Research · Updated October 11, 2026
Local SEO and AI Search Statistics for Home Service Businesses (2026)
127 numbers on how local customers find, judge and call a business. The first half is my own research on 1,918 businesses around Rockford, Illinois. The second half is everything else I could verify. Each outside number links to the page I checked it against, and the ones I could not trace are listed at the bottom.
- Rockford-area businesses with no site, a social page only, or a broken site
- 41.8%
- 802 of 1,918 checked
- Local businesses an AI assistant never named
- 71.5%
- 243 of 340 tested
- Consumers who used AI for a local recommendation this year
- 45%
- up from 6% a year earlier (BrightLocal, 2026)
- Consumers who won't use a business with under 20 reviews
- 47%
- BrightLocal, 2026
Original research
41.8% of Rockford-area service businesses have no working website
I pulled 1,918 businesses from Google Maps across Rockford and the towns around it, in 22+ trades from lawn care to roofing. Then I checked what sits behind each listing’s website link. Run October 10, 2026.
- No website on the Google listing30.6% (587)
Median Google reviews: 6
- Social page only5% (95)
Median Google reviews: 14
- Broken website4.5% (87)
Median Google reviews: 9
- Not mobile friendly1.7% (33)
Median Google reviews: 18
- Working website58.2% (1,116)
Median Google reviews: 30
Add it up and 802 of 1,918 have no site, only a social page, a broken site, or a site that does not work on a phone. 59 of the 95 social-only businesses use a Facebook page as their website.
How the broken ones are broken
87 listings link to a site that fails to load.
- 41
- Domain no longer exists
- 19
- Page not found
- 15
- Security certificate error
- 8
- Timed out or server error
- 4
- Parked domain
The most common failure is a domain that expired. The listing still points to it, so a customer who taps “Website” lands on nothing.
More reviews, fewer broken sites
Share of businesses with no working site, split by how many Google reviews they have. The businesses customers trust most are the ones least likely to have a site problem. The businesses with the weakest online presence tend to have the fewest reviews.
| Google reviews | Businesses | Not working | No site at all | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25+ | 823 | 24.1% | 127 | |
| 50+ | 514 | 18.5% | 53 | |
| 100+ | 291 | 12.4% | 16 | |
| 200+ | 143 | 8.4% | 3 |
By trade
Trades with at least 25 businesses in the data. Auto repair shop is the worst at 60.6%. Roofing contractor is the best at 13.8%, which fits a trade where one job pays for a good website.
| Trade | Businesses | No site | Not working | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto repair shop | 94 | 47.9% | 60.6% | |
| Car detailing service | 84 | 32.1% | 59.5% | |
| Contractor | 39 | 35.9% | 56.4% | |
| Barber shop | 46 | 41.3% | 54.3% | |
| Electrician | 55 | 43.6% | 52.7% | |
| Handyman/Handywoman/Handyperson | 107 | 39.3% | 50.5% | |
| Beauty salon | 77 | 41.6% | 49.4% | |
| Gutter cleaning service | 25 | 32% | 48% | |
| Painter | 28 | 39.3% | 46.4% | |
| Hair salon | 65 | 36.9% | 46.2% | |
| Tree service | 46 | 37% | 45.7% | |
| Concrete contractor | 53 | 28.3% | 43.4% | |
| Construction company | 47 | 38.3% | 42.6% | |
| Lawn care service | 126 | 29.4% | 41.3% | |
| House cleaning service | 113 | 29.2% | 38.1% | |
| General contractor | 61 | 29.5% | 34.4% | |
| Pest control service | 27 | 25.9% | 33.3% | |
| Landscaper | 106 | 20.8% | 33% | |
| HVAC contractor | 57 | 10.5% | 26.3% | |
| Plumber | 109 | 21.1% | 25.7% | |
| Pressure washing service | 49 | 18.4% | 22.4% | |
| Roofing contractor | 87 | 6.9% | 13.8% |
By town
Towns with at least 30 businesses in the data. 573 listings did not record a town, so they are left out of this table but counted everywhere else.
