What consumers do
10 of the 12 rows come from companies that sell local SEO or listings software, and some sell AI tracking, so each row says who sells what. Only Pew Research Center and the university preprint sell no marketing product. Montrelia sells GEO, so weigh our verdicts the same way.
| Figure | What it measured, source and date | Who publishes it | Fits one Virginia service business? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45% used AI for local business recommendations in the last 12 months, up from 6% a year earlier. ChatGPT 31% and Google AI Mode 23% | 1,002 US adults on a SurveyMonkey panel, self-reported. BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, published February 11, 2026, and its AI mini-report, published March 10, 2026, both read October 6, 2026. The page does not state the base for the tool shares, and they are not the 31% and 23% in the next row. BrightLocal ranks AI third among sources used for local recommendations, behind Google and Facebook. It compares 45% with 6% in its 2025 survey and does not say the question was identical. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. | Partly. US-wide, every kind of local business, and used means at least once in a year. |
| 31% use AI for local recommendations at least monthly, and 23% used AI in their latest local search | 1,227 US consumers who searched for a local business in the last 3 months. BrightLocal, consumer search behavior, published July 9, 2026, read October 6, 2026. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. | Partly. US-wide. The page gives no split by state or trade. |
| Of consumers who started their latest local search on AI, 2% used only AI and 43% went on to check Google | Same 1,227 consumers, same report (BrightLocal, July 9, 2026, read October 6, 2026). The page also says only 18% of AI users felt ready to contact the business an AI tool recommended. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. | Partly. It shows the path, not what your customers do. |
| 52% started their latest local search on Google Search and 9% on Google Maps; 71% used Google Search at some point | Same 1,227 consumers and report (BrightLocal, July 9, 2026, read October 6, 2026). 73% started on a mobile device and 75% used more than one channel. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. | Partly. US-wide, and self-reported for one search. |
| 97% of AI users sometimes double-check AI recommendations against real reviews; 42% always check reviews on the review platforms | 455 of the 1,002 adults, the ones who had used AI for local recommendations in the last 12 months. BrightLocal, AI mini-report, published March 10, 2026, read October 6, 2026. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. | Partly. Only people who already use AI, and sometimes is not every time. |
| 64% of adults aged 30 to 44 had asked AI for a business recommendation in the past year; 24% of those over 60 turn to AI for local guidance | Age groups of the same 1,002 adults. The page does not give the size of each group. BrightLocal, AI mini-report, published March 10, 2026, read October 6, 2026. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. | Partly. Use the age that matches your customers, then treat it as a US-wide estimate. |
| Visits to Google results pages with an AI summary: 8% clicked a result link, against 15% for pages without one; 1% clicked a link inside the summary | 900 US adults whose browsing was tracked, 68,879 Google searches, March 2025; 18% of the searches showed an AI summary. Pew Research Center, published July 22, 2025, read October 6, 2026. | Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan fact tank and subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. No product for sale on the page. | Partly. All Google searches, not local ones, measured in March 2025, 19 months before we read it. |
How often AI names a business
Two 2026 studies give ChatGPT rates about 27 times apart: 1.2% (SOCi) and 33% (BrightLocal). They differ in four ways:
- Unit. SOCi counts brand locations recommended. BrightLocal counts the share of searches that named a tracked business.
- Population. SOCi studied multi-location brands. BrightLocal studied 1,342 locations in its own tracker.
- Prompts. BrightLocal's were written for businesses that could be named. SOCi's release states none.
- Window. SOCi gives no data window. BrightLocal ran repeat searches over 60 days.
Both put AI below Google's map results: 1.2% against 35.9% for the 3-pack in SOCi's data, 33% against 66% for Maps in BrightLocal's. The gap is about 30 to 1 in one and 2 to 1 in the other.
| Figure | What it measured, source and date | Who publishes it | Fits one Virginia service business? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2% of locations recommended by ChatGPT, against 35.9% appearing in Google's local 3-pack | More than 350,000 locations of 2,751 multi-location brands. SOCi, 2026 Local Visibility Index press release, January 28, 2026, read October 6, 2026. The release states no prompts and no definition of recommended; the full report is a separate download we did not read. | SOCi. Sells a local marketing platform for multi-location brands, including AI search visibility. | No. Locations of multi-location brands, not one owner-operated location. |
| ChatGPT named a tracked business in 33% of searches; Google AI Overviews 38%, Google AI Mode 32%, Google Maps 66% | About 200,000 localized searches for 1,342 business locations in BrightLocal's own tracker, over 60 days, using non-branded prompts a local business could be recommended for. BrightLocal, local AI visibility study, published September 16, 2026, read October 6, 2026. The page does not say how the locations were chosen or in which countries. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software and the Local AI Visibility Tracker this study used. | Partly. Storefront and service-area locations mixed, and prompts written for businesses that could be named. |
| Storefronts were named in 33.6% of searches on average and service-area businesses in 29.4%; on ChatGPT 33.7% against 29.4% | Same study (BrightLocal, September 16, 2026, read October 6, 2026). | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software and the Local AI Visibility Tracker this study used. | Partly. The closest split to a plumber or electrician among these sources, with no Virginia figure. |
| Repeat runs of the same local prompt overlapped 21% to 33% on average; a business named once reappeared in about 50% of later runs | Same study (BrightLocal, September 16, 2026, read October 6, 2026). Overlap: ChatGPT 23%, AI Mode 21%, AI Overviews 33%, which BrightLocal says also reflects lists of different lengths. Reappearance: 50% on ChatGPT and AI Mode, 58% on AI Overviews. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software and the Local AI Visibility Tracker this study used. | Partly. A reason to count many answers, not one. The swing for your business is not published. |
| 47.5% of restaurants were never recommended when a model had to pick 10 from 100 | Restaurants in 304 neighborhoods of five US cities, three named models, 320 synthetic user profiles. Each answer had to leave out 90 of 100 venues. Chen, Weng and Moro, arXiv preprint, v1 July 7, 2026, read October 6, 2026. | Academic authors at Northeastern University. A preprint, with no journal named on the page. | No. Restaurants only, and a forced pick of 10 from 100. |
What to do with these numbers
- If most of your customers are over 60, assume about 24% asked AI for a business recommendation in the past year, not 45%. If most are 30 to 44, assume about 64%. Both are US-wide figures.
