It seems like every conversation about search marketing lately starts with artificial intelligence. Google has AI Overviews and AI Mode, people are asking ChatGPT for recommendations, and businesses are understandably wondering whether traditional local SEO tactics still matter.
For local businesses and nonprofits in Menomonee Falls, Greater Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin, the answer is yes. Your Google Business Profile is still an important part of how people find, evaluate and contact your organization, and the rise of AI may actually make accurate local business information more valuable.
AI Is Changing How People Find Local Businesses
There is no question that search behavior is changing. According to BrightLocal’s 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, 45% of U.S. consumers said they had used an AI tool for local business recommendations during the previous 12 months, up from just 6% the year before.
ChatGPT was used by 31% of respondents for local business recommendations, while Google’s AI Mode was used by 23%. Yet AI has not replaced the more familiar ways people research businesses. Google and Facebook remained ahead of AI as sources for local recommendations in BrightLocal’s research.
That distinction matters. We are not moving from a world of “Google search” to a world of “AI search” overnight. Customers are moving between traditional search results, maps, reviews, websites, social media and AI-generated answers depending on what they are trying to accomplish.
Google Business Profile Is More Than a Business Listing
A Google Business Profile can show your address or service area, phone number, website, hours and other business information directly in Google Search and Maps. For someone searching “electrician near me,” “accountant in Menomonee Falls” or “Milwaukee nonprofit,” that information can make the difference between getting contacted and getting passed over.
Google says local search results are primarily influenced by relevance, distance and prominence. It specifically recommends maintaining complete and accurate Business Profile information to help Google understand a business and match it with relevant local searches.
Your profile also gives potential customers something AI cannot replace: evidence. Photos, business information and customer reviews help someone decide whether the organization they just discovered looks credible, active and worth contacting.
AI Search Still Needs Reliable Information
One of the biggest misconceptions about AI search is that businesses now need an entirely separate marketing strategy to appear in AI-generated results. There are certainly new things marketers need to monitor, but AI systems still depend heavily on the information available across the web.
Google’s own 2026 Search updates illustrate this connection. The company says its AI-powered search experiences can draw from fresh sources including reviews, Maps and other local information when answering certain questions. In other words, Google’s AI capabilities are not making its local business data irrelevant. They are finding new ways to use it.
The same principle applies to your website. Google recommends using LocalBusiness structured data to communicate details such as business hours and other business information, helping Search better understand the organization behind a website. Your Google Business Profile, website, local citations, reviews and other trusted sources should reinforce the same story.
Reviews and Accuracy Matter More, Not Less
People are also cautious about blindly trusting what AI tells them. Among consumers who had used AI for local business recommendations, BrightLocal found that 88% fact-checked reviews cited by AI tools.
That is a useful reminder for local organizations. Being mentioned by an AI system may get you onto someone’s radar, but that person may still visit Google, read reviews, look through photos, visit your website and compare you against competitors before calling.
Google Maps itself remains an enormous source of real-world business information. Google reported in 2026 that users contributed more than 1 billion reviews and suggested 80 million updates to business hours, contact details and other information during 2025 alone.
A neglected profile with outdated hours, unanswered reviews or missing information sends the wrong signal wherever a customer encounters it.
What Local Businesses Should Be Doing Now
Start with the basics. Make sure your business name, address or service area, phone number, website, categories and hours are accurate, then regularly add useful photos and monitor customer reviews. Google itself recommends complete information, updated hours, review responses and photos as ways businesses can strengthen their local presence.
Then look beyond the profile. Your website should clearly explain what you do, who you serve and where you serve them. A Menomonee Falls contractor, for example, should not rely on Google to piece together its service area from scattered information when its website can plainly explain the communities it serves.
The bigger goal is consistency. Your website, Google Business Profile, reviews and other online mentions should make it easy for both people and search technology to understand exactly who you are.
AI is changing search, but it has not eliminated the fundamentals of local marketing.
At Go Local Marketing, we are paying attention to both sides of that equation. We help local businesses and nonprofits strengthen the digital foundation they already need, including local SEO, websites, content and Google visibility, while also adapting those strategies for the growing role of AI-powered search.
You do not need to chase every new marketing trend that comes along. You do need to make sure your business is giving today’s customers, Google and tomorrow’s AI-powered search tools clear, accurate and trustworthy information to work with.