| Town | Businesses | Not working | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Byron | 30 | 53.3% | |
| Marengo | 32 | 53.1% | |
| Dixon | 55 | 52.7% | |
| Beloit | 38 | 52.6% | |
| Rochelle | 37 | 48.6% | |
| Belvidere | 83 | 47% | |
| Harvard | 55 | 45.5% | |
| Rockton | 34 | 44.1% | |
| Roscoe | 57 | 43.9% | |
| South Beloit | 30 | 43.3% | |
| DeKalb | 45 | 37.8% | |
| Loves Park | 80 | 36.3% | |
| Freeport | 68 | 33.8% | |
| Rockford | 234 | 33.3% | |
| Machesney Park | 82 | 32.9% | |
| Woodstock | 68 | 30.9% |
What counts: “no website” means the Google listing has no website field, so a few of these businesses may have a site they never linked. A working site returned a page that loads. 38 sites blocked my checker and were counted as working, so the broken number is a floor, not a ceiling. No business is named anywhere on this page.
Original research
Having a website is not the same as being found
A separate test: 340 Rockford businesses that do have a site, across 97 trades. I wrote down the question a customer would type for each trade, searched Google from a Rockford location, then asked an AI assistant with web access the same question. Run September 14, 2026. The full trade-by-trade table is on the Rockford visibility data page.
- 48.5%
- Never on Google page one for their own trade
- 165 of 340
- 81.5%
- Outside Google's top three
- the shortlist an AI answer works from
- 71.5%
- Never named by the AI assistant
- 243 of 340
- 3.5
- Names per AI answer, against 10 links on page one
- average across all questions
- 91
- On Google page one and still never named
- ranking and being recommended are different jobs
- 18
- In Google's top three and still never named
- of the businesses checked
- 68 / 97
- Searches with a Facebook page in the top five
- often beating the owner's own website
- 69 / 97
- Searches with Yelp in the top five
- directories took about 38% of page-one slots
Original research
What actually separates the businesses that rank
In September 2026 I ran 599 live Google searches, 20 trades in 30 towns of three sizes, and sorted every result into directory, social, national brand or independent business. Then I compared the independents that won against the ones that lost. These are correlations from top-20 results, not controlled tests.
66 / 74 / 77%
of large-metro, mid-size and small-town searches had at least one independent business ranking above every directory.
599 live Google searches, 20 trades in 30 towns, Sept 2026
28% vs 9%
Independent businesses that also sat in the map pack beat every directory in the regular results 28% of the time. The ones outside the pack did it 9% of the time.
Same 599 searches. A correlation: a business strong enough for the pack is usually strong everywhere.
2 to 4%
chance of beating every directory with fewer than 25 referring domains. From 25 up it was 11 to 13%, and past that more links barely moved it.
5,778 business results, referring domains from DataForSEO
38% vs 42%
Local business schema showed up on 38% of the sites that won and 42% of the ones that lost. Schema did not separate them.
Teardown of the ranking page for most of the 5,778 results
22 vs 34
In small towns, the businesses that beat directories had fewer pages than the ones that lost (22 against 34), and fewer words (665 against 755).
Same study. Page count did not predict winning.
213 / 137 / 49
median review count of map pack businesses in large, mid-size and small towns. 83 to 92% of them have the trade word in their business name.
Map pack members from the same 599 searches
#1
Distance from the middle of town was the strongest factor for who lands in the top three on Google Maps. Reviews were second, the trade word in the name third, the town name fourth. Photos and claimed status showed no effect.
10,989 map listings
338
median organic visits per month across the websites of 497 contractors on the Qualified Remodeler Top 500. 60% get under 500, and only 23 of the 497 earn 4,000 or more.
Traffic estimates for 497 domains, Sept 2026. Their revenue does not come from their websites.
Sourced · 14 statistics
Reviews and trust
Reviews are the closest thing a local business has to a score. These come mostly from BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey, which is the most recent large one I could find, plus a few older studies that are labeled as old.
97%
of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
41%
say they always read reviews when browsing local businesses, up from 29% in 2025.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
47%
will not use a local business that has fewer than 20 reviews.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
74%
only care about reviews written in the last three months.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
68%
will only use a business rated 4 stars or higher, up from 55% in 2025.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
31%
will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher, up from 17% in 2025.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
10%
say they will only use a business with a five-star rating. 92% care about star ratings when choosing.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
71%
use Google to read local business reviews, down from 83% in 2025. The average consumer uses six review sites.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
Share who use Google among several sites, not a share who use Google only.
