Google isn't just deciding where your business ranks anymore. AI Overviews can also shape what potential customers learn about your company before they ever visit your website.
For years, local SEO has revolved around a fairly straightforward question: When someone searches for what I do, does my business show up?
That still matters. But there's another question local businesses need to start asking: When someone searches for my business by name, does Google understand me well enough to describe my business accurately?
That's becoming increasingly important because Google isn't always just presenting a list of websites anymore. AI Overviews can generate answers directly in the search results, and recent research suggests those AI-generated answers are becoming much more common when people search for specific businesses and brands.
For Charleston-area businesses, that changes what good local SEO needs to accomplish. It isn't only about being found.
It's increasingly about being understood.
What Is Happening to Branded Searches on Google?
A branded search happens when someone searches Google for a specific company or brand rather than a general product or service. Recent research suggests Google AI Overviews are appearing much more frequently on these searches.
Think about the difference between “HVAC repair Charleston SC” and “ABC Heating Charleston.” The first is a traditional non-branded local search. The customer is looking for a company. In the second, the customer already knows which company they're interested in.
Historically, that branded search would typically lead to the company's website, Google Business Profile, reviews, social profiles and other listings. Now an AI-generated answer may become part of that experience, too.
An October 2026 study from Ahrefs analyzed 232.8 million U.S. desktop Google search-result crawls from July through September 2026, including 92.5 million branded-keyword crawls. On September 29, AI Overviews appeared in 82.91% of the branded search results Ahrefs tracked.
That's a significant number, but there's an important qualification.
It does not mean that 83% of every branded Google search everywhere now produces an AI Overview. The Ahrefs research analyzed a specific dataset of U.S. desktop searches, and Google has not announced 83% as a universal benchmark.
What matters is the direction. In the same Ahrefs dataset, the monthly average for branded keywords triggering AI Overviews increased from 61.3% in July to 65.1% in August and 73.3% in September. Ahrefs
For a local business, that's worth paying attention to.
Why Do AI Overviews Matter to a Local Business?
AI Overviews matter because Google may now explain a business to a potential customer before that customer ever visits the company's website. That makes the accuracy and clarity of information about your business across the web increasingly important.
Imagine someone in Mount Pleasant hears about a remodeling contractor from a neighbor and Googles the contractor's name. Someone in Summerville is referred to a physical therapist and searches the practice. A homeowner in West Ashley sees an HVAC truck in the neighborhood and looks up the company. Or a couple planning a Charleston wedding hears about a local DJ and Googles the business before making contact.
Those are valuable searches because the person isn't discovering the business from scratch. There's already awareness and intent.
Now imagine Google's AI-generated answer becoming one of the first things that person sees. Suddenly, the business should care about more than whether its website ranks first for its own name.
It should also care whether Google correctly understands:
- What the company actually does
- Where it operates
- Which services it currently provides
- What distinguishes it from competitors
- Whether its information is current
- Which sources support that information
This is where AI search optimization and local SEO start becoming the same conversation.
Where Does Google Get Information About Your Business?
Google uses information from websites and other sources to understand businesses and organizations. Clear website content, structured business information and authoritative references can all help reduce ambiguity about who a business is and what it does.
One mistake I regularly see with local businesses is treating every part of their online presence as a separate project. The website is one thing. The Google Business Profile is another. Social media belongs in another bucket. Directories get updated whenever somebody remembers they exist.
That's increasingly the wrong way to look at it.
Google's own Organization structured-data documentation says adding Organization structured data can help Google better understand a company's administrative details and disambiguate the organization in search results. Google recommends including relevant information that helps identify the organization and, for local businesses, using the most specific applicable LocalBusiness subtype. Google for Developers
Google's LocalBusiness structured-data documentation also explains how businesses can provide information such as location, telephone number, opening hours and other business details in a standardized format. Google for Developers
That does not mean adding schema magically gets a Charleston business mentioned in an AI Overview. It doesn't.
It means we're trying to eliminate ambiguity wherever possible. And that distinction matters.
AI Search Makes the “Boring” SEO Work More Important
Here's something that doesn't make for a particularly exciting AI headline: The fundamentals still matter.
In fact, AI makes some of that supposedly boring work more important.
I've worked with Charleston-area businesses where the services being promoted online no longer completely matched the services the business actually offered. In one recent case, a local business had discontinued two significant services, but portions of its digital presence still reflected the old version of the company.
From a traditional marketing standpoint, that's outdated information. From an AI-search standpoint, it's something else: conflicting evidence about what the business actually does today.
If your current website says one thing, an older page says another and information elsewhere still reflects the previous version of the company, you're effectively asking Google to decide which version it should trust.
The same problem happens when a business changes its hours but doesn't update them everywhere, a contractor expands into Mount Pleasant but the website never clearly says so, a professional practice adds a new location without developing meaningful information about that location, or a company changes its core services but old service pages remain indexed.
