Siri Finally Gets Local Search

Apple has largely downplayed Siri and Apple Intelligence with its rollout in iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, instead positioning them as foundational for significant AI enhancements later this year and in 2025. But if you have a compatible device* and dig a little deeper, you can see the outlines of much broader search and knowledge functionality – not the least of which is a much enhanced local search capability.

Siri's New Local Search

The best way to test out Siri's new local search functionality, is to use the new Type- to-Siri feature that enables Siri to accept text input. This is available from any compatible iPhone with a double-tap of the bar at the bottom of any screen. By making local search available on every screen, Apple is greatly reducing the need for conventional internet search. The Type-to-Siri feature not only eliminates the awkwardness of talking to your phone, it dramatically increases accuracy and eliminates any potential Siri misunderstanding.

Here is a short video with some examples of the results:

Other Tricks Up Siri's Sleeve

The iPhone is primarily a touch screen UI that relies on relatively long form text and graphics for answers. That works well when looking for a location on Apple or Google Maps, which can then present a list of choices and a map.

When you're only able to talk and listen to your device, for example when exercising or driving, a voice answer presents a more difficult human interface problem in presenting and parsing the multiple options that might exist in local search results. The new Siri however, when paired with AirPod Pros, is making intriguing progress in this area.

After asking Siri a question you can shake your head yes or no to decline, accept or dismiss a notification or message via the AirPods. This feature is put to good effect with a Siri local search audio result.

Riding my bike with my iPhone in my pocket, wearing my AirPod Pros, I asked for "lunch restaurants near me." Using Siri's spoken output, it presented a result and asked if I wanted that one. I shook my head side to side for no. It then asked if I wanted the second result. When I shook my head up and down for yes, it then went on to ask if I wanted it to call the restaurant or if I needed directions.

Not only were the input and outputs oral/aural, Siri was prepared to take action on my behalf. This capability speaks to a long-anticipated future where voice is everywhere and there are multiple modes of interacting beyond touch.

The Limits of Siri Local Search

Visibility: The Text-to-Siri interface is largely hidden from view in its current beta incarnation. It appears, however, that Text-to-Siri can be a pixel-for-pixel replacement of Spotlight Search in the iPhone interface, which currently has favored placement on the iPhone home screen.

Audio comprehension: The success of Siri-based local search will depend on not just a better, more visible text input for Siri but a much better voice experience overall. Siri has a well-earned reputation for being stupid. The problems are connected to "brittleness," i.e. the inability to map the complexities of human language to a single computer command and "hearing," where Siri needs to separate the command from the background noise.

Apple seems to be making progress on both of these fronts. The use of LLMs for advancements in language and audio processing seems to help Siri better understand and execute. If you haven't listened to this conversation, with John Giannandrea, Apple's head of AI, on these issues you really should.**

While Siri is "smarter" in iOS 18.1, it still needs improving. But the basic technologies for that to happen appear to be in place.

Lack of local details: Apple Maps has made an amazing recovery as a go-to navigational tool, and its entity database of local businesses has improved dramatically. However, its local search success has also been impeded by a lack of depth and detail in Apple's local listings. It needs much more to answer long-tail inquiries such as, Who has a Nikon D700 in stock? Which bar has shuffleboard? Which employment lawyer provides sexual harassment defense? Is the business LGBTQ friendly?

Changing Local Landscape

Google has long dominated local search at all levels with broad and deep data across many different local verticals. By integrating these verticals they have dominated the local funnel from planing to purchase. ChatGPT's recent integration of SearchGPT into their product and Apple's elevation of local holds the promise of a more competitive and interesting local search market.

Clearly Apple is moving more aggressively by making their local graph more visible and integrating it more fully with Apple Intelligence. We have yet to see how well Apple's AI integration with ChatGPT will handle more complicated queries like full-on trip planning. But that's a use case that ChatGPT is highlighting.

Whether it's flights, hotel bookings, services, products, ownership attributes or social attributes, Google Local has set a very high bar for more complicated and longer tail local searches, which Apple has not yet reached.

Impact on Your Marketing

Apple has long flown under search marketers' radar. Some of this is due to difficulty tracking results and some of it is likely due to their inability to make obvious changes to impact rank.

We have covered the growing strength of Apple Maps for location discovery and Apple's play to increase local data with their Apple Business Connect product. In certain local verticals, Apple is sending a reasonable amount of traffic; in many categories it's ahead of Yelp or even Facebook. And the growing successes of Apple Maps and anticipated growth of Siri point to Apple "stealing" ever more local searches from Google.

Apple local search is local entity search that relies heavily on partners for data, photos and reviews. To succeed you need to:

• Claim your listing at Apple Business Connect
  • Add photos and promotions for engagement
• Determine which partner Apple is using for reviews and photos in your vertical
• Do barnacle SEO at that partner with a review push and photos
• Use call tracking for your Apple listing to guage success
• Assess Apple's local insights to understand their impact
• If you are a home services or e-commerce business add yourself to Business Connect. You won't show in Maps but there are indications that the new Siri search is adding other vertical searches.

What Does the Future Hold?

Apple is currently processing over 1.5 billion Siri queries a day in the existing product. In December, when ChatGPT is added to Siri as part of iOS 18.2, we are likely to see significant growth of Siri usage. There is every reason to think that an increasing portion of that will be local search.

And now that Siri finally has Apple's full attention, it's likely to become increasingly competent over time.

However, Apple moves very slowly and implements incremental changes every six months. So, at the end of year two, three or four of a product, you really have something. The same is going to happen with Siri local search.

Siri and Apple Intelligence are getting stepwise iOS upgrades over the next six months. For now only higher end current iPhones can even run the new Siri. Hopefully, new low-end model releases will increase its availability. It will take another two years before half of the installed base is upgraded and sometime beyond that to see the full adoption and impact of Siri Local. 

Whether this will put a dent in Google's local dominance remains to be seen.

Watching the rise of Apple Maps from the ashes, we've seen how tenacious the company can be. That bodes well for the long term future and a more competitive local playing field. But however it plays out, it will be much more like multiple seasons of Pachinko than The Family Plan.

*Apple Intelligence with Type to Siri is available on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, and Mac with M1 and later.

** This conversation with John Giannandrea, previously the Google AI lead who left for Apple due to weak leadership at Google, is worth listening to. He details why voice search has failed to this point and, with LLMs, why it now has a chance for broader adoption.