What three North Alabama businesses taught us about search in the AI era

2 hours ago

15 min read

A Decatur equipment rental company's website has barely changed since it launched in January 2025. Yet from July 23 to October 14, 2026, Google showed it 16,873 times, compared with 8,148 times over the same dates in 2025. That is 107% more visibility from a site we have hardly touched.

Now look at the other number. Over those same two windows, clicks to that website went from 886 to 1,024, up 16%. Google showed the business twice as often and sent it a modest bump in visitors.

That gap is the story of local search right now, and it is the reason we ran what we call the Search Everywhere Field Study. This article is the hub for the whole series: the headline finding, the seven trends behind it, what the website's hidden layer can and cannot do, a four step playbook, and an honest account of how far the evidence goes. Every other post in the series goes deeper on one piece, and we link to each of them below.

The short version

Search did not disappear. It moved onto Google's own page.

Customers now find a local business, read about it, judge it and call it from the Google Business Profile (the box with your hours, photos, reviews and buttons), from the map, or from an AI written answer. Many of them never open your website. So the website's job changed. It is now the source of truth that gives Google Maps and AI tools their context: what you do, which services you offer, the hours at each location, the towns you serve and the questions customers really ask.

The profile is the front door. The website tells Google what is behind it. And the way we measure success has to change too, because clicks and visits alone undercount what search does for a business.

What we studied (and what we did not)

We pulled two years of Google data on three DIWYM clients in October 2026:

A Decatur family practice with a WordPress site we rebuilt technically, without a redesign, starting July 23, 2026.
A Hartselle hometown pharmacy (independent, since 1950, two locations) on a Wix site we built in May 2024 and still run.
A Decatur equipment rental company (equipment, tool and party rentals, since 1978) on a Wix site that went live in January 2025 and has changed little since.

We looked at Google Search Console (impressions and clicks), Business Profile performance, website visits, indexing status and structured data on every page. The limits matter as much as the findings, so we cover them near the end: this is an observation of three clients, not a controlled experiment, and it measures visibility only.

The national picture matches what we saw

Our clients are not special. Independent research points the same direction.

Pew Research Center, in a July 22, 2025 report on 900 U.S. adults' browsing in March 2025, found people clicked a traditional search result on 8% of visits when Google showed an AI summary, versus 15% when it did not. They clicked a link inside the summary on 1% of visits, and ended their browsing session 26% of the time with a summary versus 16% without.
Ahrefs (April 17, 2025), studying 300,000 keywords from March 2024 and March 2025, found the top ranking page's click rate was 34.5% lower when an AI Overview appeared.
SparkToro (July 2, 2024), using a clickstream panel of U.S. users, found 58.5% of U.S. Google searches ended without a click, and only about 360 of every 1,000 searches sent a click to the open web.

None of that means search is dead. Being seen and being clicked are no longer the same thing. For the mechanics, see why impressions rose while clicks barely moved and our earlier explainer on zero click search.

The seven trends

Trend 1: Google shows local businesses more, and sends fewer clicks

For the two clients where we can compare identical windows, July 23 to October 14, 2026 against the same dates in 2025:

The rental company: impressions rose 107% (8,148 to 16,873) and clicks rose 16% (886 to 1,024).
The family practice: impressions rose 36% (26,782 to 36,377) and clicks were flat, down 2% (2,154 to 2,120). The 2026 window has 81 days of data against 84 in 2025, so the impressions gain is, if anything, conservative.

Google impressions and clicks, July 23 to October 14, 2026 vs the same dates in 2025. Both businesses were shown far more often; clicks barely moved for one and rose modestly for the other. Source: Google Search Console.

The pharmacy needs its own sentence, because its comparison window is different: its Google impressions averaged 5,042 a month from October 2025 to September 2026, against 3,843 a month from February to September 2025 (up 31%), while its clicks stayed flat at about 260 a month (down 1%). Because that window is not the same as the other two, we do not stack it beside them, and we never say all three clients grew by the same measure. On the matching July 23 to October 14 window, the pharmacy's Search Console impressions were actually down about 10%, so its visibility story is less clear. We would rather you hear that from us.

Our read: Google is showing local businesses for more searches (the practice appeared for 2,260 different searches, up from 970; the rental company for 2,170, up from 1,054), but customers get more of their answer without clicking. The rental company's clicks likely rose because its customers need prices, availability and the right machine, things a summary cannot settle. That is our interpretation, not something the data proves.

