Google AI Overviews and AI Mode: a guide for local contractors

1. What AI Overviews and AI Mode are, and what changes for a contractor
2. Why "ranking in AI Overviews" is the wrong goal for most contractors
3. What our recorded Google AI Mode answers show
4. How to show up in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode
5. Questions owners ask
6. How we got these numbers
7. Sources
8. See it on your own website

What AI Overviews and AI Mode are, and what changes for a contractor

You type a question into Google, and an AI-written answer sits above the usual links. That is an AI Overview. Google shows one when its systems decide generative AI can be especially helpful ¹. AI Mode is a separate, chat-style way to search Google. People open it from an AI Mode button, ask longer questions and follow up ².

Both are built on Google Search. Google says they use its core ranking systems to fetch pages from its index, then write a response with links to the pages that support it ³. Both may use "query fan-out": several related searches on subtopics at once, combined into one answer ⁴.

So what should a local contractor do differently? Less than most articles suggest. Google says neither feature has extra requirements or needs special optimization ⁴. What changes is where homeowners meet you:

• Before they hire, homeowners ask questions, such as why the AC is freezing up or what a repipe involves. Those are the searches where AI Overviews show up most, and their links go to pages that answer the question well.
• When they're ready to hire, they ask who to call. In AI Mode, the answer to that question usually shows businesses from Google's own listings, with star ratings, review counts and Call buttons.
• AI Mode can now research home services for a customer and even call businesses to check prices and availability ⁵.

Below: how each feature works, what our recorded AI Mode answers show, and the steps that matter, in order. Our recorded answers come from AI Mode only. What we say about AI Overviews comes from Google and published studies.

Why "ranking in AI Overviews" is the wrong goal for most contractors

AI Overviews mostly answer questions, not "who should I hire"

A May 2025 Whitespark test of 540 searches in three cities found AI Overviews on 92% of informational searches, like how to prevent frozen pipes. Searches like top-rated plumbers in a city got one only 15% of the time, and map listings showed the opposite pattern ⁶. It was one small, hand-run study.

Still, it fits what Google says: AI Overviews appear only when they add something to the regular results, and often don't appear at all ⁴. Pew Research Center found longer searches and questions far more likely to bring up an AI summary ⁷.

For a contractor, that splits the work in two. Pages that answer homeowners' questions are what AI Overviews link to. Your Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows your business on Google Search and Maps, is what people see when they're ready to hire.

A link in an AI answer gets fewer clicks

Pew tracked the browsing of 900 U.S. adults in March 2025. With an AI summary on the page, people clicked a regular result in 8% of visits, against 15% without one. They clicked a link inside the summary in just 1% ⁷. Google says people who do click from pages with AI Overviews tend to spend more time on the site ⁴.

Both can be true: fewer people click, but those who do may be closer to calling. Judge results by calls and form requests, not visits alone.

There's no separate trick, and no file to add

Google says Google Search doesn't use llms.txt or other special AI files, content needn't be broken into small chunks, and no special schema markup is required ³. It calls AEO and GEO, the popular terms for optimizing for AI answers, simply SEO. It also warns that no outside tool has access to its ranking or AI systems ³. Be wary of anyone selling a guaranteed spot.

Two Google features can give two different answers

Google says AI Mode and AI Overviews may use different models and techniques, so their answers and links vary ⁴. A September 2026 BrightLocal study of about 200,000 local searches found the two shared only about 29% of the businesses they named ⁸. BrightLocal sells a tool that tracks this, so treat it as one vendor's measurement.

AI Mode can also personalize answers from a person's past searches when that setting is on ². What you see on your phone isn't necessarily what a homeowner across town sees.

What our recorded Google AI Mode answers show

Between September 2 and October 14, 2026, we asked Google AI Mode to recommend a local contractor 11,274 times, part of 47,209 recorded answers from ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode. The questions covered HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing jobs around Tampa Bay, Florida, each in a fresh conversation. 9,819 AI Mode answers were about a specific job. These are observations, not experiments: they show what AI Mode displayed, not what causes it to pick a business.

Most answers showed businesses from Google's own listings

In 7,965 of the 9,819 job answers (81%), AI Mode showed at least one business as a card. A card shows the star rating, review count, Business Profile category, whether it's open, and buttons to call, get directions or visit the website. A typical answer showed 3 cards. We found cards with a text pattern and checked a random sample by hand: 15 of 15 were business cards.

