How local businesses show up in Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and AI assistants

AI Overviews are AI written summaries above some Google results, and AI Mode is a conversational search that gives a longer AI answer with links. AI Overviews launched in Australia on 29 October 2024 and AI Mode followed on 8 October 2025.

Questions are getting longer. Google says early AI Mode testers typed queries nearly three times the length of traditional searches, so instead of "electrician Wollongong" a homeowner might ask who can upgrade an old switchboard in Corrimal this week and fit an EV charger too.

Not yet: in December 2024 the ACCC said the impact of generative AI on general search "appears limited so far", with Google holding nearly 94% of Australian search in August 2024. StatCounter still had Google at 87.9% in September 2026.

Assistants are growing, though. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of US consumers, use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for local recommendations rose from 6% to 45%, so the smart move is work that helps on both fronts.

Google says there are no additional requirements: the page must be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet, and SEO best practices still apply. Its December 2025 guidance adds a few specifics.

• No special schema.org markup, and no AI text files such as llms.txt.
• Any structured data you use must match the visible text on the page.
• Important content belongs in text, not locked inside images or video.
• Business Profile information should be kept up to date.

Google says its AI features use query fan out, running several related searches across subtopics and building one answer from the results. A page that covers the likely follow up questions gives the system more places to find a useful line.

For example, "blocked drain Shellharbour Sunday" might fan out into who services Shellharbour, who works weekends and what affects the cost. Other assistants such as ChatGPT use their own mix of web search and training data and mostly don't publish how they pick a business, so keep the same facts, in the same words, everywhere.

Write the answer first: open each service page and section with one or two plain sentences that answer the question, then add detail. Busy customers on a phone read the same way, so it helps people and machines at once.

• Clear service and area facts in text: services, suburbs, hours, licence number and how call outs work.
• Consistent name, address and phone on your website, Business Profile, Facebook page and directories.
• Recent reviews in customers' own words, asked for fairly, as the Google review rules guide explains.
• FAQs from real phone calls, such as cost factors, timing and whether someone needs to be home.
• LocalBusiness markup that matches the page, without marking up your own reviews, which Google recommends only for sites that review other businesses.

Avoid mass produced pages and invented experts, because Google's people first guidance lists both as warning signs. It names "Using extensive automation to produce content on many topics" as a red flag, and its 5 October 2026 update calls fabricated creator profiles, such as AI headshots and made up names, "a form of deception".

Google's spam policies add that using generative AI to churn out many pages without adding value is scaled content abuse. Let AI help with a draft if you like, but have someone who does the work check every fact, name and photo. Checked facts mean AI tools describe you correctly, so the enquiries you get are the jobs you want in your suburbs, so fewer evenings go on dead end calls and more go to the people at your dinner table.

Google's AI features draw on its search index and Business Profile information, while other assistants use sources they mostly don't disclose. Here is where each one looks and what to do about it.

Check Google Search Console, where Google says AI feature traffic is counted in the Performance report under Web. Google also says clicks from AI Overviews are higher quality, with people spending more time on the site.

Then ask every new caller how they found you, and note it when someone says ChatGPT. The free 15 second lead score quiz shows whether AI search, Maps or phone answering is your bigger gap, and the Google Maps ranking guide and Business Profile guide cover the map side.