Trend 2: The Business Profile is the real front door

Across the three clients, the Business Profiles drew 34,946 views from May to mid October 2026 and 11,174 actions (calls, direction requests and website clicks). Those figures cover the pharmacy's main store only. Google exposes just six months of profile data, so there is no year earlier comparison.

For the two sites where we measured visits, the profile was seen far more often than the website was visited, in the same window of May to mid October 2026:

The pharmacy's main store profile: 8,067 views, against 4,085 website visits across both stores (2.0 times).
The rental company's profile: 14,312 views, against 3,194 website visits (4.5 times).

The practice's website visits were not measured, but its 12,567 profile views were far above its Google search clicks.

Business Profile views vs website visits, May to mid October 2026. Customers met the profile two to four times more often than the website. The pharmacy's profile figure covers one of its two stores.

Where do those views come from? Mostly phones, on Google Search: 76% to 82% of each profile's views came from mobile Google Search, and Google Maps supplied about 8 to 9%. That Maps share may shift as Google's AI features in Maps grow, which is why we track it. See the Business Profile post for the full breakdown.

Trend 3: Name recognition versus discovery

We measured what share of search clicks came from people who typed the business's own name (clicks with a reported search term, June 13, 2025 to October 14, 2026):

Pharmacy: 98%
Practice: 84%
Rental company: 37%

Our rule of thumb is that above roughly 80%, the website mostly serves people who already know you. The rental company is the opposite: 63% of its search clicks came from people who did not use its name. It was found by people searching for "tool rental near me" and "equipment rental near me" (on average, around position 1 and position 4 respectively across those 16 months). Pages built around each service, product and town are how new customers find you. See name searches versus discovery to calculate your own share.

Trend 4: Not every ranking jump is real

Around September 10 to 14, 2025, Google stopped allowing 100 results per page (a setting called num=100). Rank tracking tools had been loading deep results, which inflated impression counts. When it ended, reports changed. All three clients showed their average position "improving" in the same two weeks: the practice from 14.2 to 8.0, the pharmacy from 19.7 to 8.5, and the rental company from 21.7 to 8.2 (week of September 1 against the week of September 15, 2025). The practice and the pharmacy made no changes to their sites that week, and the rental company's site had barely changed since launch.

Search Engine Land analyzed 319 properties and found 87.7% lost impressions and 77.6% lost ranking keywords. We do not count this as a win, and we never compare average position across that date. Read the full explanation in the ranking jump that wasn't.

Trend 5: "Direct" traffic is growing, and much of it was not typed in

At the pharmacy, direct visits (visits with no recorded source) grew 14%, from 1,623 to 1,847, comparing May to September 2026 with the same months of 2025. Direct visits were about half of all its visits in 2026 (50%, January to September). The rental company's direct share was 26% of visits since launch.

Direct likely includes taps on links shared in texts, email and social apps, website taps from the Google Maps app, and visits sent by AI assistants, all of which often arrive without a source. We cannot prove how much of it is AI. Only five of the pharmacy's visits since launch were openly labeled as AI referrals, and none of the rental company's. Our write up of where AI and app visits may be hiding hedges every claim.

Trend 6: Websites built for clarity keep earning

The two Wix sites DIWYM built drew more than 31,700 visits since launch (the pharmacy from May 2024, the rental company from January 2025, both through October 14, 2026). The pharmacy's visits dipped through 2025 and turned up in 2026: every month from May to September beat the same month of 2025, by 6% to 20%. Its last 12 months (8,525 visits) are still a little below its first 12 (8,680), so we do not call it growth. The rental company's best month was April 2026 with 777 visits, up 47% from April 2025.

Details: a website built in 2025 that keeps gaining and a hometown pharmacy and its business profile.

Trend 7: Every business has a season

Indexed to each client's own average month of Google clicks (100 is average), the rental company peaked from March to June (122 in March, 144 in April) and bottomed from November to January (68, 60, 68). The pharmacy ran steadier, between 74 and 112 over the same stretch, and the practice between 81 and 125. Plan content and profile updates about a month before your peak. Every business has a season shows how to find yours.

The layer customers never see: rich schema

If customers meet you on Google's page, then how Google understands your business matters more than ever. That is the job of schema, also called structured data: a block of code on your pages that states your business facts in a format machines read directly. Think of it as filling out the form for Google instead of making it guess from your paragraphs. Google describes structured data as giving "explicit clues about the meaning of a page."

