310 Digital Marketing Facts & Statistics: Consumer Behavior and Digital Ecosystem Statistics to Inform Strategy Decisions

Last updated: September 2026. All figures come from two proprietary SOCi studies: the 2026 Local Discovery Index (consumer behavior) and the 2026 Local Visibility Index (brand performance).

Quick Answer

Consumers no longer move down a marketing funnel. They run a verification loop: they discover a local business on one channel, verify it on another, and decide on a third, often within minutes. In 2026, four channels share that loop. Search engines reach 84% of U.S. consumers monthly, social networks 78%, AI tools 60%, and review sites 36%. AI use went from 0% of U.S. consumers in 2024 to 60% in 2026, but 67% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local business information have already been given something wrong, which is why 81% of them run an additional verification step before contacting a business directly.

On the brand side, the bar for being selected has risen sharply. Multi-location brand locations appear in the Google 3-Pack 35.9% of the time but are recommended by ChatGPT only 1.2% of the time, by Gemini 11.0%, and by Perplexity 7.4%. Visibility in ChatGPT local recommendations is 30 times harder to achieve than ranking highly in traditional local search.

What’s in This Guide

• How to Use and Cite This Page
• Methodology
• General Digital Marketing and Consumer Behavior Statistics
• Artificial Intelligence and LLM Statistics
• Search Engine Optimization Statistics
• Social Media Statistics
• Reputation Management Statistics
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Use and Cite This Page

Every statistic below is original research produced by SOCi. Two studies are the source:

• 2026 Local Discovery Index (LDI) measures what consumers do, want, trust, and avoid. It is a survey of U.S. consumers. Formerly published as the Consumer Behavior Index.
• 2026 Local Visibility Index (LVI) measures how multi-location brands actually perform across local search, reputation, social, and AI. It is a measurement study of real business locations.

Preferred citation format in prose: “According to SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index, 52% of U.S. consumers used an AI tool to research a local business in the last 30 days.”

Every fact below is numbered and written to stand on its own. Each one names who was measured, what was measured, and which study it came from, so any single line can be quoted without the surrounding paragraph.

Methodology

1. The 2026 Local Discovery Index surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, weighted to mirror the U.S. population, with a median age of 39, a near 50/50 gender split, and a median household income of roughly $81,600.

 

2. The 2026 Local Discovery Index is the third consecutive annual edition of SOCi’s consumer study, first released in 2024 under the name Consumer Behavior Index, which makes year-over-year comparison possible across 2024, 2025, and 2026.

 

3. The 2026 Local Visibility Index analyzed performance signals for 2,751 multi-location brands across the United States, covering the majority of U.S. brands with 50 or more locations plus property management companies with at least 10 properties under management.

 

4. The 2026 Local Visibility Index sampled approximately 350,000 U.S. business locations across five industries (retail, food and beverage, local services, financial services, and property management) and 42 subcategories.

 

5. The 2026 Local Visibility Index captured more than 120 performance metrics per multi-location brand, including new AI-specific metrics for visibility in competitive searches, profile accuracy, and sentiment.

 

6. AI recommendation rates in the 2026 Local Visibility Index were measured by asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to recommend 10 businesses for a given industry and market. A brand location that appeared in the first five results was counted as likely to be recommended.

General Digital Marketing and Consumer Behavior Statistics

The Verification Loop

7. Local discovery in 2026 is a verification loop rather than a marketing funnel. U.S. consumers discover a local business on one channel, verify it on another, and decide on a third, often within the same few minutes (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

8. U.S. consumers enter the verification loop because no single source is both complete and trusted. AI is fast but fallible, reviews are credible but scattered, search is comprehensive but unfiltered, and social is persuasive but unstructured (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

9. The verification loop has three stages, and a different channel dominates each one. Search leads discovery for 83% of U.S. consumers, reviews dominate verification for 99%, and preference for businesses that respond to reviews decides the outcome for 72% (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

10. Search and AI spark local discovery, reviews and social confirm trust, and responsiveness and social proof close the deal for U.S. consumers choosing a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

The verification loop at a glance:

Stage	Behavior	Share of U.S. consumers
Discover (used in the last 30 days to find local businesses)	Search engines	83%
	Social media	55%
	AI tools	52%
Verify (before a first visit)	Read online reviews	99%
	Preview the place on social	43%
	Check the menu or offerings	38%
Decide (what wins or loses the visit)	Prefer businesses that respond to reviews	72%
	Became a customer via a social post or video	59%
	Left due to missing information	63%

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index. Each of these figures is listed as a numbered fact in its own topical section below.

Channel Usage, 2024 to 2026

11. U.S. consumers use more local discovery channels in 2026 than in any prior edition of the study. The journey got wider, not shorter (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

12. Search engine usage among U.S. consumers rose from 71% in 2024 to 83% in 2025 to 84% in 2026, measured as the share using the channel at least monthly (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

13. Social network usage among U.S. consumers rose from 40% in 2024 to 73% in 2025 to 78% in 2026, measured as the share using the channel at least monthly (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

14. AI tool usage among U.S. consumers rose from 0% in 2024 to 19% in 2025 to 60% in 2026, measured as the share using the channel at least monthly (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

15. Mapping app usage among U.S. consumers rose from 39% in 2024 to 59% in 2025 and held at 59% in 2026, measured as the share using the channel at least monthly (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

16. Review site usage among U.S. consumers moved from 22% in 2024 to 19% in 2025 to 36% in 2026, measured as the share using the channel at least monthly. Review sites are the only channel in the study to decline and then recover (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

Channel used at least monthly by U.S. consumers	2024	2025	2026
Search engines	71%	83%	84%
Social networks	40%	73%	78%
AI tools	0%	19%	60%
Mapping apps	39%	59%	59%
Review sites	22%	19%	36%

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index

The Cost of Missing or Wrong Information

17. 63% of U.S. consumers have stopped being a customer of a local business because they could not find a specific answer they needed online (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

18. 35% of U.S. consumers say a local business has lost them as a customer more than once because they could not find an answer they needed online (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

19. 28% of U.S. consumers say a local business has lost them as a customer exactly once because they could not find an answer they needed online (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

20. 31% of U.S. consumers say they can usually find the information they need about a local business online, and 7% are not sure whether a missing answer has ever cost a business their business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

21. 57% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were looking for pricing or cost estimates, the single most common information gap in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

22. 50% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were looking for current hours or holiday hours (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

