Most discussions around AI Overviews focus on publishers and media websites losing traffic.
But local businesses operate under different search mechanics.
A plumber in Longwy or a restaurant in Metz is not competing for informational clicks in the same way as a national media company. Local intent changes the structure of the SERP itself.
Context
Over the past few months, I’ve been researching how AI-generated search experiences affect SMEs and local visibility, especially in France and Luxembourg.
One thing became obvious quickly: location-based searches still heavily favor maps, reviews, proximity signals, and local relevance.
What I tried
I compared:
- informational searches
- local-intent searches
- city-based service searches
and looked at how often AI Overviews appeared versus:
- local packs
- Google Maps
- business listings
The difference was significant.
What I took away
For many SMEs, the bigger risk is not AI replacing traffic.
It’s having:
- weak local visibility
- poor Google Business Profiles
- unclear positioning
- outdated websites
- no analytics infrastructure
AI search changes SEO.
But for local businesses, proximity and trust still dominate large parts of discovery.