36 local SEO statistics, every one dated.
How people search for local businesses, how fast they decide, what a complete Google profile is worth, and how local recommendations are changing as more people ask AI. Each figure carries the year its research was published, so you can see what is current at a glance.
The 6 figures that matter most.
If you take nothing else from this page, take these. Each one is dated, and the rest of the article expands on all 6.
Consumers look at 3 or fewer businesses before deciding. Only 1% look at more than 10.
Consumers searched for a local business in the past 3 months, and 73% of those searches started on a phone.
Consumers read reviews for local businesses, and 65% of rejections are review related.
Consumers now use ChatGPT or another AI tool for local business recommendations.
Small businesses that have a Google Business Profile at all.
The primary Google Business Profile category, ranked the strongest local pack factor by surveyed practitioners.
How people search for a local business.
Where local searches start, on what device, and how many places people check along the way.
Platforms people use to search for a local business
Share of US consumers, 2024. Respondents could pick more than 1.
Google Search and Maps together are the whole game for most businesses. Facebook at 49% is higher than most local SEO advice assumes, and Instagram at 33% is not a rounding error either. Everything below Apple Maps is a long tail you should not spend time on until the top 3 are finished.
The same question, asked only of 18 to 24 year olds
Share of US consumers aged 18 to 24, 2024.
This is the most under-reported figure in local search. For under 25s, Instagram and TikTok both beat Google Search, and Google Maps does not make their top 3 at all. If your customers skew young, a perfect Google profile is still not enough on its own.
Where a local search starts
Share of local searches by device, 2026.
Look at your own profile on a phone before you look at anything else. That is what nearly 3 in 4 people see, and it is not what you see on the desktop dashboard you edit it in.
Consumers who searched for a local business in the past 3 months.
US consumers who search online for a local business at least once a week. 32% do it daily.
Local searches that begin on a mobile device.
Consumers who use more than 1 channel during a single local business search.
Consumers who started their most recent local search on Google. 71% use Google at some point.
Consumers who search inside a maps app directly rather than through a search engine.
How people choose which business to use.
The shortlist is shorter and the decision is faster than most marketing assumes.
How many businesses people compare before deciding
Share of consumers, 2026.
This is the most important chart on the page. Position 4 is not a weaker version of position 1, it is outside the set almost everybody looks at. Every other local SEO statistic is a supporting argument for this one.
How long the decision takes
Share of consumers, 2026.
You are not in a considered purchase. Just over 1 in 4 people decide inside 5 minutes, which means everything has to already be correct before they arrive. There is no time to recover from a wrong phone number.
Why people rejected a business after searching
Share of rejections by reason, 2026.
Review related means negative reviews, a low rating, or none that are recent. The third one catches businesses out, because nobody thinks of an old 5 star review as a problem. It reads as a business that may have stopped trading. The full set of review and rating statistics for 2026 covers the recency threshold in more detail, along with star rating bars and reply speed.
Consumers who look at 3 or fewer businesses before deciding. Only 1% look at more than 10.
Consumers who decide which business to use in under 30 minutes. 28% decide in under 5.
The top factor when choosing who to contact: clear and complete information. Reviews 30%, clear pricing 29%.
Consumers who would avoid a business after finding incorrect information about it online.
Consumers who would go to a different nearby business if the one they wanted was closed.
Local searchers who click a result inside the Google map pack.
Google Business Profile statistics.
What a complete profile does, what people check on it, and how much trust sits with Google rather than your own website.
How much more likely customers are to see a business as reputable when its Google profile is complete.
How much more likely customers are to visit a business with a complete profile. 50% more likely to consider buying.
Consumers who think it matters that a local business actively manages its online presence. 33% call it essential.
Consumers who name Google as their most trusted source for local business information. Google Maps 45%, business websites 36%.
Consumers who look up a business’s opening hours at least a few times a month.
Consumers who use business information sites to research a business they have not used before.
Local business review statistics.
How many people read reviews, where they read them, and what makes a review set work against you.
Consumers who read reviews for local businesses.
People who rejected a business for a review related reason: negative reviews, a low rating, or none that are recent.
Consumers who use Google to read local business reviews.
Consumers who visit a business website after reading positive reviews.
US consumers who use Instagram to find local business reviews. 29% use TikTok.
Consumers who often or always look at reviews after a local business search.
Local SEO ranking factors.
