Local SEO Statistics 2026: BrightLocal and Whitespark Data

The Google Business Profile number most people want from the BrightLocal SMB Marketing Report 2025 is this: only 35% of small and medium businesses said they have a Google Business Profile (778 US owners or managers, published August 7, 2025). Before you quote it, know that BrightLocal’s own 2026 Small Business Marketing Report (1,002 US owners of businesses with 1 to 50 employees) found 85% have a profile and 35% keep an active presence on it, and now describes the 2025 figure as the share that “used GBP to market their business.” For a current claim, cite 85% have one and 35% actively maintain it.

Below are the figures behind every local search stat people look up, each with its report, date, sample and a plain verdict on whether it is safe to repeat. Consumer figures are US and self-reported unless stated otherwise.

Which local SEO statistic to cite: quick answer table

Use this table when you need one number for a deck, article or client report. The right column flags the version that circulates but is outdated or misattributed.

BrightLocal SMB Marketing Report 2025: the Google Business Profile statistics

The 2025 report surveyed 778 US small to medium business owners or managers and was published August 7, 2025 by Sammy Paget. BrightLocal does not state field dates. These are the figures searchers most often want from it:

The tension in this report is the headline: 89% say they invest in local SEO, yet only 35% report having the profile that Google’s local results run on. Read the 35% as “uses GBP as a marketing channel,” which is how BrightLocal later reframed it, not as an audit of claimed listings. The report gives no separate figures for GBP posts, photos or review volume.

What BrightLocal’s 2026 Small Business Marketing Report changed

The 2026 report is published as four parts and surveyed 1,002 US owners of locally operating businesses with 1 to 50 employees, all responsible for marketing decisions. Its Google Business Profile findings:

• 85% have a GBP and 63% manage it themselves; 35% say they maintain an active presence on it (smb-report-google).
• 30% updated their profile in the last week, 72% in the last three months, and 21% more than three months ago.
• Top two sources of new customers, owner-reported: word of mouth 35%, social media 33%, AI tools 23%, business website 22%, Google 22%. AI tools were a top-two source for 35% of home or garden services businesses.
• 47% of small businesses have fewer than 20 Google reviews, 28% have 21 to 50, and 16% have more than 50 (smb-report-enough-reviews).
• 64% regularly ask for reviews, but only 51% respond to them. Professional services had the lowest response rate at 45%, and 28% of professional services firms have fewer than 10 reviews.

One caution: BrightLocal’s report pages say “1,000” in the introduction and “1,002” in the methodology. Use 1,002, the methodology figure.

BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2025 vs 2026

The 2025 edition (published January 29, 2025, 1,026 US adults via SurveyMonkey) and the 2026 edition (published February 11, 2026, 1,002 US adults) ask overlapping questions. Here are the numbers side by side, with blanks where an edition does not report the figure.

The 2025 values for Google review use, “always” reading, AI use, star thresholds and two-week recency come from the year-over-year comparisons printed in the 2026 report.

Two details trip people up. First, the 2026 report gives two follow-through figures for review requests: 65% wrote a review after being asked, and elsewhere “83% of people asked to leave a review went on to leave one.” Quote 78% asked, and if you need the follow-through, name which figure you used. Second, the widely quoted “63% would lose trust after mostly negative reviews” appears on the 2025 survey page but comes from BrightLocal’s 2023 Local Business Discovery and Trust Report, so date it 2023. For the full review data set and how to act on it, see our online review statistics breakdown.

Local search stats: where people start a local search

BrightLocal’s Consumer Search Behavior 2026 study surveyed 1,227 US consumers who had searched online for a local business in the previous three months. 84% of consumers had done so. Google Search was the first channel for 52% of the most recent local searches, and 71% used Google Search at some point.

