In early October 2026 the local marketing firm SOCi published its third annual Local Discovery Index, a survey of more than 1,000 consumers in the United States. Its headline figure is striking. The share of people who used an AI tool such as ChatGPT or Gemini to find a local business in the past month jumped from 9% in 2025 to 52% this year.
The more useful finding for a small business owner sits just underneath. Most people do not act on what the AI tells them. They check it first, and the places they check are your reviews, your social media and your website.
What the new research found
SOCi describes the way people now choose a local business as a loop rather than a straight line. Someone hears about you in one place, checks you out in another and makes up their mind in a third, often within a few minutes. The main numbers from the US survey:
- AI is now a mainstream starting point. 52% had used an AI tool to research a local business in the past 30 days, sitting alongside search engines (83%) and social media (55%).
- People do not fully trust it. Two thirds of AI users said a tool had given them wrong information about a local business at least once, and 30% said that mistake caused them a real problem.
- So they double-check. After an AI recommendation, 81% take another step before getting in touch. The most common is reading reviews (33%), followed by looking at the business on social media (20%) and searching its name (16%). Only 19% contact the business straight away.
- Unanswered questions lose customers. 63% said they had walked away from a business because they could not find the answer to a question they had.
Reviews matter more than ever too. 72% said they were more likely to choose a business that replies to its reviews, up from 65% last year.
Is the UK any different?
The SOCi figures are American, so it is worth looking at UK data too. Yext surveyed 600 UK consumers as part of its 2026 consumer search study, published in June. It found that 36.7% of UK consumers had used AI for local search in the past month. That is behind the global average in the same study, but three quarters of UK AI users said they were using it more than a year earlier.
ChatGPT was the most used tool in the UK, followed by Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, which Yext notes ranks higher here than in many other countries.
UK users were also more trusting of AI, with most saying their trust had grown over the past year. Yet they still checked before acting. After an AI recommendation, 49% searched Google or Bing, 43% went straight to the business's own website and 37% clicked through to the sources the AI had cited.
The two surveys use different questions and methods, so the numbers should not be compared side by side. The direction is the same, though. AI is quickly becoming the first place people ask, and your own website is one of the first places they go to confirm the answer.
AI does not give the same answer twice
There is another reason people double-check. On 7 October, the SEO consultancy Growth Rankers asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews the same local questions twice each, about businesses such as dentists and plumbers in one US city. The recommended businesses often changed from one go to the next, and the AI tools named only about half of the businesses in Google's top three map results.
When the tools showed their sources, roughly 55% of the links for local questions pointed to businesses' own websites, with the rest going to directories and review sites. It was a small, one-day test, so treat it as a pointer rather than proof. It does suggest that a clear, accurate website is one of the best things you can give these tools to work from.
What this means for your business
You cannot control what an AI tool says on any given day. You can control what people find when they go to check. That is where most of the decision now gets made.
Make your website the place that confirms the answer
If a customer arrives on your site to check what ChatGPT told them, they should find the essentials within seconds: what you do, the areas you cover, your hours, how pricing works and how to get in touch. Put this in plain text, not in an image or a PDF. A slow or confusing site at this stage undoes the recommendation.
Keep your details identical everywhere
Wrong information from AI often comes from old or conflicting listings. Check that your business name, address, phone number, hours and services match on your website, your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Facebook and any directories you appear on. Bing Places is easy to forget, but Copilot relies on Microsoft's search data.
Reply to your reviews
Reviews are the most common next step after an AI suggestion. Respond to them, good and bad, in a calm and helpful way. SOCi found that most people would think again about a negative review if the business replied helpfully, so a reply can do more than the original rating.
Keep one social channel alive
You do not need to be everywhere. Pick the platform your customers actually use, often Facebook for local services, and post regularly. A page that went quiet two years ago makes people wonder whether you are still trading.
Answer the questions people actually ask
Make a list of the questions customers ask you on the phone or by email, then answer them on your website. Can you come out at weekends? Do you cover my town? How soon can you start? Each answer is one less reason for someone to walk away, and gives AI tools something accurate to quote.
A quick check you can do this week
- Open ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot and ask each one for the best business like yours in your town. Ask twice in a new chat each time.
- Note whether you are mentioned and whether the details given about you are correct.
- Now do what a customer would do. Search your business name, read your latest reviews and look at your social page.
- Finally, open your website on your phone and see how quickly you can find your hours, prices and contact details.
- Fix whatever let you down first, whether that is a wrong phone number on a directory or a homepage that does not say what you do.
For the Google side of this, see our post on Google's AI answers now linking to more websites, and our look at how holiday shoppers are asking AI where to buy.
If you would rather someone else handled this, our SEO and GEO services cover exactly this kind of review. If the weak link is the website itself, that is where website design and development comes in.
FAQ
Do people in the UK use ChatGPT to find local businesses?
Yes, and the number is growing. Yext's 2026 research found that just over a third of UK consumers had used an AI tool for local search in the past month, with ChatGPT the most popular, followed by Gemini and Copilot.
How do I get my business recommended by AI tools?
There is no form to fill in. AI tools draw on your website, your business listings and your reviews, so the best approach is to keep all three accurate, consistent and up to date, with clear pages for each service you offer.
Does this mean Google matters less?
Not yet. Search was still the most used way to find a local business in the SOCi survey, and searching Google or Bing was the most common way UK users checked an AI answer. AI is an extra front door, not a replacement.
Next step
If this has made you wonder what customers find when they go to check your business, our free website offer is an easy place to start. We will take an honest look at your site and tell you what would make the biggest difference, with no hard sell.
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