23. 43% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were looking for whether the business offered a specific product or service, or had an item in stock (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

24. 35% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were looking for wait times or appointment availability (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

25. 29% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were looking for photos of the actual location or product (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

26. 29% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were trying to confirm whether the business was still open or still in business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

27. 28% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were looking for parking or accessibility information (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

28. 15% of U.S. consumers who could not find information they needed about a local business online were looking for the answer to a specific operational question, such as whether a location is pet friendly, has seating, or has age requirements (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

29. 49% of U.S. consumers would be unlikely to visit a local business again after finding its hours of operation listed incorrectly online, including 23% who say they would be very unlikely and 26% who say they would be somewhat unlikely (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

30. 43% of U.S. consumers say they would probably give a local business another chance after encountering incorrect hours online (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

31. 8% of U.S. consumers say their preferences would not be affected at all by finding a local business’s hours listed incorrectly online (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Why Consumers Rule a Business Out

32. 37% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say the information seemed outdated or inaccurate, covering details such as hours, addresses, and services (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

33. 37% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say negative reviews or low ratings influenced the decision (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

34. 35% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say they could not find enough information to feel confident (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

35. 33% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say the business had too few reviews (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

36. 29% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say the business had low quality photos or no photos (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

37. 22% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say a competitor simply looked more trustworthy or more active online (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

38. 21% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say the business had low quality videos or no videos (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

39. 17% of U.S. consumers who decided not to visit a local business they found online say the business had not responded to reviews or customer questions (2026 Local Discovery Index).

What Consumers Look Up

40. 76% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a restaurant in the last 30 days, making restaurants the most researched local business category in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

41. 49% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a grocery store in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

42. 44% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a retail store in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

43. 36% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a convenience store in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

44. 35% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a gas station in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

45. 34% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a movie theater in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

46. 34% of U.S. consumers looked up information about travel or hotels in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

47. 31% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a doctor, dentist, or medical facility in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

48. 26% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a bank in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

49. 25% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a gym or fitness business in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

50. 20% of U.S. consumers looked up information about a professional services provider such as legal, insurance, or finance in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

51. 19% of U.S. consumers looked up information about an apartment rental in the last 30 days, and 19% looked up a bar or nightspot (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

52. 19% of U.S. consumers looked up information about car repair in the last 30 days, and 18% looked up a beauty salon (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

53. 17% of U.S. consumers looked up information about home repair or home services in the last 30 days, and 16% looked up a car dealer (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Where Consumers Start Their Search, by Category

54. Search engines are the most common starting point for U.S. consumers in all eight local business categories measured, ranging from 34% of hospitality searchers to 53% of property searchers (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

55. Vertical category sites such as Hotels.com and Zillow are the least used starting point for U.S. consumers in six of eight local business categories, ranging from 2% of fuel and auto searchers to 13% of hospitality searchers, which suggests consumers prefer general-purpose tools over industry-specific ones (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

Where U.S. consumers start their search	Search	AI	Social	Maps	Reviews	Vertical
Restaurants	40%	17%	12%	14%	12%	6%
Hospitality	34%	17%	14%	11%	12%	13%
Retail	44%	17%	12%	12%	10%	4%
Healthcare	45%	21%	12%	6%	10%	5%
Financial	48%	16%	20%	4%	8%	3%
Grocery	42%	19%	12%	14%	8%	4%
Fuel / Auto	37%	16%	11%	25%	8%	2%
Property	53%	11%	15%	3%	7%	11%

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index. Base for each row is U.S. consumers who search for that business type.

The Decision Factors That Matter Most, by Category

56. Reviews and word of mouth are the top decision factor for U.S. consumers in five of the eight local business categories measured (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

57. Visual content is the leading decision factor for 43% of U.S. consumers choosing an apartment or rental property, the highest score any single factor earns in any category in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

58. Practical details such as location and hours lead in convenience categories, cited by 37% of U.S. consumers choosing a grocery or convenience store and 36% of those choosing a gas station (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

59. Brand and credentials, meaning brand name, staff credentials, and certifications, peak at 34% of U.S. consumers choosing a bank, financial advisor, or insurance provider and 32% of those choosing a healthcare provider (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

Decision factors cited as most impactful by U.S. consumers	Reviews & word of mouth	Visual content	Location & hours	Offerings & deals	Brand & credentials	AI recommendations
Restaurants	41%	28%	32%	37%	24%	27%
Hospitality	40%	30%	35%	36%	30%	29%
Retail	36%	23%	34%	32%	21%	26%
Healthcare	38%	18%	34%	29%	32%	33%
Financial	36%	14%	26%	34%	34%	24%
Grocery	30%	21%	37%	33%	22%	25%
Fuel / Auto	26%	18%	36%	33%	21%	22%
Property	38%	43%	33%	26%	19%	25%

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index

Generational and Income Patterns

60. 71% of Gen Z consumers and 70% of Millennial consumers have been lost as a customer by a local business over an answer they could not find online, compared with 55% of Gen X consumers and 35% of Boomer and older consumers (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

61. U.S. consumers earning $100,000 or more in household income are the most demanding group across nearly every measure in the study, from AI adoption to review reading to expectations of review responses (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

62. 67% of Millennial consumers and 60% of Gen Z consumers used social media to find a local business in the last 30 days, compared with 44% of Gen X consumers and 20% of Boomer and older consumers (2026 Local Discovery Index).

What This Means for Multi-Location Brands

63. In AI-driven local discovery there is no page two. A multi-location brand location is either recommended or effectively invisible (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

64. Leadership in traditional local search is no longer a proxy for future performance for multi-location brands. Brands that appear dominant on Google can still lose ground in AI when their signals are uneven elsewhere (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

65. Consistency now outweighs scale for multi-location brands. Brands that manage accuracy, reputation, content, and engagement as one integrated system outperform those that optimize channels in isolation (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

66. Local visibility outcomes vary dramatically by industry. Retail and restaurant brands face steeper competition and higher thresholds for inclusion, while financial services presents a greenfield opportunity where foundational improvements drive disproportionate upside (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

67. The Local Visibility Quadrant sorts multi-location brands into four groups by overall local optimization and performance in local results: Leaders, Challengers, Opportunists, and Laggards (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

68. Planet Fitness leads the Most Visible Local Brands of 2026 with an LVI score of 73.7, followed by Public Storage at 73.0, Hobby Lobby at 71.1, Longhorn Steakhouse at 70.7, and Mattress Firm at 70.3 (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

