Your customers are not just Googling "plumber near me" or "best coffee shop in [city]" anymore. They are asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's own AI Overview the same questions. How people find local businesses is splitting between traditional search and AI search, and the numbers tell a clear story. Here are 13 statistics that matter if you run a local business and care about being found.
1. More Than Half of Google Searches End Without a Click
About 58.5% of Google searches now end without the user clicking any result. That number has been creeping up for years. People get their answer in a featured snippet, a knowledge panel, or an AI Overview and never visit a website. If your local business strategy is "rank on page one of Google," you are still missing more than half of all search sessions. You need to show up in the answer itself, not just the link list.
2. Google AI Mode Is Even More Zero-Click
When users search in Google's AI Mode (where answers are generated upfront), about 93% of those searches end without a click to any website. So the more AI is in the loop, the fewer clicks flow to business sites. That is not a reason to ignore AI. It is a reason to make sure your business is one of the ones AI names, quotes, and links when it does answer.
3. Getting Cited by AI Is 3 to 30 Times Harder Than Ranking in the Local Pack
Research on how often AI assistants recommend local businesses shows a big gap. Google's Local Pack (the map and three-pack) shows up in roughly 36% of relevant local searches. ChatGPT recommends a specific business in only about 1.2% of local queries. Perplexity is around 7.4%, and Gemini about 11%. So getting recommended by AI for "near me" style queries is somewhere between 3 and 30 times harder than showing up in Google's local results. That is why optimizing for AI search and structured, quotable content is no longer optional for local businesses that want to be recommended.
4. ChatGPT Recommends a Business in Only 1.2% of Local Queries
When someone asks ChatGPT for a "good dentist near me" or "best pizza in Springfield," ChatGPT only names a specific business in about 1.2% of those queries. It often gives generic advice or criteria instead of your name. So even though ChatGPT has massive traffic, the bar for getting recommended is very high. Your website and online presence need to be clear, structured, and easy for the model to understand and cite. That means solid local SEO, clear service pages, and content that answers the questions people actually ask.
5. Perplexity and Gemini Cite Local Businesses More Often (But Still Rarely)
Perplexity recommends a specific location in about 7.4% of local queries, and Gemini in about 11%. So they are more likely than ChatGPT to name a business, but it is still a small slice. The takeaway: no single AI platform is handing out recommendations easily. You have to earn citations across all of them with consistent NAP (name, address, phone), strong reviews, and content that matches how people search for local services.
6. Google Local Pack Shows Up in About 36% of Local Searches
For comparison, Google's Local Pack (the map plus three local results) appears in roughly 35.9% of searches where it is relevant. So traditional local SEO still delivers a lot of visibility. The point is not to abandon Google. It is to add AI optimization on top. If you are only doing Google Business Profile and basic local SEO, you are missing the growing share of queries that go to AI first. If you ignore Google and only think about AI, you are leaving the biggest chunk of local search volume on the table. You need both.
7. AI Referral Traffic Grew 357% Year Over Year
Even though AI still sends a smaller share of total traffic than Google, the growth rate is huge. AI referrals to websites grew around 357% year over year in recent tracking. ChatGPT referrals were up sharply, and Gemini referrals grew even faster. So the trend is clear: more and more visitors will come from AI search. Local businesses that get their site and profiles in shape for AI citations now will benefit as that curve keeps going up.
8. ChatGPT Gets Over 5 Billion Monthly Visits
ChatGPT is one of the top five most visited websites in the world, with over 5 billion monthly visits. A lot of those are people asking for help with work or homework, but a growing slice is "find me a local business" style queries. So when we say "people are asking AI for recommendations," we are talking about a platform with Google-scale reach. If your ideal customer is in that audience, you want your business to be one that ChatGPT can confidently name and link to.
9. Google AI Overviews Cut Clicks to Traditional Results by About 58%
When Google shows an AI Overview at the top of the page, clicks to the regular blue links below drop by roughly 58%. So even on Google, the shift to answer-first search is eating into traditional SEO traffic. For local businesses, that means you want to be in that Overview when someone searches "best electrician near me" or "restaurants open late in [neighborhood]." Optimization for Google now has to include how you appear in AI Overviews, not just in the local pack and organic results.
10. Star Ratings Act Like a Gate for AI Recommendations
Businesses that get recommended by ChatGPT for local queries tend to have very strong ratings. In one study, the average rating of businesses ChatGPT recommended was about 4.3 stars. Gemini and Perplexity showed similar patterns: they favor highly rated businesses. So AI is effectively filtering out average-rated locations. If your Google or other review scores are mediocre, you are already at a disadvantage in both traditional local pack and AI recommendations. Reviews are not just for humans anymore; they are a ranking signal for AI too.
11. Traditional Google Search Volume Is Expected to Drop by 2026
Forecasts suggest traditional Google search volume could drop by around 25% by 2026 as more queries move to AI assistants and answer-in-place experiences. That does not mean Google disappears. It means a bigger share of "how do I find X" and "who does Y near me" will happen inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Siri, and Google's own AI. Local businesses that only optimize for classic Google are betting on a shrinking slice of the pie. The ones that also optimize for AI search and citations are covering the shift.
12. AI Overviews Already Appear in a Large Share of Local Searches on Google
On Google Search, AI Overviews are estimated to show up in 40% or more of local-style queries in many markets. So when someone searches "best hair salon near me" or "pediatrician in [city]," there is a good chance the first thing they see is an AI-generated answer, not just the local pack. If your business is not in that answer, you are invisible for a big portion of local search on Google itself. That is why structured data, clear content, and a site built for both humans and machines matter more than ever.
13. When AI Does Send Traffic, It Often Converts Better
Here is an upside. When visitors do come from AI search (ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.), they often convert at higher rates than visitors from standard Google. By late 2025, some benchmarks showed AI referral traffic converting about 31% better than non-AI traffic. So even though AI sends fewer total clicks right now, the people who click tend to be further along in their decision. That makes AI visibility valuable not just for volume but for quality. Getting cited by AI is hard, but when it happens, it can be high-intent traffic.
What This Means for Your Local Business
Google search for local businesses is still huge. So is the Local Pack. But the way people find local services is splitting: more queries are going to AI, and more Google results are answer-first. The businesses that win will be the ones that show up in both. That means a strong Google Business Profile, consistent NAP everywhere, great reviews, and a website with clear service pages and structured data so that Google and every AI assistant can read, understand, and recommend you.
If you want to see where your site stands for both traditional local SEO and AI visibility, reach out. I will give you a straight assessment of what is working, what is not, and what to fix first.