Local search and AI

Gemini can ground an answer in Google Maps data: when a query contains geographical context the model can invoke the Maps grounding tool and answer from Maps data for that location^[4]. The user-review part of that grounding is available for places in the United States and India only^[5]. Perplexity takes the other route, running a live web search for most queries and citing the sources it retrieved^[6].

Foundation Marketing and AirOps read over 28 million AI responses and counted 512,680 citations to Yelp in the fourth quarter of 2025, 3.4 times the total of the second-placed Better Business Bureau^[7]. The split across platforms was uneven: Google AI Mode supplied 340,721 of them, Perplexity 146,196, ChatGPT 25,681 and Gemini 49^[8]. A separate 5W Public Relations run of 320 or more prompts across five AI engines put Yelp first on an estimated 9.0% citation share, Roto-Rooter on 7.5% and Angi on 7.0%^[2], against the 78% of independent operators with nothing^[3].

In the same analysis, Yelp citations rose from 10,288 in September 2025 to 95,528 in October, an increase of 829%, and then to 194,205 in November, a further 103%^[9]. Yelp's share of the whole citation pool went from 0.02% in September to 0.12% in November^[9].

A study by Ziptie, relayed by Whitespark, puts the chance that a top-ten organic result also appears in the AI Overview for the same query at 25%^[10]. SearchAtlas reports that AI Mode and AI Overviews share overlapping citation sources in only 13.7% of cases^[11]. Sterling Sky records mobile AI local packs that show fewer than three businesses and fewer unique businesses than a traditional local pack^[12]. In a GatherUp survey of more than 1,000 US consumers, 48% had used a conversational AI tool while looking for local business information, and 67% do not rigorously fact-check the sources AI cites^[13].