This is The Digitlytics Weekly, Issue 1. Each week I pick one topic that decides whether a High Desert customer finds you and calls. This month starts with the big one: getting found online, on Google and in the AI answers more of your customers are asking.
This issue is longer than most. There's a lot moving right now.
1. We asked AI for a Victorville plumber 30 times
Last week I asked two AI assistants five questions a customer would ask, like "Who is the best plumber in Victorville?" and "I need an emergency plumber near me." I asked each question three times. The answers changed from one ask to the next. Twenty-four answers named a business. Two plumbers showed up in half of those. One local plumber we checked showed up in 4.
What it means for you: one screenshot of a ChatGPT answer doesn't tell you much. The number to watch is how often you get named over many asks.
2. The deep dive: what 200,000 AI searches show
BrightLocal ran about 200,000 local searches through ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews over 60 days, tracking 1,342 business locations.
The shortlist is short. ChatGPT named about 4 businesses per answer. Google AI Mode named 3 to 4. Google's AI Overview, the box at the top of a Google search, named 2 or 3. About 1 answer in 10 named no business at all.
The list keeps changing. When BrightLocal ran the same search again, only 20 to 33 percent of the names matched. A business that showed up once came back about half the time. Between 71 and 80 percent of businesses showed up in half the tries or fewer.
Google Maps is still steadier. Maps named a tracked business in 66 percent of searches. The AI tools named one in 32 to 38 percent. Ranking well on Maps helps, but it doesn't guarantee AI will name you.
The AI tools read the same places your customers do. Business websites made up 42 percent of everything the AI tools cited. Google Business Profiles were the largest single source, at about 29 percent of citations. Yelp was next at about 10 percent, then Facebook. ChatGPT leaned on Yelp and Bing and rarely used Google Business Profiles. Google's AI tools leaned on Business Profiles and Facebook.
Distance still counts. About half of the businesses AI recommended were within 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) of the person searching. ChatGPT sometimes reached much farther out than Google did.
Businesses that go to the customer were named a little less. Storefronts were named about 34 percent of the time. Service-area businesses, like plumbers and landscapers who don't take walk-ins, were named about 29 percent of the time.
People are using it. In BrightLocal's own survey earlier this year, 45 percent of consumers said they use ChatGPT or another AI tool to find local businesses.
What it means for you: there's no single "AI ranking" to win. You get named more often when your website, your Google Business Profile, your Yelp page and your Facebook page all tell the same clear story about what you do and where.
3. What customers do after the AI answers
The AI answer usually isn't the last step. Yext surveyed 1,120 US adults in March 2026 about how they find local businesses.
Almost half are using it. 47 percent had used AI to find a local business in the past month. Among people who search for local businesses every day, it was 59 percent.
Nearly everyone checks before they act. More than 9 in 10 AI users took at least one more step before contacting a business. 62 percent searched Google right away. 58 percent went straight to the business's website. 52 percent clicked the sources the AI cited. Only 7 percent acted on the AI answer alone.
Reviews close the deal. After the AI answer, the top things that swayed a choice were the star rating (34 percent), word of mouth (30 percent), how recent the reviews were (29 percent), what the reviews said (28 percent) and how many there were (28 percent).
Social media is part of the check. 40 percent said they start some local searches on social media, second only to Google at 59 percent. 28 percent of AI users looked at a business's social pages after an AI recommendation.
What it means for you: getting named by AI gets you onto the shortlist. Your Google listing, your website, your reviews and your social pages are what the customer checks next, before deciding whether to call.
4. Ten Google and AI changes worth knowing
Google is testing a new Business Profile report. It has sections for an overview with recommendations, engagement, reviews, audience and search trends. Most owners won't see it yet. When it reaches you, the search trends section shows what people type before they find you.
"Business Home" puts your Google accounts in one place. It's one dashboard for your Business Profile, Merchant Center, YouTube and Ads. Google calls it a closed beta for select business categories in the US and UK. If an invite shows up in your Business Profile, it's real.
You have 4 days to answer a suggested edit. Anyone can suggest a change to your listing, like new hours or a new phone number. Google's help page now says that once you're notified, you have 4 days to accept or reject it. If you don't, Google may publish the edit when other public information backs it up. Make sure those notices reach an inbox you read.
