Something big changed in Google search over the past year, and most local business owners have no idea it happened. Google now writes its own summary answer at the top of search results — before any website links, before the map, before everything. They call it "AI Overviews," and it's reshaping how customers find local businesses.
What are AI Overviews, in plain English?
Imagine a customer searches "best Italian restaurant near me" or "reliable plumber in Austin." Instead of just showing a list of links, Google now reads through websites, reviews, and business profiles, then writes a paragraph summarizing the answer. It might say something like: "According to reviews and local listings, three highly-rated Italian restaurants in your area are..." and then name specific businesses.
This AI-generated summary sits right at the top of the page, above everything else. It's the first thing your potential customer reads. If your business is mentioned in that summary, you're golden. If it's not, you just got pushed further down a page that fewer people are scrolling through.
How big is this shift? The numbers are striking.
AI Overviews now appear in 68% of local searches. That's not a small experiment — that's the majority of searches people use to find businesses like yours. And AI-driven search traffic has jumped 527% in just one year. This is happening fast.
Here's the tough part: for searches where an AI Overview appears, the click-through rate on regular organic results dropped 61%. People used to click on those links at a rate of about 1.76%. Now it's down to 0.61%. Google's summary is answering the question before people ever scroll down.
But there's a silver lining — and it's a big one
Businesses that actually get cited in an AI Overview earn roughly 120% more clicks per impression than they did before. Read that again. If Google's AI mentions your business by name in its summary, you're getting more than double the attention you would have gotten from a regular search listing.
So this isn't all bad news. It's a reshuffling. The businesses that show up in AI Overviews are going to get a bigger share of customers than ever. The ones that don't will get less. The question is: which side do you want to be on?
Where does Google's AI get its information?
This is the most important thing to understand. Google's AI doesn't make things up from thin air (well, mostly). It pulls from specific sources to build those summaries. And for local searches, your Google Business Profile is one of the biggest sources it draws from.
Businesses with complete, active profiles — filled-out services, recent photos, fresh reviews, regular posts — are significantly more likely to be cited in AI Overviews. If your profile is a ghost town with a phone number and nothing else, the AI has nothing to work with. It'll cite your competitor who actually filled theirs out.
Citations are making a comeback
Here's something that surprised a lot of people in the industry: old-school citations matter again. When researchers looked at the top five factors that determine whether a business shows up in AI search results, three of them were citation-based. That means mentions of your business on other websites.
Specifically, these three things carry serious weight:
- Being mentioned on "best of" lists (like "Best Pizza in Denver" articles)
- Getting mentioned in local news articles or blog posts
- Having a high overall volume of mentions across the web
Think of it this way: when Google's AI is deciding which plumber to recommend in its summary, it's not just looking at your profile. It's checking whether other websites talk about you. If a local blog wrote "Top 5 Plumbers in Portland" and you're on that list, the AI notices.
Why this matters more for local businesses than anyone else
Forty-six percent of all Google searches have local intent. Nearly half. When someone types "dentist near me" or "best tacos downtown," they're looking for a local business. And those are exactly the searches where AI Overviews are appearing most aggressively.
If you run a national e-commerce brand, you have a whole SEO team figuring this out. But if you're a local business owner — running a dental practice, managing a restaurant, dispatching plumbing crews — you probably haven't even noticed this change. And that's a problem, because your competitors might figure it out first.
What you can actually do about it
The good news is that the playbook isn't complicated. It's not some mysterious algorithm you need a PhD to understand. Here's what moves the needle:
- Complete your Google Business Profile — every field, every service, every attribute. Leave nothing blank. The AI can only cite information that exists.
- Keep your profile active. Post updates weekly, add new photos regularly, respond to every review. Activity signals tell Google your business is alive and relevant.
- Get your business mentioned on local blogs, news sites, and "best of" lists. Reach out to local bloggers. Pitch your story to community news outlets. These mentions feed the AI.
- Make sure your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are identical everywhere they appear online — your website, Yelp, Facebook, industry directories, all of it. Inconsistencies confuse the AI.
- Ask happy customers for reviews and respond to every single one. Review volume and your response pattern are signals the AI pays attention to.
The window of opportunity is right now
Most local business owners have no idea AI Overviews even exist. They haven't noticed the change in their search traffic, and they certainly haven't adjusted their strategy. That means right now — today — there's an opportunity to get ahead while your competitors are still in the dark.
This won't last forever. As more businesses catch on, the competition for those AI Overview mentions will get fiercer. The businesses that act now will have a head start that's hard to overcome.
Think of AI Overviews like a recommendation from a trusted friend
When Google's AI says "Based on reviews and local listings, these are the top-rated options..." and names your business, it's like getting a personal recommendation from the most influential friend in town. Except this friend talks to millions of people a day.
The question isn't whether AI Overviews will affect your business. They already are. The question is whether you'll be the business that gets recommended, or the one that gets buried beneath the summary.
Not sure where you stand? Start with a profile audit.
If you're wondering whether your business is set up to show up in AI Overviews — or whether your profile has gaps that are costing you — LocalNinja offers a $29 profile audit of your Google Business Profile. We'll show you exactly where you stand and what to fix first. No jargon, no pressure, just a clear picture of your online presence.