We audited all 110 pages across the three sites on October 15, 2026.

Client	Pages	Pages with rich schema	Business type	FAQ markup
Family practice	80	80	MedicalClinic	62 pages
Pharmacy	18	18	Pharmacy, each store described separately	1 page (12 questions)
Equipment rental	12	Homepage only (basic, automatic)	LocalBusiness	None

In all, 98 pages carry full rich schema and 63 carry FAQ markup in which every answer matches visible text. None of the three sites blocks AI crawlers, and all three publish an llms.txt file. We also compared each site's schema against its Business Profile: name, address, phone and hours matched for the practice and for both pharmacy stores. For the rental company, name, address and phone matched, but hours are not in its schema.

The family practice shows the before and after. Until July 2026 it had no structured data at all, along with outdated public files, no meta descriptions and one page covering every service. Our rebuild added schema, then 50 new pages: 10 service pages, 8 city pages, Insurance, New Patients and FAQ pages, and 29 patient question articles. All 50 were indexed. Pages with Google impressions went from 16 to 76, comparing six weeks in spring (March 30 to May 10) with six weeks in fall (August 31 to October 11, 2026). In those windows, impressions from searches without the practice's name rose 36% (4,678 to 6,385). Those are different seasons, so we treat it as encouraging, not conclusive.

Do not miss the counterpoint. The rental company has only its builder's basic homepage markup, and it still doubled its impressions. That tells us a clean, job based site structure keeps earning on its own. Full schema is its next lever, not a proven cause of anything.

For the plain English version, read rich schema in plain English, and for older sites, modernizing a WordPress site without a redesign. Our earlier schema markup 101 covers the basics.

What schema can't do

It does not guarantee special results. Google says structured data can enable richer results, not that it will.
FAQ rich results are now rare. Since August 8, 2023, Google limits them to well known, authoritative government and health sites. We add FAQ markup to state answers precisely, not to win a special format.
There is no secret AI markup. Google's "AI Features and Your Website" page (last updated December 10, 2025) says no special markup or file is needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that structured data should match the visible text on the page.
It does not override your Business Profile. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that complete and accurate information helps. Schema supports your profile. It cannot fix a wrong one.
It is not a ranking switch. At the practice, we cannot separate schema's effect from the pages, content and profile work launched alongside it, and we do not claim to.

The Search Everywhere playbook: Find, Understand, Trust, Choose

Customers find a business on Google Search, Google Maps, social media and AI assistants, often in the same afternoon. Our approach follows the four steps they take.

Find: be visible where customers look

Make your Business Profile categories match how customers search, and keep hours, phone and address identical to your website.
List services or products with plain descriptions so you can appear for "skid steer rental" or "compounding pharmacy," not just your name.
Confirm every important page is indexed. Check Search Console's URL Inspection tool instead of assuming.
Give each service, product line and town its own page. The practice's eight city pages drew 6,847 impressions in about 80 days (page-level, launch to October 12, 2026), though only 51 clicks, so we call that early.
Do not block AI crawlers unless you have a reason.

For towns, see city pages done right. For service detail, see services, menus and products.

Understand: make it obvious what you do

Use the right business type in structured data, with address, phone, hours and service area.
Write a unique title and meta description for every page, and one clear main heading.
Add descriptive alt text to images.
Answer what AI cannot. A summary can explain what a stump grinder does. It cannot tell a customer whether you have one this weekend, whether you deliver to their county, or whether a doctor is taking new patients. Pages that answer those questions are the ones customers still click. See answer what AI can't.

For the technical settings, see the AI search settings checklist.

Trust: give customers reasons to believe you

BrightLocal's 2025 survey of 1,026 U.S. adults (January 29, 2025) found only 4% never read reviews, and 18% would decide from an AI review summary alone. Machines read trust signals too. Respond to Google reviews promptly and professionally (only 7% don't expect a reply). Keep your name, phone and hours identical on your website, Profile, Facebook and directories. Retire team pages when people leave. Show real proof: years in business, credentials and real photos.

Choose: make it easy to act

Put a tap to call phone number on every page, make sure your Profile pin and directions work, keep your most common task one tap from the homepage, and make pages load fast on a phone. Go live with seasonal promotions a month ahead.

Our five minute consistency check gives you a quick audit of the Trust and Understand steps. For stores with more than one location, see two locations, two sets of hours. If you want help with the work itself, our local SEO and AI enhancements service covers the profile, the site and the structured data together.

