What does Google say decides local results?
Google says local results are mainly based on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone searched for. Distance is how far each business is from the person searching. Prominence is how well known a business is.
What counts as prominence?
Google says prominence comes from what it knows about a business across the web, including links from other websites and the number and quality of reviews. A business that is mentioned in more places, consistently, is more likely to be treated as well known.
Why does this matter for AI search?
This is our reading, not something Google says about AI. Google's page is about local results, and it does not describe how AI assistants choose businesses. But the same habit helps in both places: say the same true things about your business everywhere. If your profile, your website and your directory listings disagree on your name, address, opening hours or services, you give every system a reason to doubt all of them.
What can you do this week?
- Fill in your Business Profile completely. Categories, services, hours, address and a plain description.
- Make your website say the same things. Same business name, same address, same services.
- Reply to reviews honestly. Do not write your own. We cover why in another article.
- Fix the directories that disagree. Start with the ones that show up first when you search your own name.
What does the page not tell us?
- It says nothing about ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or any AI assistant.
- It gives no weights, so we cannot say how much each factor counts.
- It is undated, so we record the date we read it.
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Sources
- Improve your local ranking on Google · Google Business Profile Help, undated page. Read by us on 27 October 2026.
We keep what a source says separate from our reading of it. If a source is from another country or a different date, we say so. We are not giving advice, and nothing here is a promise of rankings, citations or sales.