Individually, these can look like minor housekeeping issues. Collectively, they create ambiguity.
AI doesn't eliminate that problem. It increases the value of resolving it.
For a local business, the objective should be simple: Make the company as easy as possible for both people and machines to understand.
7 Things Local Businesses Should Check Now
1. Does Your Website Clearly Explain What You Do?
Don't make Google—or a customer—piece your business together from vague marketing language. Your primary services should be stated clearly in crawlable text and supported by substantive service pages where appropriate.
A visitor should be able to understand what you do within seconds. So should a search engine.
“Quality solutions designed around your unique needs” might sound nice, but it tells Google virtually nothing about whether you're a Mount Pleasant remodeling contractor, Charleston HVAC company or Summerville counseling practice.
Specificity beats marketing fluff.
2. Does Your Google Business Profile Match Your Website?
Your business name, primary services, categories, hours, phone number, website and other core information should be accurate. For service-area businesses, your geographic positioning should also make sense across your website and Google Business Profile.
This doesn't mean repeating identical sentences everywhere. It means maintaining factual consistency.
If your website says you serve Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Daniel Island while another prominent source describes an entirely different service area, you've created unnecessary uncertainty.
3. Is Outdated Information Still Online?
This one gets overlooked constantly. If you stopped offering a service two years ago, why does an old page still advertise it? If your hours changed, where are the old hours still listed? If you've moved, are old addresses floating around? If your staff has changed, does an old bio still identify someone as part of the company?
Search your own business name and examine what Google can find—not merely what you've updated recently.
You're auditing Google's version of your business, not just your own website.
4. Does Your About Page Actually Establish Who You Are?
An About page shouldn't consist of 150 words about being “committed to excellence.” Explain the business. Who leads it? How long have you been doing this? Where do you operate? What experience do you bring? Why was the company started? What makes your approach different?
For a Charleston-area business, this is also an appropriate place to establish genuine local context—not by stuffing “Charleston SC” into every paragraph, but by demonstrating that the business actually knows and serves the market.
Good About content helps prospective customers understand who's behind the company. It also creates explicit information about the organization behind the website.
5. Are You Using Appropriate Structured Data?
Schema markup is not an AI-ranking cheat code. It's a standardized way of helping search engines understand information already present on a webpage.
Google says Organization structured data can help it understand and clarify an organization. For local businesses, Google recommends using the most specific applicable LocalBusiness subtype and following its LocalBusiness guidance. Google for Developers
Depending on the business and page, relevant information can include:
- Business name
- Website
- Address
- Telephone number
- Logo
- Opening hours
- Relevant profiles
- Other identifying information
The important point is not to stuff every possible schema property onto a page. It's to provide accurate structured information that agrees with what a human can see on the website.
6. Pay Attention to What Other Websites Say About You
Your website isn't the only source that can shape how search engines understand your company.
The Ahrefs branded-search study uncovered something particularly interesting here. In its separate analysis of 100 major brands, Wikipedia, YouTube and LinkedIn were the most common external sources cited in branded AI Overviews. Ahrefs
That doesn't mean a Charleston plumbing company should suddenly develop a Wikipedia strategy. The Ahrefs sample involved major brands, so applying the exact citation pattern to small local businesses would be a stretch.
But the underlying lesson matters: Your own website isn't necessarily the only voice contributing to Google's AI-generated description of your business.
Reviews, professional profiles, social platforms, directories, news coverage, association listings and other legitimate references can contribute to the broader digital picture surrounding a company.
That doesn't mean you need to get listed on 200 junk directories. Quite the opposite.
I'd rather see a Charleston business build a smaller number of accurate, legitimate and relevant references than chase citations purely because an SEO checklist says it needs 100 of them.
Think quality and consistency, not volume for volume's sake.
7. Google Your Business Like a Customer Would
This sounds obvious. Do it anyway.
Try searches such as:
- Your business name
- Your business name + Charleston
- Your business name + reviews
- Your business name + primary service
- Your business name + owner
- Your business name + location
Then look at the entire search result. Is the information accurate? Is anything obsolete? Does an AI Overview appear? If it does, what does it say? Which sources does it reference?
Most importantly, ask: Would a prospective customer come away with the right understanding of your business?
That's becoming a legitimate local SEO audit question.
Does Traditional Local SEO Still Matter in AI Search?
Yes. AI search does not make traditional local SEO obsolete. Strong website content, crawlability, accurate business information, structured data, authority and a well-maintained local presence remain important foundations for search visibility.
This is where I think some of the conversation around AI search has gone off the rails. Every few months we're told that some new technology has “killed SEO.”
It hasn't.
What's changing is the interface between the search engine and the customer. Google still needs to discover information, understand it and decide which sources are useful enough to surface.
That's why I don't see AI optimization and SEO as two completely separate disciplines. For local businesses especially, they overlap.