Customers now sign in to see all your reviews. Google Maps now asks people to sign in to a Google account to see all the reviews on a listing, and to sort them. Your newest reviews carry more weight with a customer who only sees the first few.
Google Posts moved up. Google appears to have moved the Posts section higher on the business panel in search. A recent post is now easier for a customer to see.
WhatsApp buttons are showing on some listings. Google has started showing a WhatsApp button on some business panels, next to or in place of the chat button.
Google is testing ID verification. Google is testing a way to verify a Business Profile by uploading a photo of an ID.
Yelp is now feeding ChatGPT. In July, Yelp and OpenAI announced a partnership that brings Yelp reviews and business information into ChatGPT's local answers. Together with BrightLocal's finding that ChatGPT leans on Yelp, that makes an old, forgotten Yelp page worth checking.
Google can now show you your AI appearances. In June, Google announced reports in Search Console that show how often your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. If your website is connected to Search Console, look for them in your performance reports. If it isn't, that's worth fixing.
Local Services Ads now bill some missed calls. Since October 1, if you run Google's Local Services Ads, a missed call during business hours can count as a paid lead when the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds. If a caller has to press a key to reach you, the 20 seconds start after the key press. If you run these ads, make sure someone answers during the hours you list.
5. The profile details that move the needle
Whitespark studied 1.8 million Google Business Profiles. Profiles whose main category named exactly what the business does, rather than a broad catch-all, showed up in the top 10 about 36 percent more often. Profiles that went from bare to fully filled out moved up about 19 spots on average and showed up in the top 10 about three times as often.
What it means for you: the boxes in your Business Profile aren't busywork. Your category, services, hours, description and photos are what Google and its AI read about you.
6. Why the same details everywhere matters
Look at where each tool gets its information. Google's AI reads your Business Profile and your Facebook page. ChatGPT leans on Yelp and Bing. Every one of them reads your website. Then the customer checks Google, your website and your reviews before calling.
If your phone number is different on Yelp, or your hours on Facebook are from two years ago, each tool gets a different story about your business. That's why BrightLocal's first advice is the same name, address and phone number everywhere, and a listing in the places the AI tools read. And a customer who finds two different phone numbers may simply call the next business on the list.
The fix is one list of your correct details, checked a few times a year in the places customers and AI look.
By the numbers
- 47 percent of US adults used AI to find a local business in the past month (Yext, March 2026).
- 7 percent of AI users act on the AI answer without checking anything else (Yext).
- 66 percent: how often Google Maps named a tracked business, against 32 to 38 percent for the AI tools (BrightLocal).
- 20 to 33 percent: how much the AI answers matched when the same search was run again (BrightLocal).
- 42 percent of everything the AI tools cited was a business website (BrightLocal).
- 34 percent of people say the star rating is the biggest factor after the AI answer (Yext).
- 4 days: how long you have to accept or reject a suggested edit to your listing (Google, via Search Engine Roundtable).
One fix this week (about 30 minutes)
- Search Google Maps the way a customer would, for example "plumber in Victorville", not your business name. Note where you show up.
- Open your Google Business Profile. Check that your business name, phone number, hours and main category match your website exactly. Pick the most specific main category that truly fits.
- Check that Business Profile emails go to an inbox you read, so you catch suggested edits inside the 4 days.
- Open your Yelp and Facebook pages. Fix any old phone number, address or hours so they match your website.
- On your website, make sure your phone number and the towns you serve are written out as plain text, not only inside a picture.
- Ask your last three happy customers for a Google review.
- Ask ChatGPT the question your customers ask, like "Who's a good roofer in Hesperia?" Ask it three times. Write down who it names, and whether it's you.
- Put a reminder on your calendar to do this check again in three months.
Got a question about your own listing? Send it to me. I read every one.
Want the full list of what to check? The 10-Minute AI Search Check is a one-page list of ten things to look at on your own website: www.digitlytics.com/ai-search-check
Next week: your website, and what makes a visitor pick up the phone.
Want help doing this for your business?
I'll do it with you, or for you. Book a time at www.digitlytics.com/digitlytics-contact, call me at (760) 490-3315, or send me a DM on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
Carmen Acotto
Digitlytics