B
Evidence Grade B
Graded
accuracy verified by the review judge
Safe to Cite
Current
1.2%
1.2% -- share of local businesses recommended by ai search for local businesses (2026)
A study of over 350,000 business locations found that AI search recommends only 1.2% of local businesses.
Attribution:
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Lighthouse Research Team
Last verified:
·
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Source verified
Evidence graded
Value
1.2%
Unit
Percentage
Data Vintage
2026
Entity
Sample Size
350,000
Geography
UK
Evidence Quality
B
Strong, reliable evidence
Sourced from a well-regarded research firm or industry leader with transparent methodology and a reasonably large sample.
Single source - not yet corroborated
Score breakdown
Extraction
75
Source Trust
60
Citation Chain
20
Independence
30
Methodology
45
Freshness
95
Source
SOCi
Primary
Tier B
https://www.ai-visibility.org.uk/blog/removals-ai-visibility-case-study/ ↗
Source Article
How a Removals Firm Scored 10/10 for AI Visibility | AI Visibility
The 1.2% problem most local businesses don't know they have
Ask ChatGPT to recommend a removals firm near you and it will name two or three. Not a list of forty. A short, confident shortlist. Everyone else is invisible. One study of more than 350,000 business locations found that AI search recommend…
Original Research
SOCi
· Original study ↗
Methodology
SOCi 2026 Local Visibility Index, cited via MapAtlas; study of more than 350,000 business locations
Methodology documented
Segmentation
IndustryRetail
Company SizeSMB
RegionUK
Channelcontent
Cite this stat
Plain Text
local businesses: 1.2% share of local businesses recommended by ai search. Source: SOCi (2026). Via Lighthouse Intelligence -- https://lighthousedata.io/data/ai-search-recommends-1-2-percent-local-businesses
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<blockquote cite="https://lighthousedata.io/data/ai-search-recommends-1-2-percent-local-businesses" style="border-left:3px solid #2563eb;padding:12px 16px;margin:16px 0;font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;background:#f0f4ff;"><strong>1.2%</strong> -- share of local businesses recommended by ai search for local businesses<br><small>Source: SOCi (2026) · <a href="https://lighthousedata.io/data/ai-search-recommends-1-2-percent-local-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lighthouse Intelligence</a></small></blockquote>
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