12AM Agency has identified a significant challenge for small and local businesses in the evolving landscape of customer discovery powered by AI. According to their latest article, titled “Unveils ‘Big-AI Upgrade,’ Aiming to Make Local Businesses Citable by Every Major AI Engine,” traditional search engine optimization (SEO) strategies are falling short in the era of AI-generated answers. With AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity becoming pivotal in local buying decisions, businesses may find themselves becoming increasingly invisible to potential customers.
Published on November 23, 2025, the article highlights a crucial fact: over 50% of local buying decisions are already influenced by AI. Surprisingly, a business that ranks well on Google can still be considered “AI-invisible.” More than 70% of local search engine results pages (SERPs) no longer feature the traditional “10 blue links,” signifying a shift in the way consumers seek information.
For local business owners—whether they operate in sectors like home services, real estate, or retail—this presents a hidden threat, as they may be losing leads not due to poor SEO, but rather because AI systems lack the confidence to recommend them. The article underscores that traditional SEO practices are no longer adequate for maintaining visibility in this new AI-driven landscape.
The Big-AI Upgrade
In response to these challenges, 12AM Agency has introduced the “Midnight AI Lead Engine.” This innovative system aims to bridge the AI-visibility gap by enhancing elements such as entity trust, citation signals, and AI-readable authority data. Robert Portillo, Co-Founder at 12AM Agency, asserts, “Small businesses aren’t losing leads because of bad SEO—they’re losing them because AI can’t confidently recommend them. Our Big-AI Upgrade fixes that by making local brands visible, trusted, and chosen inside AI answers.”
The upgrade focuses on making businesses not just rankable but also recommendable by AI engines. This strategic shift is crucial, as AI is increasingly becoming the “new homepage” for consumer discovery, reshaping how potential customers interact with local services.
Regular readers of 12AM Agency may recognize the article’s distinctive tone—one that is confident and insight-driven. It aims to expose the hidden problems businesses encounter while educating local business owners and positioning 12AM Agency as a leader in AI-driven visibility.
The article also invites comments and questions from its audience, reinforcing the importance of community interaction. According to the agency, active engagement in the comments section not only shows that people are invested in the content but also enhances credibility for both the agency and its message.
For readers interested in exploring this critical topic further, the full article can be accessed at 12AM Agency.
As AI continues to transform the landscape of local business recommendations, the importance of adapting to these changes cannot be overstated. The new Big-AI Upgrade offers a promising path forward for businesses looking to enhance their visibility and credibility in an increasingly AI-driven world.
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