The Local Customer Journey: What AI Has and Hasn't Changed

AI is changing how consumers discover, evaluate, and choose businesses, but its impact on local search is uneven and often obscured by hype. This webinar presents recent consumer data showing how people actually find and select local businesses, including the role of search, AI, reviews, social media, and other discovery channels. Leading local SEO practitioners then pressure-test these findings against what they're seeing with clients and in the market. The session examines where AI is genuinely impacting the local customer journey, where traditional search behaviors dominate, and what those shifts mean for local SEO/AEO strategy.

Why This Matters
Local marketers are being told AI has upended how customers find businesses, but the reality is messier and far less settled than the hype suggests. This session cuts through the noise with actual consumer data on how people discover and choose local businesses in 2026, then puts that data in front of practitioners who work with clients every day.

What We'll Cover
How consumers are discovering local businesses in 2026, Where AI is gaining ground in the customer journey, Where traditional search remains dominant

Transcript

1. OCTOBER 15, 2026 The Local Customer Journey What AI has and hasn't changed about how people find and choose local businesses
2. For most people, most search is local How much of their own online searching is about finding a business, restaurant, service or where to buy something 53% say most or almost all of their searching is local Almost all 19% · most 34% · roughly half 26% Source: Near Media Consumer Survey, 9/26 (n=1,042 recent shoppers) Mostly local, by age Ages 18–34 66% Ages 35–54 60% Ages 55+ 36%
3. In local, search still most widely used Top six sources used to find something in their local area Search engine 60% Physical store nearby 39% Friends or family 36% Google or Apple Maps 35% Retailer sites or apps 29% AI tools 29% 21% for general shopping Source: Near Media Consumer Survey, 9/26 (n=1,042 recent shoppers). Multi-select
4. Yet, most local discovery starts outside search …though search is still the largest single starting point Search engine AI Everything else: maps, social, reviews, vertical sites Hospitality 34% 17% Fuel / auto 37% Restaurants 40% Grocery 42% Retail 44% 17% Healthcare 45% 21% Financial 48% Property 53% 16% 17% 19% Source: SOCi 2026 Local Discovery Index (1,000+ US consumers, weighted) 16% 11%
5. Local AI discovery has grown significantly Used an AI tool to find or research a local business in the past 30 days All US consumers By generation, 2026 52% 63% 49% 48% 9% 2025 11% 2026 Millennials Gen Z Source: SOCi 2026 Local Discovery Index (1,000+ US consumers, weighted); 2025 figure from SOCi's prior edition Gen X Boomers+
6. Majority use AI to shop How often people use AI apps like ChatGPT or Gemini for product research or shopping How often 36% use AI for shopping multiple times a week Multiple times a week 36% Once a week 12% Several times a month 14% Once a month 4% Occasionally 12% Never 21% Nearly 8 in 10 use it at least occasionally Source: Near Media Consumer Survey, 9/26 (n=1,042 recent shoppers)
7. AI more widely used at top, middle of funnel Share of shoppers who used each tool at each stage of a purchase AI usage TOP OF FUNNEL Research 35%–40% MIDDLE OF FUNNEL Compare 37%–38% BOTTOM OF FUNNEL Decide / where to buy 8%–17% AI drops off at the bottom of the funnel, when people tend go to a range of sites, including search, and into stores. Source: Near Media Consumer Survey, 9/26 (n=1,042 recent shoppers)
8. AI seen to be weaker on local More helpful Less helpful % who say AI is more helpful for this % who say AI is less helpful for this 82% Gathering and summarizing information 45% Products in stock at local stores 77% Explaining features or differences 44% Finding local promotions or deals 76% Summarizing ratings and reviews 39% Finding reliable pricing information 75% Discovering options not already known 36% Local business information 70% Answering detailed questions 66% WHERE THEY GO TO CHECK Top sources after an AI recommendation, ranked Finding the right products or brands Source: Near Media Consumer Survey, 9/26 (n=1,042 recent shoppers) 1 Search engine 2 Third-party site 3 Brand or retailer's own site
9. ChatGPT dominates consumer AI ChatGPT vs. Gemini and Claude, August 2026 1.2B Web visits Mobile monthly users ChatGPT ChatGPT people use ChatGPT every week* Gemini ChatGPT is 2× bigger Gemini ChatGPT is 2.5× bigger Claude ChatGPT is 6× bigger Claude ChatGPT is 14× bigger Source: a16z Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps, Oct 2026 (data from Similarweb, Sensor Tower) *Announced by OpenAI at DevDay, 9/26
10. Skeptics: AI is tiny next to Google BUT CLICKSTREAM CAN'T SEE … Influence 62% of AI shoppers bought from a brand they wouldn’t otherwise have considered (Adobe) Google.com 86.6B visits a month AI inside Google 51% saw an AI answer at the top of the results (SOCi) ChatGPT.com 5.6B Phones and apps Most clickstream data desktop only Reasons Clickstream shows what people do. Surveys help tell us why. Worldwide, Aug 2026 ~1.3% of shopping journeys use AI without search 95% of ChatGPT users also use Google Sources: Similarweb (2026); Datos State of Search Q2 2026; Adobe for Business, Oct 2026; SOCi 2026 Local Discovery Index
11. The problem: Google 'keeps' most of the screen Google results for "self storage brooklyn" on a mobile phone FIRST 3 SCREENS 84% Google 64% 20% 16% FIRST 5 SCREENS 77% 44% Ads Screen 1 Screen 2 Screen 3 Google 33% 23% LSA, PPC, map ads Other Google People also ask, related, map Free results Organic web and local pack listings Share of screen space. Shading in screenshots: orange = ads, green = local pack, blue = organic. Near Media analysis; screen ≈ 650pt; figures ±2–3 points.
12. Forecast: AI Mode to pass ChatGPT Next Year % of US internet users who use each genAI platform at least monthly, 2023–2030 50.1% Google AI Mode 50% 41.5% ChatGPT 40% Google Gemini 30% 20% Microsoft Copilot Claude 10% 9.7% Grok Perplexity 0% 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Source: eMarketer Forecast, Aug 2026 (internet users of any age who prompt the platform at least monthly, any device) 2029 2030
13. What's next: AI agents arrive Meta's Muse personal agent, launched Sep 9, 2026 (US and Canada) 250K daily users in its first week 5M downloads in under a month 15M+ OPEN QUESTIONS Can an agent book you? Which categories go first? Whose agent wins? How fast does this happen? Will people hand over their data? Threads downloads in its first 22 days, for comparison Source: a16z, Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps, 7th ed., Oct 2026 (figures reported, US and Canada)
14. LAST-CLICK ATTRIBUTION Social AI Reviews Maps or Search gets the credit Google has always been the beneficiary of ‘last click aribution.’ We're waking up to a market that is much more fragmented and complex than we previously recognized. Google has long been the alpha and omega of local … not any longer.