How local customers find businesses in 2026

If you run a barbershop, a lash studio or a mobile detailing business, you've probably heard that "everyone uses AI now." Some of that is true. Most of it is noise. Here is what the research published this year actually says about how people find a local business, and what it means for yours.

Google still starts most searches

In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,227 US consumers, 52% started their latest local search on Google Search and another 9% on Google Maps. Only 8% started with an AI tool. (BrightLocal, Consumer Search Behavior 2026)

Bain found the same pattern from a different angle: 56% of consumers mostly or always use a search engine as their default, against 16% who mostly or always use a chatbot. (Bain & Company)

So if someone near you searches "lash studio near me" tonight, the odds are they type it into Google.

But AI is growing fast

The same research shows how quickly that is changing. 45% of US consumers used AI tools to get local business recommendations in the past year, up from 6% the year before. (BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026) That counts anyone who did it even once, but a jump from 6% to 45% in one year is hard to ignore.

Pew Research Center puts general chatbot use at 49% of US adults, with 24% using one every day. The most common reason people give is searching for information. (Pew Research Center, Americans and AI 2026)

The two paths end in the same place

Here is the part most business owners miss. Of the people who started with an AI tool, 43% went on to check Google before choosing. Only 18% of AI users felt ready to contact a business an AI recommended without doing more research. (BrightLocal)

People ask an AI for ideas, then go to Google to check you're real.

That check is where you win or lose them. They look for your reviews, your hours, your prices and a way to book. If what they find is a booking page with no address, or a Facebook page that hasn't been updated since 2023, many of them move on to the next name.

Fewer clicks when Google shows an AI summary

Google now shows AI-written summaries above many results. In Pew's browsing study, people clicked a regular result on 8% of visits when a summary appeared, against 15% when it didn't, and only 1% of visits included a click on a link inside the summary. (Pew Research Center) Google disputes the method, and those were general searches, not local ones. Still, the direction is clear: the summary itself has to get your name, hours and services right, because fewer people scroll past it.

Five things worth fixing first

None of this needs a big budget. In order:

1. Claim your Google Business Profile and fill in every field: hours, services, photos and the booking link. It's free, and it's what shows up in Maps.
2. Get reviews, steadily. Google is still where people read reviews: 71% of consumers in BrightLocal's survey, down from 83%. (BrightLocal) Ask every happy customer, every week.
3. Have a website of your own. A booking app or Instagram page is rented space. Your own site is the one place you control your name, prices, hours and story, and the place an AI tool or Google can link to as "the official source."
4. Make the facts match everywhere. Same business name, phone number and hours on Google, your site, Instagram and your booking app. Mismatches confuse search engines and AI tools alike.
5. Make the site readable by machines. Real text instead of text baked into images, structured business data (schema), a sitemap, and a robots.txt that doesn't block search and AI crawlers. An llms.txt file is a newer, optional extra; nobody can promise it moves rankings, but it's cheap to add.

The honest bottom line

No website, profile or AI trick can guarantee a ranking or an AI recommendation, and anyone who promises one is guessing. What you can control is whether the people who look you up find a clear, current, trustworthy answer. In 2026 that answer usually starts on Google and, more and more, gets checked against what an AI tool said.

Want to see where you stand? The free visibility check looks at your website live and scores how you show up on Google search, Maps and AI answers.

Sources

• BrightLocal, Consumer Search Behavior 2026 (part 2), published July 9, 2026, 1,227 US consumers.
• BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, published February 11, 2026, 1,002 US adults.
• Pew Research Center, Americans and AI 2026, published June 17, 2026, 5,119 US adults.
• Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears, published July 22, 2025.
• Bain & Company, Why consumers choose an AI chatbot over a search engine, September 2025, 1,500 consumers.