From the annual survey of local SEO practitioners. Scores are relative weights rather than percentages, so the order is the finding rather than the numbers themselves.
What fills Google’s first 10 organic results for local queries
Share of result types, 2024.
Directories hold close to a third of page 1. That makes being listed on the right ones a ranking play rather than just a consistency exercise, which is the opposite of how most people describe citations.
| # | Local pack ranking factor | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Primary Google Business Profile category | 193 |
| 2 | Keywords in Google Business Profile title | 181 |
| 3 | Proximity of address to the point of search | 176 |
| 4 | Physical address in the city of search | 170 |
| 5 | Removal of spam listings through spam fighting | 143 |
| 6 | High numerical Google ratings | 138 |
| 7 | Additional Google Business Profile categories | 134 |
| 8 | Quantity of native Google reviews | 128 |
| 9 | Verified Google Business Profile | 117 |
| 10 | Proximity of address to centroid | 114 |
| 11 | Keywords in Google Business Profile landing page title | 114 |
| 12 | Completeness of Google Business Profile | 112 |
| # | Local organic ranking factor | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dedicated page for each service | 163 |
| 2 | Internal linking across the entire website | 149 |
| 3 | Quality and authority of inbound links to the domain | 148 |
| 4 | Geographic keyword relevance of domain content | 146 |
| 5 | Keywords in Google Business Profile landing page title | 140 |
| 6 | Quality of inbound links from locally relevant domains | 137 |
| 7 | Topical keyword relevance across the entire website | 135 |
| 8 | Volume of quality content on service pages | 134 |
| 9 | Volume of quality content on the entire website | 132 |
| 10 | Keywords in anchor text of inbound links | 128 |
| 11 | Diversity of inbound links to the domain | 127 |
| 12 | Mobile friendly and responsive website | 125 |
The survey also catalogues 149 signals in total. Treat that as context rather than a checklist, because the top few carry most of the weight.
AI search and local recommendations.
The most current data available on how local businesses appear in answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.
Average star rating of businesses AI engines recommend
Average rating of recommended local businesses, 2026.
There is an effective rating floor for AI recommendation. Below roughly 4 stars you are unlikely to be named at all. Volume and recency are the levers, and both move within a quarter.
Consumers who use ChatGPT or another generative AI tool for local business recommendations.
How much harder visibility in ChatGPT local recommendations is reported to be than ranking in Google local results.
Businesses leading Google local results that also appear in AI local recommendations.
Business contact details on ChatGPT and Perplexity that match the Google Business Profile.
Share of ChatGPT Search local sources that are business websites. Mentions 27%, directories 15%.
Average star rating of businesses ChatGPT recommends. Perplexity 4.1, Gemini 3.9.
The state of local SEO adoption.
How many businesses are actually doing this, and what practitioners rate as worth the money.
Small businesses that have a Google Business Profile.
Businesses that have not included local SEO in their marketing.
High performing brands with a dedicated local marketing strategy, against 60% of average performers.
Marketers who name Google Business Profile management the most valuable local SEO service. Content 53%, citations 43%.
Small businesses that say they invest in organic SEO, while only 40% have a dedicated website.
Share of Google’s first 10 organic results for local queries that are business websites. Directories take 31%.
What these figures point at.
Read together, the 36 statistics above point at the same 5 actions, cheapest first.
1. Complete the profile
A complete Google Business Profile makes customers 2.7 times more likely to see the business as reputable and 70% more likely to visit. It costs nothing. GBP optimization.
2. Check the primary category
Ranked the strongest local pack factor in the practitioner survey, ahead of proximity. It takes 2 minutes and it is often set wrong from years ago.
3. Find out where you rank
72% compare 3 or fewer businesses, so a city wide average hides what matters. A geo-grid scan shows position street by street.
4. Keep reviews arriving
65% of rejections are review related, and no recent reviews counts. Request automation keeps the flow going without anyone remembering.
5. Then measure AI visibility
45% now ask AI for recommendations, and ranking on Google does not carry over. Fix 1 to 4 first, since those are the signals engines read. AI visibility check.
The encouraging figure
Only 35% of small businesses have a Google Business Profile and 58% do no local SEO at all. Doing the 5 above competently puts a business ahead of most of its market.
Where every figure came from.
Primary research from the publishers who ran the studies, plus Google’s own documentation. Every statistic on this page carries the year of the research it came from.
