The short answer: when Google answers a local search with AI instead of the classic three-business map pack, it names far fewer businesses — the 2026 industry data puts AI local packs at roughly a third as many unique businesses as the traditional packs, and one study found 28.5% of businesses that rank in the map pack simply don't appear in AI Mode for the same query. Local search is becoming winner-take-most. The signals that get you named haven't changed much (a complete Google Business Profile, steady recent reviews, consistent listings, mentions on sites you don't own, plain-language content) — but the penalty for being fourth-best has gone from "less traffic" to "invisible". Score yourself with the free AI visibility checker.
For about fifteen years, local search had a shape every business owner eventually learned: type "plumber Kamloops", get a map with three businesses on it, each with a star rating, a phone number, and a call button. Three slots. If you were fourth, you were on the "more places" click — not great, but not nothing.
That shape is dissolving. Through 2026, Google has been merging AI Overviews and AI Mode into one flow, and AI Mode has passed a billion monthly users with query volume roughly doubling every quarter. On a growing share of local searches, what sits at the top is no longer a three-business map — it's a paragraph that says here's who you should call, naming one or two businesses.
I want to be careful here, because this is the kind of change that gets oversold. Nobody's map pack disappeared overnight, and plenty of local queries still return the classic three. But the direction is clear enough, and the data behind it specific enough, that it's worth understanding now rather than after your enquiries drop.
What the 2026 data actually says
Three findings are worth knowing, because they're the numbers behind the change:
AI local packs feature about a third as many businesses. Sterling Sky's State of Local SEO work found that when the AI format triggers, it surfaces roughly 32% as many unique businesses as the traditional pack for the same searches — a 68% reduction in how many businesses get any visibility at all.
AI answers are now common on local queries, not rare. Whitespark's study across 540 queries in six local-business verticals found AI Overviews appearing on around 68% of them. Not a fringe format.
Ranking in the map pack no longer guarantees you're in the AI answer. A study of 1,120 searches across seven service verticals found 28.5% of businesses appearing in the Local Pack were missing from AI Mode for the same query. That's the finding I'd underline. It means the two systems don't select identically — you can be doing fine by classic local-SEO measures and still be absent from the format that increasingly sits above them.
What this does to a local business
The practical consequence is a change in shape, not just volume. Local search used to distribute attention across a top three plus a page of links below. An AI answer concentrates it — and the businesses it names get a stronger endorsement than a map listing ever gave, because there's nothing to scroll past. The AI picked. Most people go with the pick.
So two things happen at once. If you're the named business, each search is worth more than it used to be. If you're not, you don't lose a bit of traffic — you lose the search. There's no fourth position to be in.
Which means the old advice to "keep improving and you'll climb" needs re-reading. Improving from eighth to fourth used to be worth real money. In an AI-answer world, fourth and eighth are the same result. The only move that matters is getting into the small set of businesses the answer considers.
The good news for BC Interior businesses
Here's the part that makes me more optimistic than the headline numbers suggest, and it's specific to markets our size.
Winner-take-most is brutal when there are two hundred competitors and a national chain with a marketing department. It's a genuine opportunity when there are eleven plumbers in town, six of them have unclaimed or half-finished Google listings, and none of them have thought about this at all. A concentrated format rewards the business that did the groundwork — and in Kamloops, Vernon, Prince George, or Cranbrook, the groundwork is mostly unclaimed.
Add to that: AI answers are sticky. Once a model settles on the answer to "best electrician in Kamloops", that answer tends to persist across sessions and refreshes. Being early is worth more here than in classic rankings, where positions shuffle weekly.
What still gets you into the answer
Nothing exotic, and mostly free. The 2026 ranking-factor research points the same direction it has for years, with a shift in emphasis:
Your Google Business Profile is still the spine. Industry surveys put GBP signals at around 32% of traditional local-pack ranking weight — more than any other single factor. Interestingly, that weight drops (to roughly 12%) among businesses cited in AI search results, which doesn't mean GBP matters less; it means once you're in the AI's consideration set, other signals decide. You still can't get considered without the profile. The 13-point GBP audit covers the whole thing in five minutes, and Google Business Profile management is what I do for clients who'd rather it were handled.
Reviews, with recency weighted heavily. AI systems lean on reviews because they're the closest thing to independently verified reputation available. Volume and rating matter, but a steady flow of recent reviews now carries more weight than a big total from three years ago — a dormant-looking profile reads as a dormant business. February 2026 also brought a wave of Google review removals across profiles, which is a good argument against treating your review count as a permanent asset you've already banked.
Citation and entity consistency. In Whitespark's 2026 factor research, citation-based and entity-based signals make up three of the top five AI-visibility factors. If your business name, address, and phone disagree across Google, Bing, Yelp, and the directories, an AI sees uncertain data — and uncertain data doesn't get named. The NAP consistency checker gives you the canonical format and the list to fix.
Mentions on sites you don't own. Chamber of commerce listings, local news, association member lists, supplier dealer pages, "best of" roundups. Your own site claiming you're good is a claim; a third party saying it is evidence, and evidence is what corroborates an AI's pick.
Content that reads like an answer. AI answers are assembled from text that already answers something. "A furnace replacement in Kamloops typically runs $6,000–$9,000 and takes a day" is quotable and attributable. "Quality service since 1998" is neither. An FAQ page with the questions customers actually ask — prices, timelines, areas served — in plain conversational sentences is genuinely one of the highest-leverage pages you can write in 2026.
Where to start this week
If you want the two-minute version: go ask Google's AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity the question your best customer would ask. Note who gets named. Then work backwards through the list above and find the gap between them and you — it's usually reviews or third-party mentions, occasionally something as basic as a wrong primary category.
To turn that into a ranked to-do list, the AI visibility checker scores you on twelve of these signals and sorts your fixes by impact. If you'd rather read further, how to get ChatGPT to recommend your business covers the assistant side in detail, and does SEO still work in 2026 is the wider argument about what happened to the click economy.
And if you'd rather hand the whole thing over — profile, reviews, listings, content, and the technical layer that makes your site quotable — that's what local SEO for Kamloops businesses covers, AI visibility included. The seat next to "here's who you should call" is still empty in most BC Interior categories. It won't be for long.