69. The remainder of the top 20 Most Visible Local Brands of 2026, by LVI score: European Wax Center 70.2, FASTSIGNS 70.0, America’s Tire 69.9, O’Reilly Auto Parts 69.5, Culver’s 69.2, Chick-fil-A 69.1, Kay Jewelers 69.0, Orangetheory Fitness 68.9, Batteries Plus Bulbs 67.6, Sam’s Club 67.5, Any Lab Test Now 67.5, Kohl’s 66.9, Barnes and Noble 66.9, Michael’s 66.8, and uBreakiFix 66.4 (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

70. The five behaviors that separate Leader brands from Laggard brands are treating accuracy as a strategic asset, going beyond presence to differentiation, winning on reputation rather than reach, optimizing traditional and AI channels together, and treating search and social as one system (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Related reading: 2026 Local Discovery Index | 2026 Local Visibility Index | What is multi-location marketing? | What is the customer journey? | Why the F.A.C.T.S. Model Is the Key to Search Everywhere Optimization

Artificial Intelligence and LLM Statistics

AI Adoption

71. 60% of U.S. consumers now use AI tools at least monthly, up from roughly 19% in 2025 and effectively zero in 2024. AI went from nonexistent to a majority channel in two years (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

72. 52% of U.S. consumers use AI tools specifically for local search and discovery (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

73. The share of U.S. consumers who used an AI tool to find a local business in the last 30 days rose from 9% in 2025 to 52% in 2026, an increase of nearly 6x (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

74. AI is the fastest-rising local discovery channel among U.S. consumers and the only one that did not exist as an answer option two editions ago (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

75. 39% of U.S. consumers say they use AI tools more than they did a year ago (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

76. 25% of U.S. consumers say they use AI tools about the same amount as a year ago, 21% say they use them less, and 15% do not use AI tools at all (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

77. U.S. consumers who report using AI more than a year ago outnumber those using it less by nearly two to one, 39% versus 21%. Nobody who adopted AI is walking it back at scale (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

78. For many local searches the first thing a U.S. consumer sees is an AI-written answer, which means a brand location missing from that answer is lost before consideration begins (2026 Local Discovery Index).

AI Adoption by Generation and Income

79. 63% of Millennial consumers used an AI tool to find or research a local business in the last 30 days, the highest rate of any generation. Millennials, not Gen Z, are the AI power users for local discovery (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

80. 49% of Gen Z consumers used an AI tool to find or research a local business in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

81. 48% of Gen X consumers used an AI tool to find or research a local business in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

82. 11% of Boomer and older consumers used an AI tool to find or research a local business in the last 30 days, the lowest rate of any generation (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

83. AI adoption for local discovery among U.S. consumers crests with the digitally fluent, high-spending core of the market and falls off steeply after age 65 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

84. 76% of U.S. consumers earning $100,000 or more in household income use AI tools regularly, compared with 56% of those earning $50,000 to $99,000 and 47% of those earning under $50,000 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

85. 65% of U.S. consumers earning $100,000 or more in household income have used AI for local discovery, compared with 48% of those earning $50,000 to $99,000 and 40% of those earning under $50,000 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

86. For multi-location brands serving high-income customers, AI visibility is a present-tense priority rather than a future one (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Which AI Tools Consumers Use

87. 57% of U.S. consumers who use AI assistants name ChatGPT as one they use for local information, making it the most-used AI assistant in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

88. 51% of U.S. consumers who use AI assistants name Gemini as one they use for local information (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

89. 19% of U.S. consumers who use AI assistants name Microsoft Copilot as one they use for local information (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

90. 17% of U.S. consumers who use AI assistants name Apple Siri as one they use for local information (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

91. 15% of U.S. consumers who use AI assistants name Claude as one they use for local information (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

92. 51% of U.S. consumers have noticed an AI-generated answer at the top of Google search results when searching for a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

93. 35% of U.S. consumers have noticed a link that took them into Google AI Mode when searching for a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

94. 32% of U.S. consumers have noticed a Meta AI suggestion inside Instagram or Facebook when searching for a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

95. 31% of U.S. consumers have noticed content or recommendations in Google Maps or Apple Maps that appeared to be AI generated (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

96. U.S. consumers meet AI passively as well as deliberately. More consumers have encountered an AI answer inside Google search results, at 51%, than name any single AI assistant other than ChatGPT as a tool they use (2026 Local Discovery Index).

When Consumers Reach for AI

97. 46% of U.S. consumers would use an AI tool when seeking detailed recommendations for a relatively complex or expensive purchase, the most common trigger for AI use in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

98. 41% of U.S. consumers would use an AI tool when researching a topic they may or may not end up buying (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

99. 41% of U.S. consumers would use an AI tool to get quick recommendations for a relatively simple purchase (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

100. 23% of U.S. consumers would use an AI tool when they are ready to purchase and need help completing the transaction (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

101. 19% of U.S. consumers would use an AI tool to accomplish a multi-step task such as booking a trip (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

102. 16% of U.S. consumers say none of the measured purchase scenarios would prompt them to use an AI tool (2026 Local Discovery Index).

AI’s Trust Problem

103. 67% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local business information say a tool has given them something wrong at least once, such as incorrect hours, a wrong address, or a location that had closed (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

104. 30% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local business information say wrong AI information caused a real inconvenience (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

105. 37% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local business information say a tool has given them wrong information but they caught the error before it caused a problem (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

106. 33% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local business information say AI information about local businesses has been accurate for them (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

107. Only 27% of U.S. consumers trust AI more than they did a year ago, which means 73% of U.S. consumers have not increased their trust in AI in the past year (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

108. AI usage among U.S. consumers is climbing sharply while trust stays flat, and that gap is precisely what produces the verification step (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

109. 81% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local recommendations take an additional verification step after an AI recommendation rather than contacting the business directly (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

110. 33% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local recommendations check the reviews on Google or another site first after an AI tool recommends a local business, the single most common next step (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

111. 20% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local recommendations look at the business’s social media content to learn more after an AI tool recommends it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

112. 19% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local recommendations visit or contact the business directly after an AI tool recommends it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

113. 16% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local recommendations search the business name to verify details such as hours and location after an AI tool recommends it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

114. 12% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local recommendations check multiple sources after an AI tool recommends a business, the same way they would with any recommendation (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