The links followed the same pattern. In 74% of AI Mode's job answers, the sources included Google's own listing for a business. 42% linked to a contractor's own website and 36% to a directory or review site. 22% linked to an online booking page from the scheduling software many contractors use. ChatGPT and Claude were different: 98% of their job answers linked to a contractor's own website.

What this means for you: when a homeowner asks AI Mode who to call, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing they see. In AI Mode, the profile is your storefront.

What the business cards showed

• High ratings were the norm: 95% of the 25,957 cards showed 4.5 stars or more. A high rating was so common that it rarely set one business apart.
• Review counts varied widely. The middle card had 146 reviews. 12% had fewer than 25, and 23% had 500 or more, so smaller businesses did appear.
• 96% of cards had a Website button, so nearly every business shown listed a website.
• 38% showed no street address, only a town or nothing at all. Google asks businesses that serve customers at the customer's location to hide their address ⁹. Going without a street address didn't keep these businesses off the cards.

The category on the card fit the job

Google asks owners to choose categories that are as specific as possible while still describing the main business ⁹. For the 4 gutter jobs we asked about, 532 cards appeared. 86% were businesses listed under a gutter category. Only 6.2% were listed as roofing contractors, even though many roofers do gutter work. We saw the same pattern for septic, chimney and landscape lighting jobs.

This doesn't prove the category caused the choice. AI Mode may also have read those businesses' pages and reviews. It does show that for a specialty job, AI Mode tended to show specialists.

Urgent questions showed fewer closed businesses

Every card said whether the business was open or closed at that moment. When the question asked for someone today, tonight or within hours, 5.5% of cards showed a closed business, against 15% for other questions. We didn't record the time of day each question ran, so treat this as a hint, not proof. It is one more reason to keep your hours accurate.

The businesses shown change from run to run

We asked many identical questions of AI Mode more than once, typically about 15 days apart. On average, only 42% of the Google listings AI Mode linked the first time were linked again the next time. In 25% of the repeats, the second answer linked none of the same listings.

We counted a business as the same even when its name was written slightly differently, so these figures lean toward more overlap, not less. Being left out once is normal. What matters is how often you appear across many questions.

AI Mode seldom says what it couldn't confirm

Claude often tells the customer what it couldn't find, such as a phone number or reviews. It said so in 42% of its job answers. AI Mode said it in 0.2% (22 answers), and ChatGPT in 1.4%. So AI Mode won't tell you what was missing about your business. You have to check your profile and pages yourself.

AI Mode did sometimes tell customers what to ask before hiring, in 1,183 job answers (12%). Questions like these are worth answering on your service pages:

Ask if they charge an immediate emergency/after-hours dispatch fee so you aren't caught off guard.

Ask if their quote includes drywall patching and texturing, or if you will need to hire a separate patch contractor once the new PEX or copper lines are run.

What assistants weighed in our earlier study

Before this research, we studied conversations with Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Claude from late July to August 2026, across eight trades. For each business an assistant considered, we recorded the reasons it gave for naming it or leaving it out. Several match what a Business Profile shows:

• How fast the business can come out came up in 657 conversations and cost a business its place in 185 of them.
• The number of reviews came up in 569 conversations and cost a business its place in 139. The star rating came up in 569 and cost a business its place in 77.
• Whether the business serves the area asked about came up in 554 conversations and cost a business its place in 350.
• Whether it clearly does the specific job came up in 440 conversations and cost a business its place in 184.

One conversation can involve several reasons, so these counts overlap and should never be added together. They show what assistants said they weighed. They don't prove that changing one thing would change who gets named.

How to show up in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

Work through these steps in order. The first three make sure Google can use your pages. The rest strengthen what AI Mode shows when someone is ready to hire.

1. Make sure your pages can be shown

Google says a page must be indexed and allowed to show a text snippet in Google Search to appear as a link in AI Overviews or AI Mode ⁴. Ask whoever manages your website to check, in Google Search Console, that your main service pages are indexed. Have them confirm that robots.txt, your web host and any firewall let Google's crawler in, and that no "nosnippet" tag hides your text ⁴.