- If your Google Business Profile is incomplete, your recent reviews are thin or your site fails on a phone, fix those before paying for AI work. 73% of searchers started their latest local search on a mobile device, 71% used Google Search at some point, and 97% of AI users sometimes check AI picks against real reviews.
- If you have one location, do not use 1.2% or 33% as your rate. Ask your buyer questions yourself and repeat each one many times, because repeat answers overlapped only 21% to 33% on average. The AI answer sample size calculator shows what your count can prove. On our own scoreboard, Montrelia was named in 0 of 4 buyer questions in each of two Ask Brave runs, which is one engine and not ChatGPT.
- If you run many locations under one brand, SOCi's 1.2% is the closer published figure, with the limits in its row.
- If you want a written report every week, including the raw AI answers, our SEO + GEO plan is $2,000 per month. A one-time setup fee of $1,000 is charged once when the plan starts. The minimum term is 3 months, $7,000 with the setup fee. We do not promise that an assistant will name you. How SEO and GEO differ is in GEO vs SEO.
What these numbers cannot tell you
- Place and trade. None of the seven source pages mentions Virginia. Only BrightLocal's study separates service-area from storefront businesses.
- Outcome. A survey answer counts use, and a mention counts a name. The nearest figure to a customer action is that 18% of AI users felt ready to contact the business an AI tool recommended.
- Their data. BrightLocal and SOCi sell AI visibility tracking and report their own data, which we cannot see. We read only what their pages print.
- Why a business is named. No row explains the choice. How assistants pick is in how AI assistants choose local businesses, and what they cite is in what AI assistants cite for local businesses.
Sources
| Source | Published and read | Who publishes it and what it sells |
|---|---|---|
| BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 | February 11, 2026. Read October 6, 2026. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. |
| BrightLocal, Nearly Half of Consumers are Asking AI for Business Recommendations | March 10, 2026. Read October 6, 2026. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. |
| BrightLocal, Google is #1 for local search, but three-quarters use more than one channel | July 9, 2026. Read October 6, 2026. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. |
| BrightLocal, What 200k local AI searches tell us about what businesses get recommended, and why your website matters | September 16, 2026. Read October 6, 2026. | BrightLocal. Sells local SEO software, citation building, managed local SEO and an AI visibility tracker. |
| SOCi, In AI-Driven Discovery, Few Brands Are Chosen, Most Disappear | January 28, 2026. Read October 6, 2026. | SOCi sells a local marketing platform for multi-location brands, including AI search visibility. |
| Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results | July 22, 2025, on March 2025 data. Read October 6, 2026. | Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan fact tank and subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. |
| Chen, Weng and Moro, Large language models create an uneven informational layer over cities | arXiv v1, July 7, 2026. Read October 6, 2026. | Authors at Northeastern University. A preprint, with no journal named on the page. |
Questions people ask
Do consumers trust AI recommendations for local businesses?
In BrightLocal's survey of 1,002 US adults (published February 11, 2026), 40% trusted AI platforms for business recommendations and 32% did not. Among the 455 who had used AI for this, 63% trusted it and 10% did not, and 53% of non-users did not (March 10, 2026). Read October 6, 2026.
How many businesses does one AI answer name?
In BrightLocal's study of about 200,000 local searches (published September 16, 2026), ChatGPT named 4.1 businesses per answer on average, Google AI Mode 3.5 and Google AI Overviews 2.5. About 10% of ChatGPT answers and 11% of each Google surface's answers named none. Read October 6, 2026.
Does ranking on Google Maps mean AI will name my business?
BrightLocal says a Maps ranking does not translate directly into AI visibility (September 16, 2026). Google Maps named a tracked business in 66% of searches and the AI surfaces in 32% to 38%. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews shared 29% of the businesses they named, and ChatGPT overlapped 19% to 20% with either.
Do AI answers pick businesses near the searcher?
More than half did. In BrightLocal's study (September 16, 2026), 52.8% to 59.3% of the businesses named by the three AI surfaces were within 5 km of the searcher, and 71.7% to 78.2% within 10 km. BrightLocal reads this as proximity still mattering. The page gives no split for Virginia.
Last updated October 6, 2026