A well-built service page can help a company compete in traditional search while giving AI systems clear, detailed information about a service. A properly maintained Google Business Profile strengthens local visibility while giving Google current business information. Structured data can reinforce explicit facts. Original content can demonstrate actual experience instead of repeating what every competing website already says.
Good SEO increasingly means creating a digital presence that's easy to find, easy to understand and easy to trust.
Could AI Overviews Reduce Traffic to Your Website?
Possibly. AI-generated answers introduce another place where a searcher may get information without immediately clicking through to a website.
There is evidence that this is already happening. In separate Ahrefs research referenced in its branded-search study, the company found that the top-ranking page experienced a 58% lower click-through rate when an AI Overview was present. Ahrefs
Again, that doesn't mean every local business should expect organic traffic to fall 58%. Different queries, industries, devices and search intentions can behave differently.
But for a local business, I wouldn't obsess over losing every possible click. I'd ask a more important question: What happens if the customer doesn't need to click because Google's answer gives them enough information to make their next decision?
If that answer accurately explains your business and gives the customer confidence to call, request an estimate, get directions or search your reviews, the interaction may still have considerable value. If the answer is incomplete or outdated, you have a different problem.
This is one reason website traffic alone is becoming an increasingly incomplete measure of search performance. Calls matter. Forms matter. Direction requests matter. Branded searches matter. Google Business Profile interactions matter.
Ultimately, customers and revenue matter.
What Should Charleston Businesses Do About AI Search Right Now?
Start by making your existing digital presence more accurate, specific, useful and authoritative rather than chasing supposed AI-search hacks.
I wouldn't recommend that a Charleston business throw out its SEO strategy because somebody invented another acronym for AI optimization.
I'd start with the fundamentals: make the website better, build genuinely useful service and location content, answer the questions real customers ask, remove obsolete information, keep the Google Business Profile accurate, use appropriate structured data, develop original content based on actual expertise, and earn legitimate reviews and mentions.
Then periodically check what Google and AI systems are saying about the business.
Search behavior is changing. The answer isn't to chase every new feature.
It's to make sure the underlying information about your business is strong enough to travel with those changes.
Local SEO Is Becoming About More Than Being Found
For years, businesses have hired people like me largely to help answer one question: How do we get found on Google?
We still need to answer it. But AI search is adding another: When Google finds us, does it actually understand us?
For local businesses, those two questions are becoming increasingly connected.
Your website isn't just a digital brochure. Your Google Business Profile isn't just a Maps listing. Your service pages aren't just places to put keywords. Your About page isn't filler. And structured data isn't something you add simply because an SEO plugin gives you a green checkmark.
Together with reviews, authoritative references and other information about the company, these pieces create a broader digital picture of who the business is, what it does and where it does it.
The clearer and more accurate that picture becomes, the less you're asking Google—and increasingly AI—to fill in the blanks.
That's a different kind of SEO. And I think we're going to be doing a lot more of it.
What AI Search Really Means for Local Businesses
AI search is changing quickly, and some of what works today will undoubtedly change with it. But the underlying strategy for a local business is much less complicated: be clear about who you are, specific about what you do, consistent about where you do it, and give Google and your customers good reasons to trust that information.
The businesses that get those fundamentals right won't have to chase every new AI-search development. They'll already be giving search engines—and the people using them—the information they need.
Does Google—and AI—Understand Your Business Correctly?
If you're not sure, that's worth finding out.
Brand U Media helps Charleston-area businesses strengthen the information Google, AI search platforms and potential customers use to understand who they are, what they do and where they do it.
That can include website content, local SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, service and location pages, structured data, content strategy and AI-search optimization.
The objective isn't to chase algorithms. It's to make your business easier to find, easier to understand and easier to choose.
Let’s Talk About Your Business
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is AI Search Optimization for a Local Business?
AI search optimization is the process of making your business information clear, accurate, useful and authoritative so search engines and AI systems can better understand your company. It overlaps substantially with traditional SEO, including website content, structured data, local SEO, business information and authoritative third-party references.
Can a Local Business Appear in Google AI Overviews?
Yes. Google can display AI Overviews for searches involving businesses and brands. Ahrefs' October 2026 research found AI Overviews appearing in 82.91% of the U.S. desktop branded search results it tracked on September 29. Ahrefs
Does Schema Markup Help With AI Search?
Structured data can help Google understand and classify information on a webpage, but schema does not guarantee inclusion in an AI Overview or a higher ranking. Google's documentation specifically says Organization structured data can help it understand and disambiguate an organization. Google for Developers
Is Local SEO Still Important Now That People Use AI Search?
Yes. AI search makes accurate business information, useful website content and a strong local presence more—not less—important. Traditional search and AI-generated search experiences still depend on Google being able to discover and understand information about a business.
How Can I See What Google Knows About My Business?
Search your business name, your business name plus location, major services and common customer questions. Review your website, Google Business Profile, traditional search results and any AI-generated answers for inaccurate, outdated or conflicting information.
