Google AI Overviews and AI Mode: what they mean for local businesses

What are AI Overviews and AI Mode?

AI Overviews are AI-written summaries at the top of Google's results, with links to the pages they draw on. AI Mode is a separate, chat-style search in Google where you can ask follow-up questions. Both use Google's own index, and both can run several related searches behind the scenes to build one answer, which Google calls query fan-out (Google, 2025).

Both are now used at a huge scale. In May 2026 Google said AI Overviews had more than 2.5 billion monthly active users and AI Mode more than 1 billion (Google, 2026).

How often do AI Overviews appear for local searches?

It depends on what the person is looking for. Across all Google searches, Pew Research Center found that 18% of searches in March 2025 produced an AI summary, based on the browsing of 900 US adults (Pew, 2025). For local businesses the picture is more specific.

Whitespark ran 540 searches for six kinds of local business, including plumbers, dentists and lawyers, in Houston, Phoenix and Denver. AI Overviews appeared on 68% of them on average, but the split by intent is what matters (Whitespark, 2025):

In practice, "emergency plumber near me" is still mostly a map search. "How much does a new roof cost?" and "Why does my boiler keep losing pressure?" are AI Overview searches.

Do AI Overviews reduce clicks to your website?

Yes, on the searches where they appear. In Pew's study, people who saw an AI summary clicked an ordinary search result in 8% of visits, against 15% when there was no summary. Only 1% clicked a link inside the summary, and 26% ended their browsing session on that page, against 16% without a summary (Pew, 2025).

Two larger studies point the same way:

The losses are concentrated where AI Overviews appear most: informational questions. For a local business, the most exposed pages are blog posts and price explainers, not the pages people find when they need someone today.

Is it worth being cited in an AI Overview?

Yes. On informational searches, Seer Interactive found that brands cited in an AI Overview got 120% more organic clicks per impression than when they were not cited, although that was still 38% fewer than on searches with no AI Overview at all (Seer Interactive, 2026). The study shows a link, not proof of cause, but the direction is clear: if a summary appears, you want to be one of its sources.

Google says there are no special requirements or optimisations for its AI features (Google, 2025). The pages that get cited are the ones that answer the question clearly, with facts the writer knows first-hand. A roofer who explains what a roof replacement includes, how long it takes and what it typically costs in their area gives the summary something worth quoting.

What still brings local businesses calls?

The map, reviews and clear pages. In SOCi's 2026 study of more than 350,000 locations, 35.9% appeared in Google's local map results, while ChatGPT recommended 1.2% (SOCi via Localogy, 2026).

• Map results. Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. You can't pay for a better position (Google Business Profile Help).
• Reviews. 97% of US consumers read online reviews for local businesses, 68% will only use a business with four stars or more and 89% expect owners to reply (BrightLocal, 2026).
• Clear service pages. A page for each service and area tells both Google and the customer exactly what you do and where.
• Easy contact on a phone. A number you can tap, a short form and a page that loads quickly catch the people who are ready to act.

What should a local business do about AI Overviews now?

Protect the searches that bring customers and make your answers worth citing on the ones that don't.

1. Keep your Google Business Profile complete. Categories, services, areas, hours and photos. Google says Business Profiles can help your services appear in AI responses too (Google, 2026).
2. Build a steady review routine. Ask after every finished job, and reply to every review in your own words.
3. Give every service and area its own page. Say what the job includes, where you work, how long it takes and what it costs or how you price it.
4. Rewrite informational content to answer first. Put the answer in the first sentence and add what only you know, such as what you usually find behind the tiles in a 1970s bathroom.
5. Watch Search Console. Clicks from AI features are counted in the Performance report under the Web search type, not shown separately (Google, 2025). If impressions hold and clicks fall on a page, an AI Overview is a likely reason.
6. Measure calls and enquiries, not just visits. Fewer clicks on blog posts can hide a steady number of leads from your service pages.
7. Think twice before blocking snippets. Controls such as nosnippet limit what Google shows from your pages across Search, not only in AI features (Google, 2025).

For ChatGPT, Perplexity and the other assistants, read how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT. Speed matters for every visitor Google sends you, so see what a good PageSpeed score is as well.

See SEO for local businesses

Questions about AI Overviews

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "AI features and your website", December 2025 developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features
2. Google, "Google I/O 2026: Sundar Pichai's opening keynote", May 2026 blog.google/innovation-and-ai/sundar-pichai-io-2026
3. Pew Research Center, "Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results", July 2025 www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results
4. Whitespark, "Case Study: The Prevalence of AI Overviews in Local Search", May 2025 whitespark.ca/blog/case-study-the-prevalence-of-ai-overviews-in-local-search
5. Ahrefs, "Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%", February 2026 ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update
6. Seer Interactive, "AIO Impact on Google CTR: 2026 Update", April 2026 www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-2026-update
7. Localogy, "SOCi LVI Report Reveals How AI Is Rewriting Local Search Visibility", January 2026 www.localogy.com/2026/01/soci-lvi-report-reveals-how-ai-is-rewriting-local-search-visibility
8. Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to improve your local ranking on Google", accessed October 2026 support.google.com/business/answer/7091
9. BrightLocal, "Local Consumer Review Survey 2026", February 2026 www.brightlocal.com/research/consumer-review-survey
10. Google Search Central, "Optimizing for generative AI search", July 2026 developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide