If you've spent much time on Facebook or Instagram lately, you've probably seen the ads.
Get your business recommended by ChatGPT. Optimize for AI search. Don't get left behind.
There seems to be an entirely new marketing category emerging almost overnight, complete with its own collection of acronyms and plenty of people offering to help local businesses navigate it.
And to be clear, we think AI search is important. We're paying very close attention to it. We think every local business owner should.
But we also think it's important to keep the main thing the main thing.
AI deserves your attention. It doesn't necessarily deserve to become your distraction.
CallRail recently analyzed nearly 20 million inbound business calls to understand how consumers are actually discovering businesses through AI.
Calls originating from AI search have climbed steadily since CallRail started tracking them — from 0.073% in November 2025 to 0.115% as of the most recent data. In Home Services, the number was somewhat higher at 0.176%.
That's real growth, and we wouldn't dismiss it.
But let's put 0.176% into perspective. That's fewer than two calls out of every thousand.
Meanwhile, research from SparkToro and Datos found that about 95% of Americans still use traditional search engines like Google every month. AI usage is growing, but consumers don't appear to be simply abandoning traditional search in favor of AI. They're adding AI to the ways they search.
That's an important distinction.
That 0.115% isn't a reason to dismiss AI search. The fact that it's growing is exactly why we're watching it. But it is a reason to keep it in proportion.
So do you need to "optimize for AI"?
Maybe.
But if you're a local business owner wondering whether you're falling behind because you haven't added AEO, GEO or some other form of AI optimization to your marketing budget, we'd resist the urge to chase the shiny object.
Not because AI doesn't matter. Because you may not need to do something entirely new to prepare for it.
Before adding another marketing service, we'd make sure the fundamentals are covered: a complete and active Google Business Profile, a steady flow of meaningful customer reviews, accurate business information across the web, clearly defined services and service areas, and a website with useful content that demonstrates what you actually know.
Here's what's interesting about that list.
Those things help customers understand and trust your business. They help Google understand your business. And increasingly, they're part of the same body of digital evidence AI can use to understand and recommend your business.
The interface is changing faster than the underlying evidence required to earn the recommendation.
The customer journey is changing. The fundamentals aren't.
Think about what happens when someone asks ChatGPT to recommend a roofer, HVAC contractor, garage door company, attorney, dentist or other local business.
Maybe ChatGPT recommends you. Great.
But there's a pretty good chance that customer is still going to look you up. They may read your Google reviews. Visit your website. Compare you with another company. Find out how long you've been in business. See whether you serve their community. Decide whether you look like someone they can trust.
AI may have helped you get Found. It didn't eliminate the need to become Trusted before you're Chosen.
The path may simply look different. It might be:
- ChatGPT → Google reviews → website → call.
- Or: Google → AI research → website → call.
- Or it may still be: Google → Google Business Profile → reviews → call.
Different paths. Same decision.
Get Found. Get Trusted. Get Chosen.
Win the new thing by doing the old thing well.
That's really our advice to local business owners right now.
Don't ignore AI. Don't be afraid of it, either. And don't assume that preparing for it means you suddenly need an entirely new marketing strategy.
Keep doing the things that make your business easy to find, easy to understand and easy to trust — and do them consistently well.
That's how you compete for the business that's available today, primarily through Google. And at the same time, you're building the digital evidence that can help AI understand and recommend your business as AI-driven discovery grows.
AI deserves your attention. It doesn't necessarily deserve to become your distraction.
Keep the main thing the main thing.
And win the new thing by doing the old thing well.
There's one more AI question we're watching closely.
AI may be generating a tiny percentage of leads today — but what if they're better leads?
There's some early evidence suggesting that people who reach a business through AI may arrive farther along in the buying process and with greater intent. That makes intuitive sense: some of the researching, comparing and qualifying may already have happened during the AI conversation.
But higher intent isn't the same thing as a proven higher close rate, particularly for local service businesses. We're not ready to make that claim.
We're watching it, though. And we'll tackle that question in Part 2.
Sources: CallRail, "What 20M Calls Reveal About the Future of Customer Discovery" (updated July 2026); SparkToro/Datos research on U.S. search engine and AI tool usage.