How AI decides who to recommend, with the sources shown. Updated as the research does.
AI News · Sep 15, 2026 · 6 min read
Meta's Muse, launched 8 September, is a personal AI agent that lives in WhatsApp and books, fills forms, negotiates and buys on a person's behalf — and keeps working after they close the chat. The next customer who asks it for a plumber will never see a search results page.
AI Visibility · Sep 15, 2026 · 6 min read
AI use for local recommendations jumped from 6% to 45% of US consumers in 2026, yet only 1.2% of business locations are ever recommended. The businesses that make the cut share four traits.
Local Search · Sep 14, 2026 · 5 min read
Google's AI Overviews appear on more than two-thirds of local searches, while the map pack businesses fought to rank in shows on fewer than four in ten. A 29-point gap where customers get an answer without ever seeing your listing.
AI Visibility · Sep 12, 2026 · 6 min read
Reddit accounts for 21% of all Google AI Overview citations, with YouTube at nearly 19%. Google now surfaces Reddit threads as Community Perspectives inside local results. Most local businesses have never posted on either.
Technical · Sep 10, 2026 · 7 min read
Pages carrying proper JSON-LD schema are cited in AI responses about 3.2 times more often. Here is the specific structured data a local business needs, what each piece tells the model, and the mistake that cancels it out.
Reviews · Sep 8, 2026 · 5 min read
AI systems read the language in reviews to build a profile of what a business actually does well. A detailed review naming the service and the result is worth about six generic five-star ratings. Here is how to get the kind that count.
Guides · Sep 5, 2026 · 6 min read
Answer engine optimization is the practice of making your business the answer an AI gives, not a link in a list. Here is what it means, how it differs from SEO, and the five things it comes down to for a local business.
