It is a familiar frustration for a lot of the tradespeople and small business owners we work with: your website still ranks where it always has, but the phone has gone quieter. New research into how local search is changing in 2026 helps explain why, and it is worth understanding if you rely on customers finding you online.
The way people search has genuinely shifted. Instead of typing ‘plumber Northampton’, people now speak to their phones the way they would speak to a friend, asking things like ‘who can fix my electrics tonight’ or ‘what’s the best local roofer near me’. Google’s AI Overviews now answer a growing share of these questions directly on the results page, and businesses that show up well in reviews and local listings are the ones getting pulled into those answers.
Reviews matter more than ever, but not just in terms of star ratings. Google’s systems are now reading the actual content of reviews, picking out mentions of specific services and locations, and rewarding businesses with detailed, genuine feedback over those with lots of generic five-star ratings and nothing else. How customers behave after finding your business online, whether they call, ask for directions or spend time looking at your photos, is also feeding into how visible you are.
Google Maps has changed too, with AI now giving directions based on local landmarks rather than just distances, and Google Lens letting people point their phone at a shopfront to see reviews and opening hours instantly. For a business with a physical base or van on the road, having clear, up to date photos and accurate details across your online listings has become genuinely important, not just a nice-to-have.
None of this means starting from scratch, but it does mean the businesses that adapt their online presence will pull further ahead of those that do not. At Simply Digital, we help small and medium businesses across Poole and Exeter make sense of these changes without the jargon, so you can focus on running your business while your website and listings do the work of bringing customers to your door. Find out more at https://simply-digital.co.uk/.