The Invisible Crisis: Robert Portillo on Why AI Search is Erasing Local Businesses

Local businesses are facing a silent crisis. While many owners are focused on traditional Google rankings, a seismic shift in how consumers find services—from “searching” to “asking”—is causing thousands of businesses to vanish from the digital map. According to a new analysis by 12AM Agency, over 68% of local businesses are no longer consistently recommended by AI assistants like ChatGPT, Siri, or Google Gemini.

To understand this phenomenon and what business owners can do about it, we spoke with Robert Portillo, Co-CEO of 12AM Agency, about the death of the old SEO playbook and the rise of “AI Visibility.”

Q: Your latest article claims that “local businesses are being erased by AI search.” That is a stark warning. Can you explain what you mean by “erased” and why traditional Google rankings no longer guarantee visibility?

Robert Portillo:

When I say “erased,” I mean something very literal: AI assistants are simply not mentioning you anymore. A business can rank well on Google, have a strong website, even run ads—but if platforms like ChatGPT, Siri, or Google Gemini don’t have enough confidence in who you are, what you do, and where you operate, you will never be recommended when a user asks for a provider.

Our research at 12AM found that over 68% of local businesses are no longer consistently recommended by AI assistants, even when they rank on Google. That’s the invisible crisis. AI relies on entity understanding, structured data, and cross-web consistency—not just page rankings.

So “erased” doesn’t mean you disappeared from Google.

It means you no longer exist in the places consumers are actually asking for help.

And right now, those places are AI assistants, not search result pages.

Q: You mention that consumers have shifted from “searching” to “asking.” How does this change in user behavior—asking specific questions like “Who is the best personal injury lawyer near me?”—fundamentally alter the way businesses need to present themselves online?

Robert Portillo:

This is the biggest behavioral change since the introduction of smartphones.

People aren’t typing “roofers near me” anymore.

They’re asking:

• “Who is the most trusted roofer in my area?”
• “Who can fix an AC unit today?”
• “Which lawyer has the best reputation for car accidents?”

When someone asks a question, the AI isn’t pulling a list of links.

It’s choosing an answer.

That means businesses must stop thinking about keywords and start thinking about credibility signals, entity strength, and answer-level clarity.

To show up, you need:

• Strong entity data
• Clear service definitions
• Consistent NAP across the web
• Structured data that explains your business in machine-readable language
• Proof signals: reviews, media mentions, and topical authority

In other words, you must be understood before you can be recommended.

AI doesn’t reward noise—it rewards confidence.

Q: The analysis identifies “weak entity data” and a lack of “structured data” as major reasons why businesses vanish from AI recommendations. For a non-technical business owner, can you explain what it means to be “AI-readable”?

Robert Portillo:

To be AI-readable means a machine can understand you the same way a human would.

Most business websites are built for human reading, not AI interpretation.

AI-readability means:

• Your business information is structured in a predictable format
• Your services are labeled using consistent schemas
• Your location data is machine-verifiable
• Your reviews, citations, and mentions reinforce the same facts
• Your content is “entity-first,” not keyword-first

Weak entity data is like having a driver’s license with your name spelled differently on every document. The machine sees conflict and chooses to ignore you.

If AI cannot confidently answer:

• “Who are you?”
• “What do you do?”
• “Where do you serve?”
• “Are you trustworthy?”

—then you simply won’t appear in AI recommendations.

This is why businesses feel like they’ve vanished overnight.

Q: You’ve stated that the “old SEO playbook is dead.” How does your new solution, the “Midnight AI Lead Engine,” differ from traditional SEO strategies, particularly regarding “Answer Engine Optimization” (AEO)?

Robert Portillo:

Traditional SEO was built for ranking pages.
AEO is built for earning answers.

The Midnight AI Lead Engine is the first system we developed that fully aligns with how AI assistants choose recommendations today. It does three things traditional SEO cannot:

1. Entity Strengthening
   We rebuild your entire digital identity to make you AI-confident—schema, citations, GBP optimization, topical authority, and cross-web consistency.
   
2. Structured AI-Visibility Framework
   We create machine-readable layers (schemas, JSON-LD, AI-datasets, question graphs) so AI assistants understand your business and can recommend it with confidence.
   
3. AEO Content System
   Instead of keyword blogs, we publish answers—short, factual, locally relevant content pieces that match the exact questions users ask AI assistants every day.
   

Traditional SEO is about “getting found.”
Midnight AI Lead Engine is about being chosen.

Q: With Google moving toward an AI-first index, you warn that businesses failing to adapt now won’t recover later. What is the immediate impact you are seeing in Q1 numbers for businesses that have ignored AI visibility versus early adopters?

Robert Portillo:

The gap is widening faster than any shift I’ve seen in 15 years of digital marketing.

Businesses ignoring AI visibility

We’re seeing—in just Q1—

• Drops in organic calls
• Declines in Google Maps traffic
• Less visibility in AI assistants
• Lower branded search volume
• Fewer discovery searches generating results
  

They’re not falling slowly; they’re falling off the map.

Early adopters

Those who adopted AI-Visibility are seeing:

• Higher call volume from AI platforms
• Faster discovery from assistants like ChatGPT
• Stronger Google Maps rankings driven by entity confidence
• More referral traffic from “zero-click” answers
• Increased brand impressions through AI-generated summaries
  

In many cases, early adopters are seeing 25–45% increases in lead flow, while late adopters are seeing stagnation or decline—even if their Google rankings remain unchanged.

AI visibility is no longer optional.
It’s the new front door to your business.

To learn more about AI Visibility and read the full report, visit https://12amagency.com/ai-visibility/.