Stop Training Google to Love Your Competitors

Have you ever Googled your business, spotted your competitor sitting a little too close for comfort, and thought: “Let’s see what they’re doing over there…” — then clicked their link?

Yeah… about that.

Every one of those “just curious” clicks is a tiny gift to your competitor. Google sees it and thinks, “Hmm, people who search this term like that site. Let’s show it more.”

So, while you’re busy poking around your competitor’s website, Google is busy rewarding them with higher visibility in your local search results.Then, when you mix in Google’s personalization filters — which already skew what you see versus what your prospects see — you’re not just losing clicks. You’re handing over your future rankings.

Now add AI-driven search (ChatGPT, Google SGE, Perplexity) into the equation, where results are shaped by engagement data, user behavior, and feedback loops… and suddenly, the more attention your competitor gets, the more default they become in both Google and AI answers.

The reverse, however, can also be true. In short, this means that the search results you see aren’t what everyone else is seeing. If you click on your competitor’s site 20 times in a month, for example, they are likely to show up higher for you than for other searchers who haven’t already engaged with that brand. In those situations, your website might actually be ranking higher for potential clients, especially in your local area.

Local Search vs. Localized Search: Two Very Different Things

This is where many tax professionals get tripped up.

• Local search results = what a prospect in your area sees when they search “tax professional near me” or “CPA in [city].” These results are based on authority, reviews, proximity, and relevance.
  
• Localized search results = what you personally see when you type those same terms. They’re shaped by your IP, your device, your search history, and even the Google account you’re logged into.
  

That means your “proof” of being #1 is often just a personalized echo chamber. Your clients are seeing something totally different.

Test it yourself: search “accounting firm near me” in two different neighborhoods. The results change dramatically. Add in your own browsing history, and suddenly, your personal search results become a funhouse mirror.

Get in Google’s Head

What really happens when you keep clicking? Google treats it as a signal. Let’s take a minute to get inside the Google algorithm’s head, so to speak.

Here’s how clicks are read:

• A click = “this site looks relevant.”
  
• A long visit = “this site satisfied me.”
  
• A quick bounce = “this site wasn’t useful.”
  

When you click on your own site? Meh. Google already knows you like you.

However, when you click on your competitor’s site? That’s data. It’s a little nudge that says, “Hey, this result matters for this keyword.” Enough nudges from you and everyone else, and that competitor starts getting rewarded. Remember, though, when other people outside of your home or office IP address click on your site, it’s a positive signal for you. Bonus tip: This is where metadata really matters. It can help your click-through rate and, in turn, help your localized rankings on searchers’ devices.

It’s like training a dog. Feed your dog, sure. But if you start sneaking treats to the other dog in the race, don’t be surprised when they start winning.

How Google Personalizes Results

Here’s why your searches are unreliable: Google personalizes based on…

• Location (down to the street you’re standing on).
  
• Device (mobile vs. desktop often show different packs).
  
• History (every site you’ve clicked before matters).
  
• Profile (your Google account ties it all together).
  

Thus, two people in the same city, searching the same keyword, can see two totally different SERPs (search engine results pages).

Which means this: your ego-searching doesn’t show you where you really rank. It just shows you where Google thinks you want to rank.

If you want reality, you need neutral tools: Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMrush, or BrightLocal.

Enter AI Search: The New Frontier

Now, there’s a whole new layer in the online search world: AI-driven search.

ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) don’t work like old-school search engines. They’re building answers from:

• Web crawls (your site content, schema, structured data).
  
• User behavior (what questions get asked, refined, upvoted, or rejected).
  
• External signals (reviews, backlinks, citations, authority mentions).
  

Just like traditional Google searches, though, AI search is shaped by behavior. If more people ask about your competitor — or if they consistently click your competitor’s link when AI serves up options — that competitor gets reinforced as the “right” answer.

Where does the data come from in ChatGPT-style platforms?

• Publicly available internet content (scraped and processed).
  
• Licensed sources (partnerships, publishers).
  
• User feedback loops (the thumbs-up, thumbs-down, click-throughs).
  

In short: AI search is a reflection of what users collectively reward. If your competitors get more attention, they start to dominate not just Google — but AI-powered answers too.

What Professionals Should Do Instead

Here’s the smart strategy:

Stop:

• Ego-searching yourself.
  
• Clicking your own site.
  
• Clicking your competitor’s site “just to check.”
  

Start:

• Tracking objective data in Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMrush, or BrightLocal.
  
• Publishing content that directly answers client questions.
  
• Structuring FAQs, service pages, and blog posts so they’re easy for both humans and AI to parse.
  
• Encouraging reviews, backlinks, and authority mentions that can’t be faked.
  
• Testing visibility in unbiased ways (incognito, different devices, neutral IPs).
  

Think of it this way: you want your prospects to click you, not you. Every click from them is worth ten clicks from you.

The Bottom Line

Googling yourself isn’t market research. It’s ego candy. Sweet, but empty.

And every time you click your competitor “just to peek,” you’re not just wasting time. You’re feeding them signals that Google and AI systems use to boost their visibility.

The firms that win in search — local or AI-driven — aren’t the ones clicking their own sites. They’re the ones building real signals of relevance: content, reviews, engagement, and authority.

Put your energy into creating content and experiences your future clients actually want to click on. Because in search, whether it’s Google or AI, the clicks that matter aren’t yours. They’re theirs.