Research Report

The State of Local Visibility 2026

Published January 30, 2026

Direct Answer

The State of Local Visibility 2026 analyzes 50,000+ local businesses across 16 industries to answer one question: what's actually moving leads in a search landscape now dominated by AI assistants, Google Maps, and review platforms? The report introduces the AI Visibility Gap - the 23-point delta between the top decile of any industry and its average - and shows which underlying signals (schema density, review velocity, GBP completeness, content depth) close it fastest. Restaurants, dental, and hospitality lead on Maps and reputation; legal, financial advisory, and medical lead on content and AI visibility; home services lag on AI but lead on Maps share-of-voice. Average industry VisibilityScore™ across the cohort: 62.4. Top 10%: 85+. Full methodology, charts, and per-industry tables in the executive summary below and the downloadable PDF.

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Headline numbers (50,000-business cohort, 2026)

Average overall VisibilityScore™	62.4
Top 10% threshold	85+
Bottom 10% threshold	38
Average AI Visibility	44
Lift from 6+ reviews/month	+14 pts
Lift from full schema coverage	+9 pts (AI Visibility)

Methodology

We scored 50,000+ US local businesses across 16 industries using the VisibilityScore™ framework: nine categories, each independently benchmarked against industry cohort. Data collected Jan-Nov 2025. AI Visibility measured via 1.2M panel queries on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Maps coverage measured via grid-search across the businesses' declared service areas. Review signals pulled from Google, Yelp, and industry-specific platforms. Full methodology in Appendix A of the PDF.

Key findings

Average overall score: 62.4. Top decile: 85+. Bottom decile: 38.
AI Visibility lags every other category: average 44 across the cohort.
Review velocity is the single strongest predictor of overall score (+14 pts at 6+/month).
Schema density correlates strongly with AI Visibility (+9 pts on average).
Restaurants and dental lead on Maps & reputation; legal and financial advisory lead on content & AI.

Per-industry highlights

Restaurants: Maps avg 78, AI avg 41. The category with the largest Maps-to-AI gap. Dental: Reputation avg 76, content avg 52. Reputation-led category. HVAC/Plumbing: Maps avg 71, AI avg 39. Lowest AI in the cohort. Legal: Content avg 74, Maps avg 58. Content-led; weakest on Maps. Medical: Reputation avg 69, AI avg 51. Balanced but underperforming on AI given clinical authority.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many businesses are in the study?

50,000+ US local businesses across 16 industries, scored Jan-Nov 2025.

Is the dataset available?

Aggregate, per-industry, and per-metric tables are in the downloadable PDF. The underlying business-level data is not redistributed.

What's the AI Visibility Gap?

The 23-point delta between the top decile of any industry and that industry's average, primarily driven by schema, review velocity, and content depth.

Can I cite this report?

Yes. Suggested citation: 'VisibilityScore™, The State of Local Visibility 2026'.