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Key Takeaways Even a little bit of PR can go a long way. This is especially true for smaller geographies: medium-large cities, neighborhoods in metropoles and smaller countries where the competitive field is thinner.
Brand name and geographic association have a major influence. AI systems appear to connect businesses to queries more easily when the name itself signals a location.
Not every local industry is recommended in the same way. In some sectors, structured presence appears to matter more. In others, place association matters more.
Dual-language content is a must for non-English markets. It helps AI systems connect the same business to multiple ways of asking the same local question.
In 2026, AI visibility, or generative engine optimization, has made its way into virtually every board meeting across tech, finance and B2B companies. Interestingly, though, the lowest-hanging fruit in GEO is not in these hypergrowth digital industries, but in good old boring local businesses.
And it’s not because a ton of people are starting to ask their AI of choice who’s the best barber in their area — which is actually happening too. BrightLocal found that consumer use of AI for finding local businesses jumped from 6% to 45% in March 2026 alone.
No, the reason is that showing up in these recommendations is actually more straightforward for local businesses than for virtually any other industry. In a recent study that I completed with my team, I looked at various local business sectors across three countries and six cities, analyzing close to 500 prompts and search results in the process.
Here’s what I learned.
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