115. AI is a powerful first impression for U.S. consumers, but they still cross-check it against the rest of a brand’s presence before they commit. A brand that shows up well in AI but has thin reviews or a stale social feed loses the customer at the verification step (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Where AI Leads the Journey, by Category

116. 21% of U.S. consumers searching for a doctor, dentist, or other medical professional start that search with an AI tool, the highest AI-first rate of any category in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

117. 19% of U.S. consumers searching for a grocery or convenience store start that search with an AI tool (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

118. 17% of U.S. consumers searching for a restaurant, a hotel, or a local retail store start that search with an AI tool (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

119. 16% of U.S. consumers searching for a bank, financial advisor, or insurance provider start that search with an AI tool, and 16% of those searching for a gas station do the same (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

120. 11% of U.S. consumers searching for an apartment or place to rent start that search with an AI tool, the lowest AI-first rate of any category in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

121. 33% of U.S. consumers choosing a healthcare provider cite positive recommendations from AI or search tools as a factor that most impacts the decision, the highest rate of any category in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

122. 29% of U.S. consumers choosing a hotel, 27% choosing a restaurant, and 26% choosing a local retail store cite positive recommendations from AI or search tools as a factor that most impacts the decision (2026 Local Discovery Index).

How Selective AI Actually Is

123. Visibility in ChatGPT local recommendations is 30 times harder for a multi-location brand location to achieve than ranking highly in traditional local search results on Google (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

124. Only 1.2% of multi-location brand locations are recommended by ChatGPT (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

125. 11.0% of multi-location brand locations are recommended by Gemini (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

126. 7.4% of multi-location brand locations are recommended by Perplexity (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

127. AI platforms are 3 to 30 times more selective than traditional local search when deciding which multi-location brand locations to surface, measured against those brands’ 35.9% Google 3-Pack appearance rate (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

128. AI has collapsed local visibility from rankings to recommendations. Traditional local search surfaces dozens of results while AI platforms showcase only a handful, and most multi-location brand locations are never shown at all (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

AI benchmark for multi-location brand locations	ChatGPT	Gemini	Perplexity
% of locations recommended	1.2%	11.0%	7.4%
% profile completeness	99.9%	97.1%	78.1%
% profiles accurate	68.3%	100.0%	68.0%
Average rating of recommended locations	4.3	3.9	4.2

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index. Gemini is grounded in Google Maps, which was the source of truth for profile accuracy.

Traditional Search Leaders Are Not Guaranteed AI Visibility

129. Across industries, fewer than half of the multi-location brands that lead in traditional local search also appear among the top AI local recommendations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

130. In retail, only 45% of the top 20 most visible traditional local search brands also ranked among the top 20 most visible brands in AI recommendations, meaning 9 of 20 brands appear on both lists (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

131. Batteries Plus Bulbs ranks #1 in retail traditional local search with a Search Visibility Score of 87.1 but falls to #16 in retail local AI with an AI Visibility Score of 56.2 (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

132. Sam’s Club ranks #2 in retail traditional local search and #1 in retail local AI with an AI Visibility Score of 70.7 (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

133. Traditional local search operates as a relatively closed ecosystem where a multi-location brand mastering one dominant channel can compensate for weaknesses elsewhere. AI platforms evaluate businesses across multiple sources simultaneously and look for confidence across an ecosystem (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

134. When a multi-location brand’s signals are inconsistent, incomplete, or contradictory, AI confidence drops. Locations with strong Google rankings but weaker presence on Yelp, Facebook, or their own websites frequently lose visibility in AI recommendations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

What AI Platforms Actually Read

135. Google Maps is the single largest source cited by LLMs for local queries, accounting for 32.5% of citations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

136. A long tail of niche sites accounts for 26.3% of LLM citations for local queries (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

137. Brand websites account for 23.1% of LLM citations for local queries, which makes owned local pages a direct AI visibility asset for multi-location brands (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

138. Yelp accounts for 10.5% of LLM citations for local queries (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

139. Facebook accounts for 7.6% of LLM citations for local queries (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

140. AI systems are designed to synthesize information from the sources consumers already trust most. What changed for multi-location brands is not where visibility is earned but how selectively those sources are interpreted and combined (2026 Local Visibility Index).

AI Data Accuracy

141. Business profile information for multi-location brand locations on ChatGPT is only 68.3% accurate (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

142. Business profile information for multi-location brand locations on Perplexity is only 68.0% accurate (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

143. Business profile information for multi-location brand locations on Gemini is 100.0% accurate, because Gemini is grounded in Google Maps data (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

144. Profile completeness for multi-location brand locations reaches 99.9% on ChatGPT and 97.1% on Gemini but only 78.1% on Perplexity (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

145. ChatGPT and Perplexity lack a centralized source for local information, and their attempt to derive results from multiple first-party and third-party sources produces missing or incorrect information at scale (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

146. AI speeds up local discovery but introduces new risk for multi-location brands. Errors in addresses, operating hours, and local contact information do not just frustrate consumers, they break the path to conversion (2026 Local Visibility Index).

AI’s Quality Bar

147. Business locations recommended by AI platforms average 4.2 to 4.3 stars, which is the clearest single-number version of the AI inclusion bar (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

148. Business locations recommended by ChatGPT average 4.3 stars (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

149. Business locations recommended by Perplexity average 4.2 stars (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

150. Business locations recommended by Gemini average 3.9 stars (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

151. Reviews and ratings now function less as a ranking factor and more as a filter for inclusion. Multi-location brands with merely good ratings may still rank in traditional search but are less likely to be surfaced by AI (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

152. AI rewards specificity, not sameness. Generic profiles, thin local landing pages, and vague service descriptions limit a multi-location brand’s ability to match nuanced intent, and even well-known brands can be filtered out if AI cannot determine why a location fits a specific need (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

153. AI has not replaced the fundamentals of local marketing for multi-location brands. It has compressed them (2026 Local Visibility Index).

