Siri Gets a Brain Transplant: How the Apple-Google Deal Changes SEO Forever

Siri Gets a Brain Transplant: How the Apple-Google Deal Changes SEO Forever

Jan 20, 2026
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Aditya

Gemini is becoming the brain behind Siri through a new multi‑year deal between Apple and Google, turning Siri from a basic voice assistant into a full conversational and task‑orchestrating AI. For business owners in every category—local, e‑commerce, B2B, creators, agencies—this shifts customer behavior from “searching and clicking” to “asking and letting Siri decide,” which can dramatically change how often your business is discovered, chosen, and booked.

What’s changing with Siri and Gemini

Apple and Google signed a multiyear agreement that puts Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology at the core of Apple’s next‑generation “Apple Foundation Models” and Apple Intelligence features, including a new, more personalized Siri.

The upgraded Siri is expected to roll out across Apple’s ecosystem (over 1.5–2 billion active devices) and will use Gemini for deeper language understanding, reasoning, and long‑form responses while still relying on Apple’s on‑device processing and Private Cloud Compute for privacy.

Instead of mostly reading out links or doing simple commands, Siri will synthesize information, answer complex questions, and increasingly act as an “agent” that can book, order, schedule, and message through integrated apps and services.

How Gemini‑powered Siri affects discovery

The new Siri experience will often produce a single synthesized answer or a very short list of options, drawing from sources Gemini considers trusted, rather than showing pages of search results.

Visibility becomes “AI mentions”

For many queries—especially local and commercial ones—the real battle is to be one of the businesses that Gemini cites inside its answer, because those mentions automatically surface across Siri searches and voice queries on Apple devices.

Voice and assistant behavior accelerates

With over a billion voice searches already happening monthly, shifting that traffic into a smarter Siri that can complete tasks magnifies the impact of any gain or loss in assistant visibility.

Impact by Industry

  • “Near me” becomes “pick the best for me”: When someone says “Hey Siri, find the best emergency plumber near me,” Gemini‑powered Siri will choose a small group based on proximity, ratings, reviews, and clear service data, not just who ranks in traditional search.
  • From calls to completed bookings: Siri will increasingly handle actions like “Book me a haircut Friday at 5pm at a highly rated salon nearby” or “Schedule an AC tune‑up this week,” talking directly to booking systems or integrated apps, which can bypass your website entirely if you are not connected.
  • Local SEO becomes AI visibility: Clean NAP (name, address, phone), optimized Google Business Profiles, rich categories, and strong review signals are now inputs to Gemini’s reasoning about which local providers to mention in responses.

Brick‑and‑mortar retail and restaurants

  • Preference‑based suggestions: Siri will mix context like “open now,” “kid‑friendly,” “vegetarian options,” or “quiet for meetings” with user history and location when answering questions such as “Where should I grab lunch nearby?” and will surface only a couple of options.
  • Frictionless reorders: Commands like “Order my usual from the closest location” or “Reorder that pizza from last weekend” become easier as Siri coordinates with delivery and POS apps, reinforcing habits around a small set of frequently chosen brands.
  • Menu, hours, and attributes as data: Up‑to‑date hours, menus, pricing, and attributes on your profiles and website feed into Gemini’s understanding and help Siri decide when your restaurant or store matches the query.

E‑commerce, DTC, and product brands

  • Agentic commerce: Gemini is being tied into commerce protocols so assistants can compare products, check availability, and complete purchases all inside an AI‑driven flow, a trend often called “agentic commerce.”
  • From catalog to conversation: When a user asks “What’s the best air purifier for a small apartment under $300?”, Siri can compare specs, reviews, and availability and then recommend one or two products, not a full catalog, making structured feeds and clean product data critical.
  • Brand moats through data quality: Accurate feeds with specs, images, pricing, and review aggregates make it easier for Gemini to understand why your product matches certain users, which improves your odds of being in Siri’s answer.

B2B and SaaS companies

  • AI‑curated vendor shortlists: A prospect might say, “Which CRM is best for a 20‑person manufacturing sales team?” and get a synthesized shortlist built from analyst research, review sites, and your content, compressing the early evaluation stage.
  • Thought leadership becomes training data: Deep, problem‑specific content—case studies, implementation guides, comparison pages—helps Gemini recognize when your solution fits a certain use case, making it more likely to be mentioned in Siri’s B2B‑style answers.
  • AI‑assisted scheduling and nurturing: As Siri becomes more agent‑like, it can help users schedule demos, add events to calendars, or kick off emails to vendors by voice, smoothing the path from interest to booked call.

Creators, coaches, and info businesses

  • “Who should I follow?” answers: Users will ask “Who’s the best TikTok coach for real estate agents?” or “Which newsletter explains AI for small business owners?” and Gemini‑powered Siri will likely recommend a small number of creators it sees as authoritative.
  • Niche clarity matters: Clear positioning (who you serve, what problems you solve) across your site, social profiles, and content helps AI assistants match you to specific user queries and pull you into their answers.
  • Content as the new SEO: FAQ pages, how‑to guides, and niche explainers optimized for clarity rather than just keywords give Gemini better raw material to work with when deciding whose content to surface or cite.

Agencies, consultants, and marketers

  • Rise of “AI visibility” services: The Siri‑Gemini deal accelerates a shift from classic SEO to what many call “answer‑engine optimization” or “AI visibility,” where the goal is to be a trusted entity inside AI‑generated answers.
  • Local and SME demand: Local businesses and SMEs that depend on “near me” or “best X in my area” queries are feeling the biggest impact and need help with structured data, reviews, and AI‑readiness audits.
  • Strategic advisory on assistants: Agencies can help map “voice journeys” (what people will actually ask Siri), prioritize key queries, and align content, schema, and reputation so clients are eligible for Gemini‑powered mentions.

What every business should do now

  1. Fix the fundamentals: Ensure your Google Business Profile, website contact details, hours, and service descriptions are accurate and consistent so Gemini can confidently understand who you are and what you do.
  2. Add structure: Implement schema markup (localBusiness, product, service, FAQ, review) so AI models can parse your information, not just read your pages vaguely.
  3. Invest in reputation: Encourage reviews, respond to feedback, and keep ratings strong since AI assistants weigh credibility and consensus when deciding which businesses to surface.
  4. Write for questions, not just keywords: Create content around the real questions people could ask Siri about your space—“who, what, where, when, why, how” queries—so Gemini has clear, high‑quality answers it can reuse.

Agentic commerce is not a distant future; the infrastructure is being rolled out right now. The brands that move first will define what “default” looks like in the age of AI shopping.

You can run a free audit today, or explore our Enterprise Options for global brands.

Reach out directly at: aditya@sanbi.ai