80%
are likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews. 89% expect a response to their own review.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
19%
expect an owner response the same day they post, up from 6% in 2025. 81% expect one within a week.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
42%
are unlikely to use a business that never replies to reviews.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
28%
say they will always write a review if asked, up from 16% in 2025. 78% were asked to leave one in the past 12 months.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
The same page gives two different figures for how many asked customers actually write a review (65% in one place, 83% in another), so I left that one out.
10 reviews
In a Sterling Sky case study, three businesses sitting at 9 Google reviews each got a small Maps ranking bump when they reached 10, with no similar bump after.
Sterling Sky, 2025 · Three businesses in one industry
A case study, not a survey. Treat it as a pointer, not a rule.
5 to 9%
revenue increase per extra Yelp star for independent restaurants, in a Harvard Business School working paper.
Harvard Business School (Michael Luca), 2011
Old, and restaurants only. Included because it is still the most cited revenue study.
Sourced · 15 statistics
AI search and zero-click
This is where the ground is moving fastest, and where the numbers disagree the most. I kept the figures that came from named studies with a stated sample and flagged the ones that are a company's own claim.
45%
of consumers used AI tools for local business recommendations in the past year, up from 6% the year before.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
31%
used ChatGPT for local business recommendations in the past 12 months. 23% used Google AI Mode.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
1.2 billion
weekly ChatGPT users, according to OpenAI as reported by The Verge.
The Verge, citing OpenAI, Sept 2026
Company-reported figure.
4.1
businesses named per ChatGPT answer on average. Google AI Mode names 3.5 and Google AI Overviews 2.5.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 200,085 non-branded local prompts, 1,300 business locations
66%
of searches on Google Maps mentioned a tracked business, against 32 to 38% on the AI surfaces. ChatGPT overlapped with Google's AI surfaces on only 19 to 20% of named businesses.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 200,085 local prompts across ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews
28.5%
of all AI citations pointed to a Google Business Profile. Business websites made up 42% of 1.97 million citations.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,967,762 citations
ChatGPT rarely cites Google Business Profile and leans on Yelp and Bing, so the mix depends on the assistant.
60%
of Gemini's citations on local queries pointed to the business's own website. Gemini and ChatGPT shared only 8% of cited domains on identical queries.
Steady Demand, 2026 · 14,472 citations across 1,487 local queries in 50 US metros
Agency study, one run. Reported by Search Engine Land.
3.4x
Yelp collected 512,680 citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode in Q4 2025, 3.4 times the next local platform (BBB).
Foundation Marketing with AirOps, Q4 2025
Agency study. Only the citation counts could be confirmed on the page.
8% vs 15%
Users clicked a traditional result link in 8% of visits to Google pages with an AI summary, against 15% of visits to pages without one.
Pew Research Center, 2025 · 900 US adults, 68,879 Google searches
58%
lower average click-through rate for the top ranking page when an AI Overview is present.
Ahrefs, Dec 2025 data · 300,000 keywords, Search Console desktop CTR
A correlation, and informational keywords, not local ones.
7.9%
of local searches triggered an AI Overview, against 20.5% of keywords overall.
Ahrefs, 2025 · 146 million SERPs
17.7%
of home service queries triggered an AI Overview. With a city name in the query it dropped to 12.2%.
WebFX, 2026 · 237,990 US home service queries
Just under 60%
of US Google searches in 2024 ended without a click. Only 360 of every 1,000 searches sent a click to the open web.
Panel data. It covers all searches, not only local ones.
45%
phone lead rate for ChatGPT-referred calls to home service businesses, against 40% for paid search. Total AI-driven call volume is still very low.
Invoca sells call analytics. Anonymized call data across nine home service sub-industries.
Sourced · 9 statistics
Websites, mobile and speed
Two surveys of small business owners disagree sharply on how many have a website. I print both, because the gap depends on who was asked and what counts as a site.
83%
of small businesses have a website, up from 64% in 2018. Of the 17% without one, 28% have no online presence at all.
Sample size not shown on the page. Conflicts with the BrightLocal figure below.