AI Recommendation Rates by Industry

154. 10.2% of retail brand locations are recommended by ChatGPT, making retail the most AI-visible industry measured (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

155. 18.3% of retail brand locations are recommended by Gemini, and 16.2% are recommended by Perplexity (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

156. 5.3% of restaurant brand locations are recommended by ChatGPT, 7.1% by Gemini, and 7.6% by Perplexity (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

157. 3.1% of financial services brand locations are recommended by ChatGPT, 16.4% by Gemini, and 9.9% by Perplexity (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

158. Profile accuracy on ChatGPT is roughly consistent across industries, at 68.6% for retail brand locations, 69.0% for restaurant locations, and 70.1% for financial services locations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

159. Being a Leader overall does not mean a multi-location brand wins every AI platform. Batteries Plus Bulbs achieves a 38.4% Gemini recommendation rate, about 20 points above the retail average, but is recommended by ChatGPT only 3.4% of the time, below the 10.2% retail benchmark (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

160. Culver’s achieves AI recommendation rates of 30.0% on ChatGPT, 45.8% on Gemini, and 26.5% on Perplexity, well above the restaurant benchmarks of 5.3%, 7.1%, and 7.6% (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

161. Liberty Tax achieves AI recommendation rates of 3.2% on ChatGPT, 19.2% on Gemini, and 26.9% on Perplexity, demonstrating the greenfield dynamic in financial services (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Related reading: How to Improve Visibility in Generative AI Search | Why the F.A.C.T.S. Model Is the Key to Search Everywhere Optimization | What is an AI agent? | What is agentic marketing? | Genius Local Search Agent | Get your AI Visibility Snapshot

Search Engine Optimization Statistics

Search Remains the Anchor

162. 84% of U.S. consumers use search engines at least monthly, up from 83% in 2025 and 71% in 2024. Search remains the anchor of local discovery and is still climbing (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

163. 83% of U.S. consumers used a search engine to look up information or ask for recommendations about a local business in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

164. 53% of U.S. consumers searching for an apartment or place to rent start that search on a search engine, the highest search-first rate of any category in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

165. 48% of U.S. consumers searching for a bank, financial advisor, or insurance provider start that search on a search engine, and 45% of those searching for a medical professional do the same (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

166. 44% of U.S. consumers searching for a local retail store and 42% of those searching for a grocery or convenience store start that search on a search engine (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

167. 34% of U.S. consumers searching for a hotel or place to stay start that search on a search engine, the lowest search-first rate of any category, as those consumers spread across AI, social, vertical booking sites, and review sites (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

168. 94% of Boomer and older consumers used a search engine to look up a local business in the last 30 days, compared with 86% of Gen X consumers and 80% of both Millennial and Gen Z consumers. Search is the one channel where older consumers over-index (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

169. Search is the only local discovery channel with no meaningful generational gap. Every generation of U.S. consumers measured uses search engines for local lookups at 80% or higher (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Maps, Review Sites, and Vertical Sites

170. 59% of U.S. consumers use mapping apps at least monthly, unchanged from 2025 and up from 39% in 2024 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

171. 40% of U.S. consumers used a mapping app to look up a local business in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

172. 25% of U.S. consumers searching for a gas station start that search in a mapping app rather than a search engine, the strongest showing for maps in any category (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

173. 3% of U.S. consumers searching for an apartment or place to rent and 4% of those searching for a bank, financial advisor, or insurance provider start in a mapping app, making maps nearly irrelevant as a starting point in those two categories (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

174. 36% of U.S. consumers use review sites at least monthly, up from 19% in 2025 and 22% in 2024 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

175. 34% of U.S. consumers used a review site to look up a local business in the last 30 days (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

176. 12% of U.S. consumers searching for a restaurant and 12% of those searching for a hotel start that search on a review site, the strongest showing for review sites in any category (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

177. 13% of U.S. consumers searching for a hotel and 11% of those searching for an apartment start on a vertical category site such as Hotels.com or Zillow, while only 2% of consumers searching for a gas station do the same (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Google Local Search Benchmarks

178. 97.9% of multi-location brand locations have a claimed Google Business Profile (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

179. Google Business Profile completeness across multi-location brand locations averages 86.6%, a slight decline from 2024 that reflects growing platform complexity. Multi-location brands are not automatically getting better at the fundamentals (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

180. Multi-location brand locations appear in the Google 3-Pack 35.9% of the time, the headline local search ranking benchmark in the study (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

181. Only 2.7% of multi-location brand local landing pages appear on page 1 of Google results, the single weakest number in the 2026 search benchmark set (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Search benchmark for multi-location brand locations	Metric	Overall
Google	% claimed	97.9%
Google	% profile completeness	86.6%
Google	% in 3-Pack	35.9%
Google	Local pages % on page 1	2.7%
Yelp	% found vs. Google	80.0%
Yelp	% profile completeness	81.3%
Yelp	% on page 1	37.1%
Facebook	% found vs. Google	53.4%
Facebook	% profile completeness	87.4%

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index

Yelp and Facebook as Search Assets

182. 80.0% of multi-location brand locations found on Google are also found on Yelp (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

183. Yelp profile completeness for multi-location brand locations averages 81.3% (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

184. Yelp profiles for multi-location brand locations appear on page 1 of search results 37.1% of the time, higher than those brands’ 35.9% Google 3-Pack rate (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

185. Only 53.4% of multi-location brand locations found on Google are also found on Facebook, the widest coverage gap in the 2026 benchmark set (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

186. Facebook profile completeness for multi-location brand locations averages 87.4%, higher than Google’s 86.6%, but only for the roughly half of locations that have a Facebook presence at all (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

187. Facebook remains a critical data source for search and AI systems even as its role as a reputation platform declines, because it has the largest user base of any social network and is frequently referenced in AI-generated results (2026 Local Visibility Index).

Search Benchmarks by Industry

188. Retail brand locations appear in the Google 3-Pack 49.5% of the time, the highest rate of the three industries benchmarked (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

189. Financial services brand locations appear in the Google 3-Pack 44.0% of the time (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

190. Restaurant brand locations appear in the Google 3-Pack just 24.3% of the time, the lowest rate of the three industries benchmarked, a function of density and competition rather than neglect (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

191. 22.6% of retail brand local landing pages appear on page 1 of Google, compared with 7.8% for restaurant brands and 6.7% for financial services brands (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

192. 96.5% of restaurant brand locations have a claimed Google profile, compared with 92.4% of retail locations and 88.7% of financial services locations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

193. Google profile completeness for restaurant brand locations leads at 94.2%, compared with 86.4% for retail locations and 81.4% for financial services locations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

194. 92.2% of restaurant brand locations found on Google are also found on Yelp, compared with 66.7% of retail locations and 50.4% of financial services locations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

195. Only 29.3% of financial services brand locations found on Google are also on Facebook, compared with 66.7% of restaurant locations and 54.9% of retail locations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Industry benchmark (Google unless noted)	Retail	Restaurants	Financial Services
% claimed	92.4%	96.5%	88.7%
% profile completeness	86.4%	94.2%	81.4%
% in 3-Pack	49.5%	24.3%	44.0%
Local pages % on page 1	22.6%	7.8%	6.7%
Yelp % found vs. Google	66.7%	92.2%	50.4%
Yelp % profile completeness	79.6%	90.9%	72.6%
Yelp % on page 1	47.8%	36.0%	42.3%
Facebook % found vs. Google	54.9%	66.7%	29.3%
Facebook % profile completeness	85.7%	90.2%	79.0%

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index. Each column is the industry benchmark comparison drawn from a brand-level table in the report.