Where the timeline stands

All of this unfolded fast: AI Overviews for all U.S. users in May 2024, Gemini in Google Maps in October 2024, AI Mode in May 2025, Ask Maps in March 2026. The dated version is the AI search timeline every local business owner should know. For the Maps side, see how Gemini and Ask Maps read your business and our earlier piece on how Gemini reads and ranks your profile.

Do this today: a ten minute check

Search your business name and your top service plus your town on your phone. Screenshot what appears before any website.
Compare your Business Profile hours, phone and address with your website's contact page. Any mismatch is the first thing to fix.
Open Search Console and compare impressions and clicks for the same dates a year apart. Read them together.
Filter your search terms by your business name to see your name share. If it is over 80%, your website mostly serves people who already know you.
Never compare average position across mid September 2025.

For how to read each number in your report, see how to read your marketing report in 2026.

How far this evidence goes

Honesty about method is the whole point, so here is what this study is and is not.

It is observational. Three clients, no control group. We saw what happened, and we cannot prove why.
It is three DIWYM clients. We have an obvious interest in how they look. That is why we publish the flat clicks, the pharmacy's mixed windows and the September 2025 non win.
It measures visibility, not revenue. We make no claims about patients, prescriptions, sales or new customers. Profile actions are calls, direction requests and website clicks, not customers.
The windows are short and uneven. Search Console keeps 16 months of history, and ours starts in June 2025. Business Profile data covers six months (May to October 2026). For the practice, Search Console has no data from mid May to late July 2026, so we kept that stretch out of every comparison. The practice's website visits were not measured.
Seasons differ. The practice's before and after windows compare spring with fall. Year over year comparisons are cleaner, and there the practice's clicks were flat.
Page-level numbers are not totals. Per page impressions can overlap, so we never add them to site totals.
It will not map to every business. Expect the same direction, not the same numbers.

The full series

Every post in the Search Everywhere series, in order:

Frequently asked questions

What did the Search Everywhere Field Study find?

Across three North Alabama businesses, Google showed two of them far more often than a year earlier: impressions rose 36% for a Decatur family practice and 107% for a Decatur equipment rental company (July 23 to October 14, 2026 against the same dates in 2025). Clicks barely moved: down 2% for the practice and up 16% for the rental company. Customers are meeting businesses on Google's own page, so the Business Profile and the structured data behind it matter more.

Does this mean getting fewer website clicks is bad?

Not necessarily, but it means clicks alone undercount what search does. In our data, the family practice's clicks were flat while Google showed it 36% more often, and its Business Profile views (12,567, May to mid October 2026) far outnumbered its search clicks. We track impressions, profile views, calls and direction requests alongside clicks and visits, and we tell you plainly when a number did not move.

Is schema markup required for AI search?

No. Google's "AI Features and Your Website" page, last updated December 10, 2025, says no special markup or file is needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode. Schema is still worth doing because it states your business facts clearly, and Google advises that structured data match the visible text on the page. It supports your Business Profile and cannot fix a wrong one, and we cannot isolate its effect from the other work done with it.

Did all three businesses grow?

No, and we do not claim that. The two businesses with matching windows grew in impressions by 36% and 107%, while their clicks were flat or modest. The pharmacy's impressions rose 31% as a monthly average (October 2025 to September 2026 against February to September 2025), but on the matching July 23 to October 14 window they were down about 10%, and its clicks stayed near 260 a month.

Can I trust a study of three clients?

Trust it for what it is: an observational look at three DIWYM clients, not an experiment with a control group. It shows a pattern that matches national research from Pew, Ahrefs and SparkToro, and it measures visibility only. We make no claims about revenue, patients, prescriptions or new customers, and we flag every limit in the methodology section above.

What is the first thing a local business owner should do?

Check that your Business Profile and your website agree on your name, address, phone and hours, then make sure every service and town you serve has its own page. Start on your phone: search your business and your main service plus your town, and see what customers see before they reach any website.

Keep reading

The AI search timeline every local business owner should know: the dated milestones behind this shift.
Your Google Business Profile is your new front door: where profile views come from and what people do next.
Rich schema in plain English: the hidden layer, line by line.
Zero click search: why businesses get fewer visits even when they rank #1: more on how clicks disappear.
Entity based SEO: why who you are wins in AI search: how Google decides what a business is.

Want the same picture for your business? Call (256) 274-1289 or message us for a free visibility check.