TLDR
AI use for local business discovery jumped from 9% to 52% of US consumers in a single year, but 67% of those users were given wrong information at least once. Reviews and verified listings now do the trust work: 99% of consumers read reviews before a first visit, and 81% verify an AI recommendation before making contact.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
More than half of US consumers used an AI tool to find a local business in the past month, up from fewer than one in ten a year earlier, according to a survey by local marketing platform SOCi.[1]
SOCi's 2026 Local Discovery Index, now in its third year, polled more than 1,000 US consumers and was published on 24 September. The share using AI for local searches rose from 9% in 2025 to 52%.[1]
Trust hasn't kept pace. Of those AI users, 67% said they had been given wrong information about a local business at least once, and 30% said the mistake caused them a real inconvenience.[1]
"Usage and trust are moving in opposite directions," SOCi said in its report.[1]
So most people check. Some 81% take a verification step before contacting a business, most often by reading reviews, and only 19% go straight from an AI recommendation to making contact.[1]
Reviews still settle it
Almost every respondent read reviews before a first visit at least some of the time, and 68% always or mostly did.[1]
The share more likely to choose a business that responds to its reviews rose to 72%, from 65% in 2025.[2]
Search still leads discovery at 83%, ahead of social media at 55% and AI at 52%.[2]
"Search remains the anchor," SOCi chief executive Afif Khoury said. "What changed is the width of the journey: consumers now use more channels than in any prior year."[3]
How US consumers find local businesses, 2026
No Australian sample
The index surveyed US consumers only, weighted to the US population, so its figures don't carry straight across to Australia.[2]
The tools are the same here, though. ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers all recommend local businesses to Australian users, and the checks the survey describes run through Google Business Profiles, reviews and social pages that Australian cafés, tradies, clinics and franchises already manage.
And the cost of a gap is in the data. Among US respondents, 63% said they had walked away from a business that couldn't answer a question they needed answered.[1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How much has AI use for local business search grown?
Why do consumers still verify AI recommendations if they use them to discover businesses?
Does this research apply to Australian businesses?
James Dore is Strategy Director at Bushnote, a leader in SEO and AEO in Australia. He writes on search, AI and the technology decisions shaping government and industry.