What Best-in-Class Local Search Looks Like

196. Batteries Plus Bulbs locations appear in the Google 3-Pack 92.3% of the time, against a 49.5% retail benchmark (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

197. Batteries Plus Bulbs gets 70.3% of its local pages onto page 1 of Google, against a 22.6% retail benchmark (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

198. Batteries Plus Bulbs has 99.1% of its Google profiles claimed and 99.1% profile completeness, against retail benchmarks of 92.4% and 86.4% (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

199. Culver’s locations appear in the Google 3-Pack 57.7% of the time against a 24.3% restaurant benchmark, with 100.0% of Google profiles claimed and 100.0% profile completeness (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

200. Liberty Tax locations appear in the Google 3-Pack 68.3% of the time against a 44.0% financial services benchmark, with 98.7% of profiles claimed and 84.0% Facebook coverage (2026 Local Visibility Index).

Local Pages and Structured Content

201. Only 43.0% of multi-location brand locations have social links present on their Google Business Profile, leaving more than half of locations without a signal that connects search and social (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

202. Multi-location brands publish an average of just 0.15 Google posts per month per location, effectively abandoning a first-party content surface inside Google (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

203. Detailed local landing pages, structured descriptions of services and amenities, clear brand attributes, and relevant social content give AI the depth it needs to personalize recommendations for a multi-location brand (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

204. AI platforms respond to highly specific conversational queries such as “which shoe store near me has good options for running shoes for people with narrow feet and high arches,” which traditional proximity-and-category optimization cannot answer (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Related reading: What is local SEO? | Local SEO strategy for multiple locations | The Local SEO Audit Checklist for Multi-Location Brands & Franchises | NAP consistency | The role of Google categories in local SEO | Top business listing sites for U.S. businesses | Local Pages

Social Media Statistics

Social as a Discovery Channel

205. 78% of U.S. consumers use social networks at least monthly, up from 73% in 2025 and 40% in 2024 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

206. 55% of U.S. consumers used social media to look for local business recommendations in the last 30 days, making social the second-largest local discovery channel after search (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

207. 64% of U.S. consumers have used social media to search for local recommendations, such as posts or videos about local restaurants or attractions (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

208. 29% of U.S. consumers have never used social media to search for local recommendations, and 7% are not sure whether they have (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

209. The line between social and search has effectively dissolved. U.S. consumers use social platforms to search, while search engines and AI systems index social profiles and content as signals of relevance and authenticity (2026 Local Discovery Index and 2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

210. 20% of U.S. consumers searching for a bank, financial advisor, or insurance provider start that search on a social platform, the highest social-first rate of any category in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

211. 15% of U.S. consumers searching for an apartment or place to rent and 14% of those searching for a hotel start that search on a social platform (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Social Converts

212. 59% of U.S. consumers say a social post or video has directly made them a customer of a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

213. 70% of Millennial consumers say a social post or video made them a customer of a local business, the highest rate of any generation (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

214. 54% of Gen X consumers say a social post or video made them a customer of a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

215. 52% of Gen Z consumers say a social post or video made them a customer of a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

216. 22% of Boomer and older consumers say a social post or video made them a customer of a local business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

217. Three of the four generations measured sit above half on social conversion, so social is not a young-consumer niche that can be reported on with reach and engagement alone. It converts (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

218. 70% of U.S. consumers earning $100,000 or more in household income say a social post or video has made them a customer of a local business, compared with 53% of those earning $50,000 to $99,000 and 52% of those earning under $50,000 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Platforms Consumers Use for Local Discovery

219. 73% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use Facebook for it, making Facebook the most-used platform for local business discovery (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

220. 69% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use YouTube for it, placing YouTube second, ahead of Instagram (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

221. 67% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use Instagram for it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

222. 50% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use TikTok for it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

223. 33% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use X for it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

224. 29% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use Snapchat for it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

225. 25% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use Reddit for it, and 24% use Pinterest (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

226. 8% of U.S. consumers who use social media to find local businesses use Nextdoor for it, the least-used platform measured (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

227. TikTok skews sharply younger among U.S. consumers and is the one platform Gen Z favors over Facebook for local discovery (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

228. Younger U.S. consumers increasingly use Instagram and TikTok not just for inspiration but for search and recommendations, which expands the definition of what social visibility means for a multi-location brand (2026 Local Visibility Index).

Why Consumers Follow Local Brands

229. 43% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media to see what the place is like before they visit, the top reason cited in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

230. 42% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media because they find the content useful, helpful, or informative (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

231. 38% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media to see the menu, products, or offerings before they visit (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

232. 35% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media to see what other users think about a place before they visit (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

233. 33% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media because they find the content entertaining (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

234. 25% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media for deals, promotions, or events (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

235. 18% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media for updates about hours, closures, or operational changes (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

236. 15% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media because they like content that feels local, such as store managers, community events, and neighborhood posts (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

237. 12% of U.S. consumers follow or look up local businesses on social media because they like content that feels like a real person like them created it (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

238. 9% of U.S. consumers say they do not usually follow local brands on social media and only see their posts when they come up in the feed (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Social Behavior and Response Expectations

239. 55% of U.S. consumers scroll social media with the sound on (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

240. 40% of U.S. consumers scroll social media with the sound off (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

241. 72% of Gen Z consumers scroll social media with the sound on, compared with 60% of Millennial consumers, 50% of Gen X consumers, and 22% of Boomer and older consumers (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

242. 29% of U.S. consumers expect a local business to respond when they ask a question on its social post (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

243. 19% of U.S. consumers expect a local business to respond both to questions and to general comments on its social posts (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

244. 18% of U.S. consumers expect a local business to respond even to a general comment on its social post (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

245. 14% of U.S. consumers do not really expect a local business to respond to comments on social media, and 19% say they do not usually comment on business posts at all (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

