2025 Top local search trends (and how to prepare for 2026)

The 2025 top local search trends tell a clear story: search has changed. Not slowly, not subtly, but it’s no exaggeration to say this past year has transformed the way people search for and find information at the local level. In just one year, the way people find local information has completely shifted. AI Overviews and machine-generated summaries now drive local discovery, with platforms deciding which businesses appear for users.

And with 84% of consumers searching for local businesses daily, as well as 73% searching multiple times a day, that shift carries massive stakes for every brand with a physical footprint.

The old mindset of optimizing to rank won’t carry multi-location brands into 2026. Ranking still matters. But what matters more now is showing up in the answer, not just the results.

What 2025 taught us about local search

The signals that drive local visibility didn’t vanish; they just changed rank. In 2025, the spotlight shifted toward trust, intent, and AI-readable signals. The data proves it.

Here’s what surfaced in the 2026 Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors report:

• Citations are making a comeback. Three of the top five AI search visibility factors are citation-based. These include mentions on expert-curated “best of” lists, unstructured mentions in news or blogs, and overall volume of mentions across the web. LLMs are now digging deep into third-tier directories for information, as well. That makes citation accuracy critical not just for major listings like Yelp and Google, but also for second- and third-tier aggregators (e.g. Hot Frog).
• Review signals are more influential than ever. High Google ratings ranked sixth for local pack visibility and first for conversion impact. Review recency, sentiment, and overall volume matter, as well. Reviews are now the second-most-important ranking factor for Local Services Ads.
• Dedicated pages for each service are essential. They ranked first for local organic rankings and second for AI visibility. This proves that content structure still matters across every search surface. Having dedicated pages for each service helps both search engines and LLMs understand the depth of products and services a local brand offers, improving visibility in both local search results and AI chatbots.
• Keywords in Google Business Profile services carry real weight. This detail emerged as a top-ranking factor for local visibility, confirming what many brands have long suspected.
• Behavioral signals are gaining ground. User engagement matters. Metrics such as mobile clicks, dwell time, and click-through rates are on the rise. One expert noted that locations experiencing higher-than-usual activity often see a boost in rankings in real time.
• Google Business Profile optimization still underpins visibility. Primary category, proximity, and keywords in the business name were the top local pack ranking factors. A new factor, “business is open at time of search,” ranked fifth and joined the top tier this year.

AI models now prioritize confidence, not clicks

More than tweaking the algorithm, these shifts are redefining how visibility works. AI isn’t scanning for keywords. It’s scanning for confidence: accurate data, timely updates, and content that makes sense in context. Consumers feel that shift, too; 60% click AI-generated overviews at least sometimes, even when the summary gives them most of what they need without leaving the results page.

Local discovery is now shaped by how machines read trust. That trust shows up in more places; in review text pulled into AI Overviews, Business Profile features like “What’s Happening,” and schema-rich pages that confirm your relevance without a click.

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that visibility lives in the answer layer. And inclusion, not just position, is what moves people to act.

Local search engines follow your customer reviews and citations

And yet, inclusion doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Behind every AI-generated summary, map pin, or booking button is a trail of data in reviews, structured markup, categories, content, and visuals. It’s all working in sync to tell a clear story. Customer behavior reinforces this: 75% of consumers read at least four reviews before making a decision, and 21% now say that how brands respond to those reviews influences confidence.

In 2025, we saw Google lean harder on review text and schema markup, AI systems start pulling answers straight from Reddit threads and forums, and social platforms step up as local search engines in their own right.

What brands need next to win local search visibility

Winning visibility in 2026 won’t come from chasing the algorithm. It’ll come from creating clarity across every local touchpoint and reinforcing it with signals AI can trust. Each element of your digital presence, from listings to landing pages, plays a role in earning inclusion.

Listings: Structure your data for full-text search and AI tools

Google Maps, Apple Maps, and local search engines rely on accurate, consistent signals to fuel their results. AI tools (especially custom Assistants and autonomous agents) can’t afford to guess. They need verified data at the source. And with 68% of consumers trusting Google most for accurate business information, your listings are the first proof point.

Your Google Business Profile isn’t just a listing, though; it’s a structured data node. Fill in every detail, from hours and categories to services and service areas. Align those signals with trusted local citations, industry niche directories, and full-text search data from your business websites. And don’t stop at accuracy… stay active. Respond to Q&A, publish updates, and treat your listing like a live storefront.

Reviews: Help language models read what makes you trustworthy

Today’s AI models don’t just count customer reviews, they interpret them. AI search systems parse review text to extract sentiment, context, and recurring themes. That language feeds directly into AI Overviews and chat assistant responses.

That means volume matters, but voice matters more. Encourage reviews across platforms, respond with natural language, and highlight keywords that reinforce your core services. A steady stream of authentic customer feedback tells AI that your business is active, trustworthy, and worth recommending, whether in search or inside an assistant.

Pages: Align your local pages with machine learning expectations

Machine learning models can now evaluate your business websites the way a human would, but faster and with stricter rules. They expect clear structure, accurate markup, and seamless alignment between on-page content and your Google Business Profile.

Each location page should act as a confidence checkpoint: relevant keywords, local context, and schema that reinforces the who, what, and where of your business.

Use FAQ markup, embed customer reviews, and connect the dots between your structured data and your social media channels. AI-powered queries are looking for clarity, not keyword tricks, and content that’s built to help, not just rank.

Analytics: Understand how AI-powered queries reflect brand performance

Clicks are no longer the full picture. AI search experiences surface results without sending users to your site. Success now shows up in customer actions — tap-to-call, direction requests, profile views, and conversions — across AI interfaces.

Accuracy plays a major role here: 53% of consumers won’t visit a business with incorrect listing information, and 59% expect a response within 24 hours when they reach out. To track this, you need visibility across both traditional analytics and engagement signals from Google Business Profile, Google Maps, and other entry points. Rio’s approach connects location-level data with real-world actions, helping enterprise brands see how presence, perception, and precision work together to drive results.

The path forward: Train your brand for AI search

Machine learning, language models, and AI search aren’t going to slow down, and neither can you. As discovery evolves, your visibility depends on how well your brand speaks the language of both machines and people. That means training your data to be consistent, training your team to stay responsive, and training your content to surface when it matters most.

It also means thinking beyond one platform. Local search engines, social media channels, and autonomous agents are learning from the same data sources: your customer reviews, local citations, business websites, Q&A content, and every structured signal you send out into the world.

For enterprise marketers, the mission is clear: Turn every search result into a source of truth.

Turn every location into a learning loop. Turn every signal into a story your customers and AI models can trust.

This isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it task; it’s a new discipline, where precision, consistency, and experience stack together to make your brand visible, valuable, and chosen.

Get the must-read guide

Want to go deeper? The 2025 Top Local Search Trends and insights featured in the full Local Search Q4 2025: Winning Visibility in an AI-Driven World guide is built to help you take the next step whether you’re rethinking your content, revamping listings, or rebuilding your data model from the ground up.

Get the guide here.