AI not only influences consumer decisions but completes them end-to-end. That evolution makes precise location data, real-time inventory accuracy, and frictionless O2O experiences essential. As shopping inside Search and Gemini turns more conversational and automated, businesses with strong local signals and verified availability will have a clear advantage in AI-powered buying journeys.
Review Recency and Volume: Metrics That Drive Local Visibility
The News Two recent data-driven studies from respected local search experts shed new light on one of the most reliable predictors of local ranking performance: review signals.
In the first study, Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky analyzed more than 8,000 businesses across 200 cities to understand what influences “near me” visibility heading into 2025. While no single factor guarantees top placement, review signals — including rating, volume, and especially recency — emerged as the strongest differentiators.
A key insight: businesses generating a steady stream of fresh, detailed reviews consistently outranked competitors with older or stagnant review profiles, even when those competitors had slightly higher average ratings. Ongoing review activity, not just historical volume, is increasingly critical for local visibility.
A second, industry-specific analysis from Greg Gifford at SearchLab reached similar conclusions. Examining 3,200 PI law firm Google Business Profiles across 20 major U.S. markets, Gifford found that “review volume is one of the clearest differentiators between firms at the top of the map pack and those further down.”
His data also reinforced Hawkins’ stats on the importance of recency: firms ranked in the top position earned 28% more monthly reviews than the category average.
Why This Matters A strong reputation strategy doesn’t end once rating and volume targets are reached. To maintain long-term visibility, brands need a plan for steady, organic review growth. Use platforms like GeoRank to define competitive benchmarks, and pair them with reputation management tools that monitor not just review quality, but the frequency and consistency of new feedback.
Freshness Is the New Authority in AI Search
The News A new Ahrefs analysis of ChatGPT’s 1,000 most-cited web pages reveals a clear trend: the content most frequently surfaced by the model isn’t just authoritative … it’s actively maintained.
- 60.5% of cited pages with known publication dates were published within the past two years.
- 76.4% of pages with detectable update histories had been refreshed within the last 30 days.
- Nearly 90% of pages with freshness data carried 2025 update timestamps.
Freshness, not just authority, is increasingly driving visibility inside AI-generated answers.
Why This Matters Local pages often benefit from strong domain authority, but many have gone years without updates, acting more like static listings than meaningful content assets. The Ahrefs data reinforces a core truth: freshness matters.
Regular updates signal recency, trust, and operational activity — all of which influence both user perception and AI-driven visibility signals. For multi-location brands, that may mean quarterly content refreshes, seasonal adjustments, new imagery, or simple notes that reflect what’s happening at the local level.
As AI-powered search becomes more prevalent in 2026, brands that demonstrate ongoing activity through their local pages will be best positioned to strengthen relevance and outperform competitors.
