For many local businesses, operations look healthier than they are.
Rank trackers still show the top three positions. The visual reports seem solid. Yet calls and website visits from Google business profiles are declining — sometimes rapidly.
This space is becoming a defining feature of local search today.
The standards are there. Visibility and performance are absent.
The alligator has arrived in local SEO.
The problem of visibility behind stable levels
Across most US industries, traditional 3-packs are being replaced – or at least supplemented – by local AI-powered packs. These properties behave differently from the map results we’ve developed in the past.
An analysis from Sterling Sky, based on 179 Google Business Profiles, reveals a pattern that is hard to ignore. Click-to-call is down significantly for Jepto-owned law firms.
When AI-powered packs replace traditional listings, the landscape changes in four key ways:
- Decreasing real estate: AI packs usually only feature two entities instead of three.
- Missing call buttons: Many AI-generated shortcuts remove click-to-call options, adding friction to the customer journey.
- Different businesses appear: The entities shown in the AI packs are often not the same as those in the standard 3-pack.
- Faster local search monetization: If there are paid ads, the traditional 3-packs are increasingly losing the direct call and website buttons, which reduces the chances of organic conversion.
The fifth issue covers the problem:
- Blind spots of measurement: Most rank trackers don’t report on local AI packs. A business may be ranked first in 3 packs that most users don’t see.
AI location packages will appear in just 32 percent of as many unique businesses as traditional map packages by 2026, according to Sterling Sky. In 88% of the 322 markets analyzed, the total number of virtual businesses decreased.
At the same time, paid ads continue to take the place reserved for organic results, marking a clear shift to the paid-to-play space.
That’s what Google Business Profile data shows
A similar pattern is emerging, especially in the US, where Google is aggressively testing new location formats, according to GMapi.com data. Traditional local impressions of 3-packs are increasingly being replaced by:
- Local packs are powered by AI.
- Built-in placement for traditional map packs: Sponsored listings now appear on the side or within the map pack, reducing organic results and stripping the website of call lists and buttons. This breaks the customer journey alive.
- Expanded Google ad units: Includes Location Services Ads that use space reserved for organic visibility.
Visual trends are subject to change due to seasonality, market differences, and occasional API confusion. But a much clearer signal emerges when you look at GBP actions rather than opinions.
Content within AI-generated results still counts as impressions – even if they no longer drive calls, clicks, or visits.
Some fluctuations are caused by external factors. For example, the June outage is linked to a known Google API issue. Mobile Maps impressions also appear to be heavily influenced by large advertisers who increase Google Ads later in the year.
There is no way to classify these impressions through Google ads, organic results, or AI Mode.
Even then, however, user behavior changes. Engagement rates are dropping, with few direct actions taken from local listings.
A year-on-year comparison in the US suggests that while the loss of impressions remains moderate and partly seasonal, GBP actions are disproportionately affected.
As is not true, the data from the Dutch market – where SERP evaluation is always limited – shows very stable action trends.
The pattern is clear. AI-driven SERP changes, expanding Google Ads, and removing call and website buttons from Map Pack are reducing real estate. Even if visibility looks strong, businesses have few opportunities to achieve real user actions.
Local SEO is becoming an issue of relevance
Historically, site optimization focused on standard ranking factors: proximity, relevance, prominence, review, citations, and engagement.
Today, another layer sits above them all: fitness.
Many businesses fail to appear in AI-powered local results not because they lack authority, but because Google’s systems decide they aren’t the right match for a given query context. Research from Yext and insights from practitioners like Claudia Tomina highlight the importance of alignment on three key signals:
- Business name
- The main section
- Real world services and positioning
If these basics are not specified correctly, businesses can be excluded from all sorts of results — no matter how well the Google Business Profile itself may be improved.
How to show the visibility of the future location
Surviving today’s zero-click reality means more than relying on a single, completely optimized Google Business Profile. Here’s your new local SEO playbook.
A worthy gatekeeper
Failure to appear in local packages is now driven more by perceived relevance and classification than links or review capacity.
Hyper-local business mandate
AI systems cross-reference Reddit, social networks, forums, and local directories to judge whether a business is legitimate and viable. Inconsistent signals across these ecosystems are becoming apparent.
Visible signs of trust
High-quality images, frequently updated, and increasingly video, are no longer preferred. Google’s AI analyzes visual content to provide services, intent, and categories.
Embrace the reality of pay to play
It’s a hard truth, but Google Ads – especially Local Services Ads – are now essential to keeping prominent call buttons from losing organic listings. A hybrid strategy that combines local SEO with paid search is not an option. The foundation.
What does this mean for local search now?
Local SEO is no longer a static directory. Google Business Profiles still reinforce local availability, but now operate within a much broader ecosystem set up by AI validation, continuous SERP evaluation, and Google’s acceleration in monetizing local search.
Earnings no longer depend on where your GBP reaches compared to nearby competitors. Search engines – including Google’s AI-driven SERP features and major language models like ChatGPT and Gemini – are increasingly trying to understand what a business is actually doing, not just where it’s listed.
Success is no longer about having the most “optimized” profile. It’s about broad validation, consistent performance, and context compatibility across the virtual AI-ecosystem.
What we’ve seen shows little correlation between businesses that rank well in the traditional Map Pack and those favored by Google’s AI-generated local answers that are beginning to replace it. That gap creates a real opportunity for businesses willing to adapt.
Essentially, this means matching local input with centralized monitoring.
Authentic engagement across multiple platforms, localized content, and authentic social signals must be accompanied by product management, data consistency, and performance measurement. For local businesses with deep community roots, this is an advantage. Authentic, recommended, and referral engagement in your area – online and offline – puts you right at the center.
For agencies and multi-location brands, the challenge is balancing local control and consideration and ensuring that trusted signals extend beyond Google (eg, Apple Maps, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Reddit, and other relevant review ecosystems). Authentic testing produces locally relevant content and citations at scale without losing authenticity.
Rates may look stable. But work is increasingly being done elsewhere.
Full data. Local SEO in 2026: Why Your Rankings Are Strong But Your Calls Are Falling
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