40%
of surveyed small and mid-sized businesses said they have a dedicated website. 35% have a Google Business Profile.
Self-reported. A dedicated website excludes social pages, which is likely why it is far lower than Clutch.
54%
of consumers are most likely to visit the business's website after reading positive reviews, up from 32% in 2019. 66% go on to do more research and 34% are ready to buy or book.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
85%
of consumers say contact information and opening hours are an important factor when researching a local business.
BrightLocal, 2025 · 1,000 US consumers
+32%
to the chance a mobile visitor bounces when load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds. From 1 to 5 seconds it is +90%, and from 1 to 10 seconds it is +123%.
Google / SOASTA via Think with Google, 2017 research
Old, but Google still publishes it. The +32% and +90% steps are in the Milliseconds Make Millions report.
48%
of websites passed all Core Web Vitals on mobile in 2025, against 56% on desktop. That is up from 44% on mobile in 2024.
Web-wide, not local business sites.
77%
of websites had good Interaction to Next Paint on phones in 2025, against 97% on desktop.
+8% / +10%
conversion rate for retail and travel sites from a 0.1 second faster mobile load. Lead-gen page views rose 7%.
Google / Deloitte / 55, 2020 · 37 brands, 4 weeks of mobile data
Retail and travel, not home services.
75%
of surveyed US consumers have skipped an online purchase because of an outdated or unprofessional-looking website.
HostingAdvice, 2024 · 500 US adults
Vendor survey about online purchases, not hiring a local trade.
Sourced · 7 statistics
Phone calls and response time
Most home service jobs still start with a phone call, and a surprising number of those calls go unanswered. The sources here sell software to contractors, so read them as industry data with a motive.
64%
of residential contractors say phone calls are the most common way customers first contact them. Online forms and home service apps were 10% each, text messages 7%.
ServiceTitan, 2025 · 1,000+ residential contractors
Contractor-reported, not homeowner-reported.
52%
of calls to home service businesses are answered by a person.
Anonymized call data across nine home service sub-industries. Invoca sells call analytics.
38%
of answered digital-marketing calls to home service businesses are leads. 45% of those leads convert on the call, and 55% of businesses do not ask leads to buy or book.
60%
of smartphone users say they have contacted a business directly from search results, for example with click-to-call.
Google / Ipsos via Think with Google, about 2019
Sample not stated on the page.
73%
of surveyed US homeowners say response time influences their hiring decision. 77% say instant estimates do.
Housecall Pro, 2025 · 1,000+ US homeowners
Vendor survey.
37%
of 2,241 US firms responded to a web lead within an hour. 23% never responded, and the average response took 42 hours.
Harvard Business Review, 2011 · 2,241 US companies
Old, and not home services. Firms that replied within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify the lead as those that waited one more hour.
76%
of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day.
Google / Purchased via Think with Google, 2016 · 1,000 US smartphone users, 634 local searchers
Old. Included because it is cited everywhere, and now it has a checked source.
Sourced · 10 statistics
Google Business Profile and the map pack
For a local trade, the map pack and the Business Profile behind it decide most of who gets found. The ranking factor numbers are expert opinion, and the profile claims are Google's own, so I label which is which.
#1
Primary GBP category is the top local pack ranking factor in Whitespark's 2026 survey (score 227), just ahead of proximity (225) and keywords in the business title (223).
A survey of local SEO practitioners, so it measures opinion, not a controlled test.
5th
'Business is open at time of search' ranks 5th among local pack factors (score 189). Proper hours set on the profile rose 64 positions to 21st. High Google ratings rank 6th and profile completeness 16th.
2.7x
Google says customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if it has a complete Business Profile, and 70% more likely to visit.
Google's own claim, no methodology given.
7x
more clicks for businesses with complete profiles, and 5x more views for regularly updated ones, according to Google's 2026 profile playbook.
Cites Google internal data. No sample given. Treat it as a Google claim.
15%
of consumers say Google Maps is their first port of call for local searches. One in five run local searches directly inside a maps app.
BrightLocal, 2025 · 1,000 US consumers
27%
of consumers use Apple Maps to read reviews, nearly double the 14% in 2025.
