I’ve been watching something happen in local search that most multi-location businesses haven’t noticed yet.
AI Overviews now appear in over 13% of all searches. That number jumped 72% in just one month.
For local business queries, AI Overviews show up 40.2% of the time.
Here’s what that means for you: Your best location can be invisible even when you rank first.
The Old Rules Don’t Apply
Traditional local pack rankings used to follow predictable patterns. Distance mattered. Reviews mattered. Your Google Business Profile optimization mattered.
AI Overviews ignore most of that.
Research shows effectively no correlation between distance and ranking position in AI Overviews. The correlation coefficient is 0.001.
Your clinic three blocks away loses to a competitor across town because AI reads different signals.
Position #1 in traditional search saw click-through rates drop 39% when AI Overviews appear. You’re ranking. You’re just not getting found.
ChatGPT Converts Better Than Google
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Business websites make up 58% of all local search sources in ChatGPT Search. Visitors coming from ChatGPT answers were 6x more likely to sign up compared to those from Google Search.
People trust AI recommendations differently. When ChatGPT suggests your law firm or dental practice, it signals trust before the click happens.
The problem is getting ChatGPT to recommend you in the first place.
Reddit Became Your New SEO Channel
I know this sounds strange, but stay with me.
Reddit accounts for 11.3% of all ChatGPT citations. One or two positive mentions in niche subreddits can move the needle on AI-generated answers.
Reddit’s traffic jumped from 500 million to 3.4 billion monthly visits after its data licensing deal with Google.
Your brand mentions in Reddit threads now feed directly into what AI tools recommend.
This isn’t about gaming the system. It’s about understanding where AI sources its local business intelligence.
The Shift From Ranking to Answer Shaping
Traffic to websites from organic search is declining because of AI-influenced searches.
The search landscape moved from ranking to answer shaping. Users expect direct answers, comparisons, and recommendations without browsing links.
Your website serves more as a data repository for AI consumption than a traditional sales tool.
I’ve seen this with the multi-location businesses I work with. The ones adapting their content strategy for AI consumption are maintaining visibility. The ones optimizing for 2019 SEO tactics are disappearing.
What This Means for Your Business
You need to think about local visibility differently now.
Your Google Business Profile optimization still matters. But it’s no longer enough.
Your website content needs to answer the questions AI tools are trying to solve. Clear service descriptions. Specific location information. Genuine customer stories.
Your brand mentions across platforms feed into AI knowledge bases. Community involvement. Review responses. Industry participation.
The businesses winning in this environment have strong strategic foundations. They know who they serve, what problems they solve, and how they’re different.
AI amplifies clarity. It also amplifies confusion.
The Two-Tier Market Is Here
I predict we’ll see a two-tier market emerge faster than most people expect.
Businesses with strategic positioning and AI-optimized presence will dominate local search results. Everyone else will fight over scraps.
The gap between these two groups will widen quickly because AI recommendations create compounding advantages. Get recommended once, you get more reviews. More reviews lead to more recommendations.
The time to adapt is now, not when your lead volume drops 40%.
This isn’t about chasing the latest marketing trend. It’s about understanding how customers find local businesses in 2025.
The rules changed. Your strategy needs to change with them.