2. Check the AI setting in Search Console

Search Console now has a setting that decides whether your site's links and content can appear in Google's AI features. You'll find it under Settings, then Search generative AI ¹⁰. Including your site is the default, so make sure no one switched it to exclude your site. A separate setting called Google-Extended covers AI training and some of Google's other systems, not whether you appear in Search ⁴.

3. Answer homeowners' real questions on your site

AI Overviews appear most for questions, so a page that answers a real question well is the kind of page they link to. Google's advice is to write useful content in your own words, from first-hand experience, organized with clear headings ³. It warns against making a separate page for every way someone might phrase a search ³.

You have first-hand knowledge to share: why a repair costs what it does, when repair beats replacement, what a permit involves in your county. Answer the questions AI Mode told customers to ask, such as whether there's an after-hours fee.

4. Complete and verify your Google Business Profile

Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results ¹¹. It also lists keeping your Business Profile up to date among its tips for AI features ⁴. Verify the profile. Fill in your hours, services, service area and photos. Use the same business name, phone number and address on your website and your profile.

5. Pick the most specific category for your main work

Choose the categories that describe what your business is, as specifically as possible ⁹. If most of your work is gutters, a gutter category may fit better than a roofing one. Google's guidelines say not to use categories as keywords for side work ⁹. Describe that work in your profile's services and on your website.

6. Set your service area and hours correctly

If you work at customers' homes and don't receive customers at your office, set a service area and hide your address, as Google's guidelines ask ⁹. Keep your hours current. If you offer emergency or after-hours service, say so on your profile and your website, because AI Mode shows whether a business is open right now.

7. Earn real reviews, steadily

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking ¹¹. Ask every happy customer for a review, and reply to the reviews you get. Never pay or offer a discount for a review. Google removes reviews posted in exchange for an incentive ¹². A 2024 Federal Trade Commission rule also bans businesses from creating, selling or buying fake reviews ¹³.

8. Be ready for calls from Google

When a business's prices or openings aren't online, AI Mode can call it on a customer's behalf to ask ⁵. Google says these automated calls go to the number on your Business Profile. You can turn them off in your profile settings under Google automated calls and text messages ¹⁴. In the U.S., the feature works in every state except Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska ¹⁴.

If you leave them on, tell whoever answers your phone that a call may come from Google and to be ready with a price range or your next opening. Google says it never asks for payment on these calls, so a caller who does is a scam ¹⁴.

9. Measure what you can

Search Console's generative AI performance report shows how often links to your site appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode ¹⁵. It counts appearances, not calls. Note the date of each change. Then ask AI Mode your customers' questions on several days and record whether you appear. Watch calls and form requests too. No one can promise a place in an AI answer, but your records will show whether the changes helped.

Questions owners ask

What is Google AI Overviews?

AI Overviews are short, AI-written answers that Google shows above the regular results for some searches, with links to the pages they draw on. Google shows one only when it decides an AI answer adds something, which happens most for questions, like why an AC is freezing up, rather than a search for a plumber near me.

How do I rank in Google AI Overviews?

Google says there is no special trick. A page must be indexed and allowed to show a snippet in Google Search. Then the usual advice applies: useful, first-hand content, a site Google can crawl and an up-to-date Business Profile. Be wary of anyone who promises a placement.

What is the difference between AI Overviews and AI Mode?

An AI Overview is a short answer at the top of the normal results. AI Mode is a separate, chat-style search where people ask longer questions and follow up. Google says the two use different models, so their answers and links vary. In our recorded AI Mode answers, most showed businesses as cards from Google's listings.

How do I show up in Google AI Mode as a local business?

Start with your Google Business Profile, since most AI Mode job answers we recorded showed businesses as cards with rating, review count, category and open hours. Verify the profile, choose the most specific category, set your service area and hours, and earn real reviews. Keep your service pages clear and readable too.

Do I need an llms.txt file or schema markup for AI Overviews?

No. Google says Google Search doesn't use llms.txt or other special AI files, and its AI features need no special schema markup. Structured data can still help with other search features. What matters is that your pages are indexed, readable as text and genuinely useful to homeowners.

Can I stop Google's AI from calling my business?

Yes. Google may make automated calls to the phone number on your Business Profile to check prices or availability for a customer. A verified business can turn these off in its profile settings, under Google automated calls and text messages. Google says it never asks for payment on these calls.

See it on your own website

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