BrightLocal, 2026 · 1,002 US adult consumers
35%
of surveyed small and mid-sized businesses have a Google Business Profile.
Self-reported.
~7%
of the keywords Sterling Sky tracks show Google's AI-powered local pack. It shows 1 to 2 businesses instead of 3 and surfaces only about 32% as many unique businesses.
Agency-tracked keywords, not a random sample. Mobile, US only.
5.17%
of Google US desktop results in July 2026 included a local pack. On those pages, position 1 organic click-through was 94% lower than the 20.02% baseline.
General keyword set, so 5.17% is not the share of local queries.
27.4% vs 17.3%
Organic position 1 got 27.4% of clicks and local pack position 1 got 17.3% when no Local Services Ads were showing.
BrightLocal, 2018 · Ten test searches in San Francisco
Old and small. It is the only primary pack-versus-organic click split I could verify.
Sourced · 4 statistics
What paid search costs
When you cannot rank, you can rent the click. Home services are one of the most expensive categories on Google Ads, and the price is rising.
$8.33
average cost per click for Home and Home Improvement search ads in 2026, the second highest of any industry behind Attorneys and Legal ($9.87). The all-industry average is $5.42.
WordStream / LocaliQ, 2026 · 13,474 search campaigns, April 2025 to March 2026
8.18%
average Google Ads conversion rate across all industries in 2026, at an average cost per lead of $66.69.
WordStream / LocaliQ, 2026 · 13,474 search campaigns
$90.92
average cost per lead for home services search ads in 2025, at a $7.85 CPC and a 7.33% conversion rate. Air conditioning install and repair ran $9.68 per click and $127.74 per lead.
LocaliQ, 2025 · 3,200+ search campaigns
69%
of home services businesses saw cost per lead rise, by an average of 10.51% year over year. All industries rose 5.13%.
LocaliQ, 2025 · 3,200+ search campaigns
Stats you have probably seen that I left out
These get repeated on a lot of SEO blogs. I could not find the original source for any of them, so they are not counted above. If you have the real source for one, send it to me and I will add it.
- 46% of Google searches have local intent. Usually credited to Google. No primary Google page with it turned up, only blogs.
- The local pack captures 44% of clicks (also quoted as 42% and 48%). Attributed to Whitespark, BrightLocal, Moz and others. It was not on any primary page I opened.
- The local pack appears in 93% of local searches. Credited to Moz. Only secondary blogs repeat it.
- The average Google Business Profile gets 1,260 views a month. No primary page. The only primary BrightLocal profile-insights study is from 2019.
- 28% of nearby searches end in a purchase. Footnotes the same 2016 Google study, and I could not verify the underlying page.
- 97% of homeowners say response speed decides who they hire. Quoted second-hand by a vendor blog. The original could not be traced.
Method, limits and how to cite this page
- Outside numbers. Each one was checked by opening the source and finding the figure on the page. Where a number depends on who was asked, or what was counted, the note under it says so. Vendor surveys are labeled as vendor surveys, and anything older than 2024 shows its year.
- Sources disagree. Two surveys put the share of small businesses with a website at 83% and 40%. I print both and leave you to judge which fits your question.
- The website study. 1,918 businesses scraped from Google Maps across Rockford, Belvidere, Machesney Park, Loves Park, Woodstock, Freeport, Roscoe, Dixon, Harvard, DeKalb, Beloit and the towns around them, on October 10, 2026. Each website link was requested and sorted into working, broken, thin, not mobile friendly, social only or missing. A site that blocked my checker counts as working. A timeout may be temporary.
- The visibility test. 340 businesses, one query per trade, one assistant on one day. Results move around, so treat it as a snapshot.
- The search study. Correlations from top-20 results on desktop. A business strong enough to be in the map pack is usually strong in other ways too, so none of it proves what causes a ranking.
- No business is named. Every table above is by trade or by town. I will not publish a list of local companies next to a bad result.
- Cite it. You can quote any number here. Please link to https://n5studio.com/research/local-seo-statistics-2026 and name N5 Studio. For an outside number, cite the original source, which each row links to. Updated October 11, 2026.
Want to know which side of these numbers you’re on?
Tell me your business name. I will check your website, your Google listing and what an AI assistant says about your trade, and send you what I find. Free, by email, same day.
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