The speed and decisions parts of the study (decisions published July 15, 2026) carry the last six rows. The 2025 edition of the same series (published April 29, 2025, n=1,000) is the source of two numbers still in circulation: 45% default to Google for local searches (53% including Safari), and 46% “always” or “often” add “near me” to local queries, per BrightLocal’s own statistics roundup. The 2025 and 2026 questions are framed differently, so do not present 45% to 52% as growth.

Local search ranking factors 2025 (published as the 2026 report)

If you searched for “local search ranking factors 2025,” the edition you want is Whitespark’s 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors, published November 6, 2025. There is no edition titled 2025; the one before it was the 2023 report (last updated March 24, 2023). Some roundups, including BrightLocal’s, label the current edition “2025” because of its publication year. It is a Whitespark study, not a BrightLocal one; BrightLocal’s statistics roundup simply cites it.

Method: 47 local search experts each spent about two hours scoring 187 factors from 0 to 5 across four areas: local pack and Maps, local organic, conversion, and AI search visibility (new this edition). It measures expert opinion, not Google’s code; Whitespark states no contributor had special access to the algorithm.

For local organic results, the top factor is a dedicated page for each service (210), then geographic keyword relevance of content (190) and quality of inbound links (187). For conversion, high Google ratings lead (213), followed by positive review sentiment (179). Recency of reviews ranks 7th for conversion (165).

About the “GBP signals are 32% of local pack ranking” figure: Whitespark publishes its category weightings only as a chart image, and the text says only that review and behavioral signals gained weight while on-page and link signals dipped. The 32% you see in roundups is a transcription of that chart. If you cite it, call it approximate and link Whitespark directly.

Do Google Business Profile posts help rankings in 2025 and 2026?

Not much, according to the experts. In the Whitespark 2026 local pack list, frequency of Google posts ranks #148 (score 55), keywords in posts #160 (49) and quantity of posts #168 (43). Posts do better for conversion, where frequency ranks #78 (82). Keyword stuffing posts also appears as a suspension risk. Treat posts as a conversion and freshness signal for people viewing your profile, not a ranking lever.

What Google says about local ranking, and what changed on Business Profiles

Google’s local ranking help page names three drivers: relevance (“how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for”), distance, and prominence (“how well-known a business is”). It adds that “businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up,” that “more reviews and positive ratings can help,” and that “there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.” These are the same principles we unpack in SEO principles sourced to Google.

Google’s complete your Business Profile page says customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable, 70% more likely to visit and 50% more likely to consider purchasing when they find a complete profile. The page gives no date, sample or study. Cite it as “Google claims,” never as research.

Profile changes from 2025 to 2026 worth dating correctly:

1. Q&A is gone. Google deprecated the Business Profile Q&A API in fall 2025 (removal in November), and legacy Q&A no longer appears on profiles, per Whitespark’s January 26, 2026 analysis by Miriam Ellis. In the Google Maps app, many US profiles now show an “Ask A Question” feature with AI-generated answers drawn from reviews, menus and other sources. It was not visible in Canada as of January 2026.
2. Some categories are excluded from Ask A Question. The same analysis reports exclusions for most medical categories (dentists excepted), locksmiths, movers, garage door services and cannabis dispensaries. If you run one of those, your reviews and website carry the answers instead; our locksmith marketing playbook covers the extra Google rules that category faces.
3. Review links and QR codes have explicit rules. Google’s review link help page says the link or QR code can only be generated from a computer browser (Read reviews, Get more reviews, Share) and that offering discounts or free goods for reviews “is considered fake engagement and is strictly prohibited.”

AI and local search: the numbers, with vendor labels

AI assistants are now a real local channel, but the data comes mostly from vendors who sell visibility tools. Read each figure with that in mind.

SOCi’s sample is multi-location brands, so its 1.2% does not describe a single-location firm. Whitespark’s second AI factor, a dedicated page for each service (170), is the same as its top local organic factor, which makes service pages one of the few tasks that serve both channels. For the wider AI search data, see our AI search statistics for 2026.

Where the famous local SEO statistics really come from

Many local SEO stat pages recycle numbers whose origin is a tweet, a decade-old Google data point or a small study. Here is the trace for the ones you will see most.