BrightLocal
Consumer Search Behavior 2026. Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. SMB Marketing Report 2025. Business Listings Visibility Study 2024. Local Marketing Industry Survey 2024. Brand Beacon Report 2024. Uncovering ChatGPT Search Sources 2024. Local Business Discovery and Trust Report 2023.
SOCi
Consumer Behavior Index 2024, for platform share and the 18 to 24 figures. Local Visibility Index 2026, which is the most current data available on how local businesses appear in AI recommendations.
Whitespark
Local Search Ranking Factors 2025, the annual survey of local SEO practitioners. Both ranking factor tables on this page come from it.
Google, Backlinko and ReviewTrackers
Google Business Profile documentation for the completeness figures. Backlinko’s user behaviour study for map pack click share. ReviewTrackers Local Search report for local SEO adoption. Google’s guidance on local ranking is worth reading in full.
Local SEO statistics, answered.
How many local businesses does the average consumer compare?
Around 72 percent look at 3 or fewer before deciding, and only 1 percent look at more than 10. That makes local search a shortlist rather than a browse, and it is the reason map pack position matters so much more than total search volume.
How quickly do people decide which local business to use?
About 75 percent decide in under 30 minutes and 28 percent decide in under 5. There is very little time to correct a wrong phone number or a missing set of hours once somebody is looking, so the profile has to be right before they arrive.
What percentage of local searches happen on mobile?
73 percent of local searches start on a mobile device, 19 percent on a computer and 8 percent on a tablet. It is worth viewing your own profile on a phone, because that is what nearly 3 in 4 people see and it is not the view you edit it in.
Which platforms do people use to search for local businesses?
Google Search leads at 72 percent, followed by Google Maps at 51 percent and Facebook at 49 percent. Instagram is at 33 percent and TikTok at 27 percent. Among 18 to 24 year olds the order changes completely, with Instagram at 67 percent and TikTok at 62 percent both ahead of Google Search at 61 percent.
Does a complete Google Business Profile actually make a difference?
Yes, and the figures come from Google’s own documentation. Customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable when its profile is complete, 70 percent more likely to visit, and 50 percent more likely to consider buying. Completeness costs nothing, which makes it the highest return work available.
How many consumers read local business reviews?
97 percent read reviews for local businesses and 71 percent read them on Google. Around 65 percent of the people who rejected a business did so for a review related reason, which includes negative reviews, a low rating, or no reviews that are recent.
Does review recency matter as much as rating?
It matters more than most businesses expect. No recent reviews is counted among the review related reasons people reject a business, alongside low ratings. A strong rating from 2 years ago reads as a business that may have stopped trading, so a steady flow of new reviews is worth more than a high average that stopped.
What is the most important local ranking factor?
In the annual practitioner survey, the primary Google Business Profile category is ranked the strongest local pack factor, ahead of proximity to the searcher and keywords in the business title. For local organic results, a dedicated page for each service ranks first, ahead of internal linking and inbound links.
How many ranking factors does local search use?
The survey catalogues 149 signals. That number is useful as context rather than as a checklist, because the top few carry most of the weight and the rest make very little difference in practice.
How many people use AI for local business recommendations?
45 percent of consumers now use ChatGPT or another generative AI tool for local recommendations. Visibility there is reported as roughly 30 times harder to achieve than ranking in Google local results, and fewer than half the businesses leading Google local results also appear in AI recommendations.
Is there a rating threshold for AI recommendations?
Not an official one, but the pattern is consistent. Businesses recommended by ChatGPT average 4.3 stars, Perplexity 4.1 and Gemini 3.9. Below roughly 4 stars a business is much less likely to be named at all, and review volume and recency are the 2 levers that move it.
How many small businesses have a Google Business Profile?
Around 35 percent, and roughly 58 percent of businesses have not included local SEO in their marketing at all. Meanwhile 89 percent of small businesses say they invest in organic SEO while only 40 percent have a dedicated website. Doing the basics competently puts a business ahead of most of its local market.
Where do these figures come from?
Primary research published by BrightLocal, SOCi, Whitespark, Backlinko and ReviewTrackers, along with Google’s own Business Profile documentation. Every source is listed in full at the foot of the page, and each statistic carries the year its research was published.
These are averages. Yours is the number that counts.
Every figure here describes what people do in general. What matters is where your own business sits in its own catchment, and that takes a few minutes to find out.
Both free, no account needed