State of AEO · Updated June 2026
The state of AEO and AI search for local business.
The shift from search to AI answers is no longer a prediction, it is measurable. Here are 17 real, sourced numbers behind how local customers now find and choose businesses, and why being the answer AI gives is the new game.
Compiled from public sources, each stat linked below. By the RankNext team.
Live from the RankNext Local AI Index
2614 captured answers · 20 trades × 20 metros · grows daily
Everything above is sourced from public research. This block is ours: we ask AI engines the real “best [trade] near me” questions on a schedule and measure the answers deterministically — every number opens to stored receipts.
94%
of AI answers name specific local businesses
3.1
businesses named per answer — the whole shortlist
29%
of answers cite directories as corroboration
1%
hedge with no names — open-seat markets
Full tables by trade and metro, methodology, and sample receipts live on the Local AI Index. Cite freely (CC-BY): RankNext Local AI Index, 2026.
AI assistants are where your customers are now
Hundreds of millions of people use AI assistants every week, and the audience is still growing fast.
800M+
weekly active users on ChatGPT
October 2025, up from about 500M in March 2025. Source: OpenAI750M+
monthly active users on the Gemini app
Alphabet Q4 2025 earnings. Source: Alphabet100M+
monthly active users on Google's AI Mode in Search
US and India, mid-2025. Source: Alphabet~780M
Perplexity search queries in a single month
company-reported, May 2025. Source: PerplexityAI is rewriting the search results page
AI answers now sit on top of search, and a shrinking share of searches ever reach a website.
~16%
of Google queries showed an AI Overview by late 2025, after peaking near 25% mid-year
Semrush study of 10M+ keywords, 2025. Source: Semrush2B+
monthly users now see Google's AI Overviews, across 200+ countries
mid-2025, up from 1.5B in May 2025. Source: Alphabet68%
of US Google searches ended without a click to the open web in early 2026
up from about 60% in 2024. Source: SparkToroPeople now ask AI who to hire
The behavior shift is not coming, it is here, and it is moving fastest in local.
45%
of consumers used AI tools like ChatGPT to find local business recommendations in the past year, up from just 6% a year earlier
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Source: BrightLocal+1,200%
growth in US retail site traffic from generative-AI sources (February 2025 vs July 2024)
Adobe Analytics, March 2025. Source: Adobe Analytics+693%
year-over-year growth in AI-driven traffic to US retail sites during the 2025 holiday season
Adobe Analytics, January 2026. Source: Adobe AnalyticsLocal search still decides who gets the call
Even as AI grows, local intent and the map pack are where the high-value calls are still won.
46%
of all Google searches have local intent
Source: Google (via HubSpot)50%
of people who run a local search on a smartphone visit a business within a day
Google and Ipsos, Think with Google, 2014. Source: Google / Ipsos~44%
of clicks on local-intent searches go to the local 3-pack (the map pack)
Moz local search study, 2015. Source: MozYour Google profile and reviews decide it
When AI and Google choose who to recommend, they lean on the same signals: a complete profile and real reviews.
7x
more clicks for a complete Google Business Profile than an incomplete one
Source: Google97%
of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and 41% now always read them, up from 29% a year earlier
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Source: BrightLocal68%
of consumers will only use a business rated 4 stars or higher, and 31% now require 4.5 or more
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Source: BrightLocal+44%
more calls, clicks, and direction requests from improving a Google rating by just one star
BrightLocal GMB Insights Study, 2019 dataset. Source: BrightLocalWhat it means
The signals never changed, the surface did.
The same things that always decided who a local customer hired, a complete Google profile, real reviews, consistent information, and a readable website, are exactly what AI engines now read to decide who to recommend. The businesses that get found are the ones that look trustworthy and consistent everywhere, to people and to AI alike. That is what Answer Engine Optimization is about, and you can see where your business stands today with a free Local AI Visibility Check.
Use these numbers
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