246. 38% of U.S. consumers would try to contact a local business another way, by phone, email, or website, after sending it an unanswered direct message on social media (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

247. 26% of U.S. consumers say an unanswered direct message to a local business on social media would not affect their decision to visit or use that business (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

248. 23% of U.S. consumers would decide not to use a local business and go to a competitor after sending it an unanswered direct message on social media (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

249. 8% of U.S. consumers would tell someone they know about an unanswered direct message to a local business on social media, and 5% would leave that business a negative review (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Brand-Side Social Benchmarks

250. Multi-location brand locations average 360.3 Facebook followers per location (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

251. Multi-location brand locations publish an average of 4.7 Facebook posts per month (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

252. Multi-location brand locations average 5.0 engagements per Facebook post (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

253. Average Facebook engagement rate across multi-location brand locations is 1.40% (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

254. Social posting frequency and follower counts among multi-location brands are down year over year, while engagement rates have nearly tripled. Less volume is producing more meaningful interaction (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

255. 26.8% of multi-location brand locations engage in waterfall posting, the practice of copying corporate parent page posts to local store pages where engagement is shared across all locations (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

256. 23.3% of all multi-location brand location posts are waterfall posts rather than localized content (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

257. Localized posting drives better engagement than waterfall posting for multi-location brands and is the preferable tactic (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Social benchmark for multi-location brands	Metric	Overall
Facebook	Follower count per location	360.3
Facebook	Posts per month	4.7
Facebook	Engagements per post	5.0
Facebook	Engagement rate	1.40%
Facebook	% locations waterfall posting	26.8%
Facebook	% waterfall posts	23.3%
Google	Posts per month	0.15
Google	% locations with social links	43.0%

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index

 

258. Leader brands manage social not just for engagement but as a credibility signal that strengthens their search and AI visibility (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Related reading: Social Media: The Unsung Hero of Your Search Strategy | What is localized content? | What is local brand voice? | Genius Social Agent | Ads & Boost

Reputation Management Statistics

How Consumers Read Reviews

259. 99% of U.S. consumers read online reviews at least some of the time before visiting a local business for the first time (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

260. 68% of U.S. consumers read online reviews always or most of the time before visiting a local business for the first time (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

261. 28% of U.S. consumers always read online reviews before visiting a local business for the first time (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

262. 40% of U.S. consumers read online reviews most of the time before visiting a local business for the first time (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

263. 17% of U.S. consumers read online reviews about half the time and 14% read them sometimes before visiting a local business for the first time (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

264. Only 1% of U.S. consumers never read online reviews before visiting a local business for the first time (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

265. Reading reviews is the single most common verification step in local discovery among U.S. consumers, more common than any search, social, or AI behavior measured in the study (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

266. 55% of U.S. consumers who read online reviews say the most recent reviews matter most to them, ahead of every other review attribute measured (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

267. 48% of U.S. consumers who read online reviews say the overall star rating matters most to them (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

268. 30% of U.S. consumers who read online reviews say the specific details people mention, such as photos or descriptions of service and food, matter most to them (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

269. 26% of U.S. consumers who read online reviews say the total number of reviews matters most to them (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

270. 19% of U.S. consumers who read online reviews say how the business responded to negative reviews matters most to them (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

271. 5% of U.S. consumers who read online reviews say what matters most is whether the reviewer seems like someone similar to them, making reviewer similarity the least important review attribute measured (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

272. Review freshness beats review volume for U.S. consumers. The most recent reviews matter most to 55% of review readers while the total review count matters most to 26%, a gap of more than two to one (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Review Responses Change Behavior

273. 72% of U.S. consumers are more likely to choose a local business that responds to its online reviews, all other factors being equal (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

274. 14% of U.S. consumers say review responses would not make them more likely to choose a local business, and 14% are not sure (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

275. 65% of U.S. consumers would be more likely to return to a local business after it responded to their negative review in a helpful way (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

276. 87% of U.S. consumers say they would be likely to revise a negative review into a positive one if the business responds helpfully (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

277. 38% of U.S. consumers say they would be very likely to revise a negative review into a positive one if the business responds helpfully, and 49% say they would be somewhat likely (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Reputation by Income

278. 80% of U.S. consumers earning $100,000 or more in household income prefer local businesses that respond to reviews, compared with 70% of those earning $50,000 to $99,000 and 62% of those earning under $50,000 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

279. 74% of U.S. consumers earning $100,000 or more in household income would be more likely to return to a local business after a helpful response to a bad review, compared with 64% of those earning $50,000 to $99,000 and 53% of those earning under $50,000 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

280. 76% of U.S. consumers earning $100,000 or more in household income read online reviews always or most of the time, compared with 63% of those earning under $50,000 (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

281. A multi-location brand’s highest-earning customers are also its most reputation-driven and the ones most moved by engagement (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Reviews as a Decision Factor by Category

282. Reviews and word of mouth are the leading decision factor for U.S. consumers in five of the eight local business categories measured (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

283. 41% of U.S. consumers choosing a restaurant or bar cite reviews and word of mouth as a factor that most impacts the decision, the highest rate of any category (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

284. 40% of U.S. consumers choosing a hotel cite reviews and word of mouth as a factor that most impacts the decision (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

285. 38% of U.S. consumers choosing a medical provider and 38% choosing an apartment or rental cite reviews and word of mouth as a factor that most impacts the decision (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

286. 36% of U.S. consumers choosing a local retail store and 36% choosing a bank, financial advisor, or insurance provider cite reviews and word of mouth as a factor that most impacts the decision (2026 Local Discovery Index).

