In 2026, customers find local businesses through a mix of Google, AI chat tools, voice assistants, and social media. The split is shifting fast — 64% of consumers now use AI tools like ChatGPT to discover businesses, and that number has roughly doubled in the past 18 months. If your marketing strategy still assumes everyone starts with Google, you're missing where attention has moved.
Google is still big — but it's not alone anymore
Google still handles billions of searches per day. It's not going anywhere. But the way people use it has changed. Google itself now puts AI generated answers at the top of many results — the "AI Overview" box. That means even on Google, traditional organic results are getting pushed further down the page.
For local business queries like "plumber near me" or "best salon in Brighton", Google still shows a map pack and local listings. But increasingly, people are skipping Google entirely for these kinds of questions and going straight to an AI tool.
AI chat tools are the new word of mouth
When someone asks ChatGPT "can you recommend a good electrician in Leeds?", they get a direct answer. Not a list of ten links to evaluate — a specific recommendation with reasons. That's closer to asking a trusted friend than it is to searching Google.
And the conversion rates reflect that. People who find your business through an AI recommendation are already warm. They've been told to use you by something they trust. They're not comparison shopping across ten tabs — they're picking up the phone.
The main AI tools people use for business discovery are ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's own Gemini. Each draws on slightly different data sources, which means your visibility can vary between them.
Voice search is AI search
Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are all now powered by AI models. When someone says "Hey Siri, find me a roofer", the response comes from the same kind of AI that powers ChatGPT. Voice search and AI search are converging.
This matters because voice searches are almost always local and action oriented. Nobody asks their phone to "research roofing companies" — they ask for a recommendation, right now, nearby. If your business is the one the AI picks, you get the call.
Social search is real but niche
Younger customers especially use TikTok and Instagram as search engines. They'll search "best coffee shop Leeds" on TikTok before they check Google. For restaurants, salons, and lifestyle businesses, social search is a genuine channel.
For trades and professional services, social search matters less. Nobody's going to TikTok to find a plumber for an emergency leak. But having a social presence still feeds into AI visibility because AI models ingest social media data too.
Where should you focus your budget?
Don't abandon Google. Your Google Business Profile, local SEO, and reviews still drive real leads. But if 100% of your marketing budget goes to traditional SEO and Google Ads, you're ignoring a channel where the competition is virtually zero.
AI visibility — what's known as Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — is the biggest untapped opportunity for small businesses right now. Most of your competitors aren't even thinking about it yet. That won't last, but while it does, the bar to entry is low and the rewards are high.
A practical split for most small businesses in 2026: keep doing what works on Google, but dedicate 20–30% of your time and budget to building AI visibility. Press releases, schema markup, directory listings, and review building all serve both channels. It's not either/or — it's both.
The bottom line
Your customers are finding businesses in more places than ever. Google is still the biggest, but AI chat tools are the fastest growing and offer the warmest leads. The businesses that show up across all these channels will win. The ones that only show up on Google will slowly lose ground.
Want to know where you're visible and where you're not? Get in touch and we'll check your presence across Google, ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity — then tell you exactly what to fix first.