How to get your business into Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode
Google's AI answers pick local businesses mostly from Google Maps. In October 2026, Cobalt Bloom ran 100 Google searches such as "What are the best dentists in Echo Park, Los Angeles?" When Google showed an AI Overview, 51% of the businesses in Google Maps' top 3 were named in it, against under 1% of businesses below 20th place. The businesses it named typically had about 90 Google reviews, against 20 for the businesses it passed over. A local business gets into Google's AI answers much the same way it gets onto Google Maps: a complete Google listing, plenty of reviews, and a website that shows up in Google's regular results.
Updated: October 23, 2026. Written by Eric Levine, founder of Cobalt Bloom.
What are the key findings?
- In Cobalt Bloom's October 2026 check of 100 local Google searches, AI Overviews appeared on 48%. 90% of coworking searches got one, against 30% of searches for restaurants, gyms, law firms or auto repair.
- AI Mode leans on Google listings even more. In the same searches, 78% of the links in AI Mode's answers went to Google listings, against 45% for AI Overviews.
- A website still counts. In the 48 searches that showed an AI Overview, 94% of the businesses it named had a website on their Google listing, against 74% of the businesses passed over.
- Google says there is no special trick. Google's guidance says there are "no additional requirements" for AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond ordinary search (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features).
What are Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode?
AI Overviews and AI Mode are Google's two AI answers. An AI Overview (https://getcobaltbloom.com/glossary#ai-overview) is the summary Google sometimes writes above the regular search results. AI Mode (https://getcobaltbloom.com/glossary#ai-mode) is a separate tab near the top of Google's results, where people ask longer questions and get a full AI answer with links. Both name businesses and link to their sources. Google says the two "may use different models and techniques, so the set of responses and links they show will vary." In Cobalt Bloom's searches, AI Mode named only 46% of the businesses AI Overviews named for the same questions.
How did Cobalt Bloom check?
Cobalt Bloom ran 100 Google searches in October 2026 and compared the businesses Google's AI named with every nearby business of the same kind. Each search asked "What are the best [type of business] in [neighborhood]?" for ten kinds of business, from dentists and plumbers to restaurants and coworking spaces, in ten neighborhoods of Los Angeles and Chicago. For each search, the AI Overview (when Google showed one) and AI Mode's answer were saved. Every Google Maps listing of that kind of business within a little over a mile of the neighborhood was listed, up to 100 per search, with its position in Google Maps for a plain search such as "dentists in Echo Park, Los Angeles."
In this study, AI Overview comparisons cover the 48 searches where Google showed one. "Typical" means the median. The results are a snapshot and show what named businesses had in common, not proof of why Google picked them. For questions that are not about a local business, Cobalt Bloom also uses a daily check of Google's AI Overviews for StratEngine AI, another company run by Eric Levine, the author.
How does Google's AI pick local businesses?
Mostly from the business's Google listing, which Google calls a Business Profile: the free page that puts a business on Google Maps. The higher a business sat in Google Maps, the more likely Google's AI was to name it:
| Position in Google Maps | Named in the AI Overview | Named in AI Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Top 3 | 51% | 40% |
| 4th to 10th | 17% | 25% |
| 11th to 20th | 8% | 12% |
| Below 20th | Under 1% | 1% |
In Cobalt Bloom's 100 Google searches in October 2026, 45% of the links in AI Overviews, and 78% in AI Mode, went to a Google listing rather than a website. The businesses AI Overviews named also had fuller listings than the ones passed over:
| Named | Passed over | |
|---|---|---|
| Google reviews (median) | 91 | 20 |
| Photos on the listing (median) | 50 | 11 |
| Listing claimed by the owner | 93% | 76% |
| Description on the listing | 84% | 63% |
| Website on the listing | 94% | 74% |
AI Mode showed the same pattern, with a bigger review gap: a median of 147 Google reviews for businesses it named, against 30 for the rest. Google's guidance for AI features includes checking that Business Profile information is up to date. To act on it: claim the listing at business.google.com, fill in every field (hours, description, services, photos), add the website address, and ask happy customers for reviews every month. Cobalt Bloom's guide to what gets a business onto Google's map is at https://getcobaltbloom.com/guides/why-isnt-my-website-showing-up-on-google.
Does a website matter for Google's AI?
Yes: businesses with a website on their Google listing were named much more often. In Cobalt Bloom's 100 Google searches in October 2026, 94% of the businesses AI Overviews named had one, against 74% of the businesses passed over.
A website is also how Google's AI links to a business: in the same searches, 50% of the AI Overviews linked at least one business's own website, and 67% of those links went to sites already on the first page of Google's regular results. Google says a page "must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet" to be shown as a link in an AI Overview or AI Mode. Indexed means Google has the page on file; a snippet is the short description under a link in Google's results.
To act on it: check that the website comes up in a Google search for the business name, and that the home page title says what the business does and where, for example "Hair Salon in Echo Park | Your Salon's Name." Whoever built the site can change the title. Cobalt Bloom's guide to why websites don't show up on Google covers the rest, at https://getcobaltbloom.com/guides/why-isnt-my-website-showing-up-on-google. To make business facts easy for Google's AI to read, see Cobalt Bloom's guide to local business schema at https://getcobaltbloom.com/guides/local-business-schema and its check of what AI tools find on small-business websites at https://getcobaltbloom.com/guides/what-ai-tools-find-on-small-business-websites. For a business rebuilding its site, Cobalt Bloom's redesign guide covers keeping Google rankings through the move, at https://getcobaltbloom.com/guides/how-to-redesign-a-website-without-losing-seo.
What about questions that aren't "best near me"?
For questions customers ask before choosing a business, AI Overviews quote web pages, and the pages already in Google's regular results get quoted. Examples are "how much does a crown cost" or "do I need a lawyer after a car accident." StratEngine AI, whose website is about a year and a half old, shows this: across 105 morning checks from June 13 to October 21, 2026, Google showed an AI Overview for one of its key questions on 97% of mornings and named StratEngine in 94% of those. Across all the questions tracked for StratEngine in the 30 days to October 23, 2026, 76% of the times Google's AI named StratEngine, its page was also on the first page of Google's regular results. To act on it: answer each question customers ask before they buy on its own page, in plain words, with the answer first.
Can a business make Google's AI pick it?
Not directly. Google says there are "no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary," and that site owners don't need "new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup" (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features). A business can look like the best answer, with a complete listing, steady reviews, a website Google can read and show, and pages that answer real questions.
What should a small-business owner do first?
- Claim and complete the Google listing, and add the website to it.
- Ask happy customers for reviews every month.
- Check that the website comes up in a search for the business name, and that the home page title says what the business does and where.
- Add one clear page for each question customers ask before they buy.
- Now and then, search the type of business and neighborhood in Google and in the AI Mode tab to see who gets named.
ChatGPT and Perplexity lean more on Yelp and other sites than Google's AI does. Cobalt Bloom's guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT covers them, at https://getcobaltbloom.com/guides/how-to-get-your-business-recommended-by-chatgpt.
Cobalt Bloom is being built to do the website part of this for small businesses: a site Google can read and show, pages that answer customers' questions, and a monthly check of what Google's AI says about the business, with advice on the listing and reviews. It has not launched yet; its waitlist is open at https://getcobaltbloom.com/#waitlist.