Local SEO statistics from 2016: what is still worth quoting

From 2016, the only figure with a clean Google source is the 136% year-over-year growth in US mobile “near me” searches (March 2016). It is useful as history, showing when “near me” behavior took off, and BrightLocal’s 2025 finding that 46% always or often add “near me” shows the habit stuck. Quote both with their years and never splice them into a single trend.

Three patterns in the 2025 and 2026 data you can act on

These are cross-readings of the sources above, not new measurements. The populations differ, so treat them as direction, not proof.

The 30-day and 90-day windows are my rules of thumb, not BrightLocal thresholds. Each check is one that roughly half of the small businesses in BrightLocal’s 2026 SMB sample fail on the numbers above. Our guide to getting more Google reviews within Google’s rules covers the first and third checks, and if you are weighing outside help, use our checklist for hiring a local SEO company. If you would rather have someone audit your profile against these numbers, you can book a consultation.

How to vet any local SEO statistic before you quote it

1. Find the edition, not the roundup. Open the study page and confirm the year on the report itself. “2025” in a roundup often means “published in 2025,” as with Whitespark.
2. Record the sample. Note who was asked and how many: consumers (1,002 to 1,227 in BrightLocal’s 2026 studies), owners (778 or 1,002), or experts (47).
3. Check the wording. “Have a GBP” and “active presence on GBP” are different questions, and both returned 35% in different years.
4. Label the type. Self-reported survey, expert opinion, vendor platform data or Google claim. Each carries different weight.
5. Fail it if the trail ends in a tweet or a blog. If you cannot reach a dated primary page in two clicks, do not publish the number.

Frequently asked questions

What does the BrightLocal SMB Marketing Report 2025 say about Google Business Profile?

It found only 35% of US small and medium businesses had a Google Business Profile, from a survey of 778 owners or managers published August 7, 2025. BrightLocal's 2026 Small Business Marketing Report, with 1,002 owners of firms with 1 to 50 employees, found 85% have a profile and 35% maintain an active presence. For current figures, cite the 2026 report.

Is there a BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026?

Yes. BrightLocal published the 2026 edition on February 11, 2026, based on 1,002 US adults. Headline figures: 97% read reviews for local businesses, 71% use Google to read them (down from 83% in 2025), 45% used AI tools for local recommendations (up from 6%), and 78% were asked to leave a review in the past 12 months.

What are the local search ranking factors for 2025?

The current study is Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors, published November 6, 2025 from 47 expert surveys. The top local pack factors are primary GBP category, proximity to the searcher, keywords in the GBP business title, a physical address in the city searched, and being open at the time of the search. It is expert opinion, not Google data.

Do Google Business Profile posts affect local rankings?

Experts say very little. In Whitespark's 2026 report, frequency of Google posts ranks 148th for local pack ranking, keywords in posts 160th and quantity of posts 168th. Posts score better as a conversion factor, where frequency ranks 78th. Use posts to keep a profile looking active for visitors, not to move rankings.

Is it true that 46% of Google searches have local intent?

The figure comes from a Google representative's presentation at a 2018 local search event, relayed in a tweet and reported by Search Engine Roundtable on October 17, 2018. Google never published a study behind it, and no newer official figure exists. If you use it, attribute it to a Google rep in 2018 rather than presenting it as current data.

What percentage of local searches start on Google?

In BrightLocal's Consumer Search Behavior 2026 study of 1,227 US consumers, 52% started their most recent local search on Google Search and 9% on Google Maps, while 71% used Google Search at some point. 75% used more than one channel, and 73% of these searches were on a mobile device.

What were the key local SEO statistics in 2016?

The best-sourced 2016 figure is from Google: US mobile searches including "near me" grew 136% year over year, based on Google internal search data for March 2016. Treat it as history. A current companion figure is BrightLocal's 2025 finding that 46% of consumers always or often add "near me" to local searches.