Google’s AI Local Pack Is Showing 68% Fewer Businesses. Here’s What That Means for You.

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googles ai local pack is showing 68 fewer businesses. heres what that means for you
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Google’s AI Local Pack Is Showing 68% Fewer Businesses. Here’s What That Means for You.

AI local packs feature only 32% as many unique businesses as traditional packs. If your local search traffic has felt off lately, you’re not imagining it.

If you run a multi-location business and your local search traffic has felt off lately, you’re not imagining it.

Google is quietly rolling out a new format for local search results on mobile called the AI-powered local pack. And the data is stark: businesses that would previously appear in the traditional 3-pack are disappearing from the results entirely.

According to Sterling Sky’s “The State of Local SEO in 2026” report, AI local packs feature only 32% as many unique businesses as traditional packs. That works out to 68% fewer businesses getting any local visibility when the AI format triggers.

So: what changed, why does it matter, and what should you do about it?

What the AI Local Pack Actually Looks Like

The traditional Google 3-pack has been a staple of local search for years. Search “addiction treatment center near me” or “furniture store in Raleigh” and you’d see three businesses listed with star ratings, addresses, hours, and a click-to-call button. Most business owners know this box well. It’s often the first thing a potential customer sees before they ever visit your website.

The new AI local pack looks different in almost every way:

  • 1-2 businesses shown instead of three
  • No call buttons in the current format
  • Different businesses than what the standard 3-pack would show for the same query
  • Currently appearing on approximately 7% of tracked searches

Seven percent sounds small, but this format is expanding fast. And the businesses appearing in AI local packs are not simply the top performers from the traditional pack. They’re a different selection entirely, chosen by criteria Google hasn’t fully explained.

We’ve been tracking how AI is already reshaping local search visibility for a while now. This is not a temporary experiment.

Organic Slots Are Shrinking. Paid Slots Are Growing.

The AI local pack isn’t happening in isolation. Sterling Sky’s data shows two other trends accelerating at the same time:

  • Local pack ads have grown from 1% to 22% of mobile local search results since early 2025.
  • Local Services Ads now appear on 31% of tracked queries, up from 11% just over a year ago.

Organic local pack slots are shrinking. Ads are filling the space. And the AI format is introducing a new selection process that most businesses aren’t set up for.

Google is monetizing local search. That’s what this looks like in the data.

For context on how much this matters: BrightLocal’s 2023 Local Consumer Review Survey found that 98% of consumers used the internet to find information about local businesses. Nearly all of that discovery flows through the exact surfaces that are now changing.

What This Means by Business Type

Multi-location retail and service businesses face the biggest immediate exposure. If your local search strategy relies on appearing in the 3-pack across dozens or hundreds of locations, that foundation is shifting. Locations ranking well today may not show up in the AI format at all. With fewer slots available, there’s very little margin for a neglected Google Business Profile or inconsistent location data.

Recovery centers and behavioral health facilities are in a particularly sensitive position. Search visibility for treatment-related queries has a direct line to admissions, and the searches most likely to trigger AI local packs are the exact high-intent “near me” queries that drive phone calls. Losing a local pack slot for “detox center in [city]” or “outpatient treatment near me” isn’t a rankings problem. It’s a census problem.

Higher education institutions with multiple campuses need to think about this through the lens of enrollment. Campus visit searches, program availability queries, and “school near me” on mobile are all candidates for AI local pack treatment.

Why the AI Local Pack Picks Different Businesses

The AI local pack is not just a redesigned 3-pack. It pulls from a different set of signals.

Traditional local packs heavily weight proximity, review count and star rating, and whether your Google Business Profile is complete and correctly categorized. The AI format applies a narrower filter. Early data points to how well-established a brand looks across the web, and how clearly Google can understand what the business is and where it operates.

Businesses that Google can confidently identify and describe are more likely to appear. That means your Google Business Profile needs to be complete and current, the technical information on your website needs to be organized in a way search engines can read easily (something called structured data, and here’s how it works), and your online presence needs to be consistent enough that there’s no ambiguity about who you are or where you’re located.

A quick fix to just one of these things probably won’t move the needle.

What to Do Right Now

  • 1. Check whether AI local packs are showing up for your searches. Start tracking which searches are triggering AI local packs versus traditional results. The two formats behave differently, and your visibility in each needs to be measured separately. If you haven’t looked at this yet, a local SEO audit is the right starting point.
  • 2. Go through every location’s Google Business Profile. The AI local pack appears to favor accuracy and completeness. Every location should have current hours, the right category assignments, complete service listings, and recent photos. Profiles that haven’t been touched in months are at real risk of being left out.
  • 3. Make sure your website speaks the language search engines read. There’s a behind-the-scenes layer of code on your website called structured data (or schema markup) that tells Google exactly what your business is, where it’s located, what services you offer, and how to contact you. Think of it as a translation layer between your website and Google’s systems. Most businesses have little or none of it set up correctly.

    For healthcare and addiction treatment businesses, this means tagging your services and accepted insurance in a format Google can verify. For retail locations, it means flagging store-specific details at each address. For universities, it means organizing campus-level information separately from the main site. This work is technical, but the strategic case for it is straightforward: make it easy for Google to understand you, and you’re more likely to be selected.
  • 4. Activate Local Services Ads if you haven’t. Local Services Ads now appear on 31% of local queries. For high-intent service categories, that’s too much real estate to ignore, especially if organic local visibility is getting squeezed. LSAs are the most direct way to stay present in the searches that matter.
  • 5. Get serious about generating reviews consistently. February 2026 brought widespread Google Business Profile review removals following a policy update. If your locations saw a drop in review counts, you’re not alone, but you do need a plan to rebuild. A steady stream of new reviews over time carries more weight than a high total count from years ago. One-time pushes don’t hold up. A repeatable process for asking satisfied customers does.

Putting It Together

Google is increasingly routing local search through surfaces it controls more tightly: AI-generated responses, paid placements, curated formats. Open lists of organic results are taking up less and less of the screen.

Local SEO still matters. But local SEO without a paid media layer is a less complete strategy than it was 18 months ago. We’ve written about why paid and organic working together is no longer optional for local businesses that want consistent visibility.

The businesses that hold their ground through this shift will be the ones building both: organic signals that give AI systems a reason to select them, and paid presence that keeps them visible even when those organic slots narrow.

What We’re Watching Next

  • The AI local pack is currently appearing on roughly 7% of tracked searches.
  • The 3-pack has been Google’s default local format since 2015.
  • At the current pace of adoption, the majority of high-intent local queries could be returning AI pack results within 12 to 18 months.
  • Google Marketing Live is scheduled for May 20, and we expect major announcements on local ad formats and AI search monetization.
  • Getting your multi-location SEO foundation right now means you’ll be ready before those changes land, not scrambling after.
  • If you want to know exactly where your locations stand in AI local pack visibility, we can run that analysis. Let’s talk.

Sources

Need help navigating AI local search changes for your multi-location business?

Contact ScaledOn to see how our local SEO expertise keeps your locations visible as Google’s formats evolve.

👉 Contact ScaledOn