 

287. 30% of U.S. consumers choosing a grocery or convenience store and 26% choosing a gas station cite reviews and word of mouth as a factor that most impacts the decision, the two lowest rates in the study, because practical details dominate those categories instead (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Brand-Side Reputation Benchmarks

288. The average Google star rating across multi-location brand locations is 4.2 (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

289. The average Google review count per multi-location brand location is 137.1 (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

290. Multi-location brands respond to 46.9% of their Google reviews, which means more than half of Google feedback goes unanswered (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

291. Average Google review response time across multi-location brands is 4.3 days (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

292. The average Yelp star rating across multi-location brand locations is 3.2, a full point below those same brands’ 4.2 Google average (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

293. The average Yelp review count per multi-location brand location is 11.6 (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

294. Multi-location brands respond to only 3.1% of their Yelp reviews, the largest response gap of any platform measured (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

295. Average Yelp review response time across multi-location brands is 4.5 days (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

296. 83.6% of Facebook recommendations for multi-location brand locations are positive (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

297. Multi-location brand locations average just 1.3 Facebook recommendations each (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

298. More than 50% of all consumer feedback directed at multi-location brands still goes unanswered (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

299. Review volumes for multi-location brands are rising and response times are improving, but the unanswered share remains the largest single reputation gap in the study (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Reputation benchmark for multi-location brands	Metric	Overall
Google	Rating	4.2
Google	Review count	137.1
Google	% reviews with responses	46.9%
Google	Response time (days)	4.3
Yelp	Rating	3.2
Yelp	Review count	11.6
Yelp	% reviews with responses	3.1%
Yelp	Response time (days)	4.5
Facebook	% recommended	83.6%
Facebook	Recommendation count	1.3

 

Source: SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index

Reputation as the Price of Entry

300. Reputation is the price of entry for multi-location brands. Reviews have mutated from a ranking signal into a gating factor, and AI engines are unlikely to recommend brands below the best-in-class threshold (2026 Local Discovery Index and 2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

301. A sustained 4-plus star rating, active response management, and growing review volume are now minimum requirements for competitive local visibility rather than differentiators (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

302. Business locations recommended by AI platforms consistently maintain ratings above 4 stars with strong review velocity and active response management (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

303. Reputation has emerged as the most decisive signal for multi-location brands across both search and AI (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

304. Yelp plays an outsized role in AI results despite being operationally underprioritized by most multi-location brands. It accounts for 10.5% of LLM citations for local queries while receiving responses to just 3.1% of its reviews (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

305. Yelp is also a significant provider of local content to traditional search apps such as Apple Maps, not only to AI platforms like Perplexity (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

306. Leader brands treat review responses as a brand signal rather than a support task, and they systematize review generation while responding quickly and personally (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

307. Reputation improvement compounds for multi-location brands. Better ratings drive more visibility, which drives more reviews, because reviews feed the systems that decide who appears (2026 Local Discovery Index).

Best-in-Class Reputation Performance

308. Batteries Plus Bulbs responds to 98.3% of its Google reviews with an average response time of 0.6 days, against benchmarks of 46.9% and 4.3 days (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

309. Culver’s maintains a 4.4-star average Google rating alongside 100.0% Google profile completeness (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

310. Liberty Tax maintains a 4.6-star average Google rating, the highest of any brand named in the report (2026 Local Visibility Index).

 

Related reading: What is reputation management? | Responding to negative reviews | Responding to positive reviews | Review response templates | How does reputation influence SEO? | How to calculate ROI for your reviews | Genius Reputation Agent | Surveys

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the verification loop?

The verification loop is the nonlinear path a U.S. consumer takes to choose a local business, in which discovery on one channel is cross-checked against others before a decision is made. SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index found that it has replaced the marketing funnel: 83% of U.S. consumers use search engines to discover local businesses, 99% read reviews to verify, and 72% factor review responses into the decision.

How many consumers use AI to find local businesses?

52% of U.S. consumers used an AI tool to find or research a local business in the last 30 days, according to SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index, up from 9% in 2025. Broader AI usage reached 60% of U.S. consumers at least monthly in 2026, up from 19% in 2025 and 0% in 2024.

Do consumers trust AI recommendations for local businesses?

Not fully. SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index found that 67% of U.S. consumers who use AI tools for local business information have been given something wrong, 30% say it caused a real inconvenience, and only 27% of U.S. consumers trust AI more than they did a year ago. As a result, 81% of AI users take an additional verification step after an AI recommendation instead of contacting the business directly.

How hard is it for a brand to appear in AI local recommendations?

According to SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index, only 1.2% of multi-location brand locations are recommended by ChatGPT, 11.0% by Gemini, and 7.4% by Perplexity, compared with a 35.9% Google 3-Pack appearance rate. Visibility in ChatGPT local recommendations is 30 times harder to achieve than ranking highly in traditional local search.

Does ranking well in Google guarantee AI visibility?

No. SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index found that across industries, fewer than half of the multi-location brands that lead in traditional local search also appear among the top AI local recommendations. In retail, only 45% of the top 20 traditional search brands also ranked in the top 20 for AI.

Which sources do LLMs use for local business recommendations?

SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index found that Google Maps accounts for 32.5% of LLM citations for local queries, a long tail of niche sites 26.3%, brand websites 23.1%, Yelp 10.5%, and Facebook 7.6%.

Is social media a search engine?

Functionally, yes. SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index found that 55% of U.S. consumers used social media to look for local business recommendations in the last 30 days and 64% have used social to search for local recommendations at some point. 59% of U.S. consumers say a social post or video has directly made them a customer of a local business.

How much do review responses matter?

A great deal. SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index found that 72% of U.S. consumers are more likely to choose a local business that responds to its reviews, 65% would be more likely to return after a helpful response to a bad review, and 87% would consider revising a negative review into a positive one. On the brand side, SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index found that multi-location brands respond to only 46.9% of Google reviews and 3.1% of Yelp reviews.

Which generation uses AI the most for local discovery?

Millennials. SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index found that 63% of Millennial consumers used an AI tool to find or research a local business in the last 30 days, compared with 49% of Gen Z consumers, 48% of Gen X consumers, and 11% of Boomer and older consumers.

What does incomplete or inaccurate business information cost a local business?

63% of U.S. consumers have stopped being a customer of a local business because they could not find an answer they needed online, according to SOCi’s 2026 Local Discovery Index. The most common gaps are pricing at 57% of those consumers, current or holiday hours at 50%, and product or service availability at 43%.

About the Research

The 2026 Local Discovery Index is SOCi’s annual consumer behavior study, now in its third edition. It surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. consumers weighted to mirror the U.S. population. It was formerly published as the Consumer Behavior Index.

The 2026 Local Visibility Index is SOCi’s annual brand performance study. It analyzed 2,751 multi-location brands and approximately 350,000 business locations across five industries and 42 subcategories, capturing more than 120 performance metrics per brand. AI visibility testing on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity is new for the 2026 edition.

See where your own locations stand

These are industry benchmarks. To see how your brand’s locations perform against them across search, reputation, social, and AI, run a free AI Visibility Snapshot or request a demo. Industry-specific breakdowns are available for retail, restaurants, healthcare, financial services, property management, and franchise brands.