Where do US consumers start a local business search in 2026?

The 52% and 9% rows describe mutually exclusive starting points within the report's question. The device rows answer a different question, so they should not be read as channel shares.¹

The report does not state a separate fieldwork window, response rate, or margin of error in its methodology text. The findings should therefore be described as the report's representative-panel results, not as a census of every US consumer or every local-search event.

For a separate measure of how quickly people decide after a local-business search, see how quickly consumers choose a local business. For broader dated directory and channel findings, see directory usage statistics for local businesses.

The 71% figure is an any-channel measure. It includes respondents who reached Google Search after starting somewhere else, so it is not a first-choice share and does not count search events.¹

The same journey measure found that 30% used social media, 23% used AI tools, and 19% used review sites. Those categories can overlap because a respondent could use several channels during one search.¹

The percentages in this table are not a ranking of first channels. They also should not be added together, because the journey categories overlap.¹

The 29% value is conditional on the Google-first group described by the chart. It cannot be relabeled as the share of the full 1,227-person panel that used Google Maps at any point. The report's directly stated whole-panel Google Maps measure is the 9% who started their latest search there.

The 2025 maps search page reports that 20% of respondents selected Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Bing Maps as their default first port of call for local-specific searches, while 15% selected Google Maps alone.² BrightLocal's 2026 report instead asks which channel started each respondent's most recent local-business search and separately asks which channels appeared anywhere in that journey.¹

Do not subtract 2025's 15% from 2026's 9%, or 2025's 45% Google default figure from 2026's 52% Google Search first-channel figure, as if either difference were a measured year-over-year change. The respondent frame and the question wording differ.^1,2

Google Business Profile Help says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity, and that Google keeps search-algorithm details confidential.³ BrightLocal's percentages describe reported consumer behavior under a named survey design. They do not show that starting on Google Search or Google Maps changes a business's position, visits, calls, or sales.

For the separate role of a Google Business Profile in local discovery, use the profile guidance rather than treating consumer-use percentages as ranking instructions.

Are 52% and 9% shares of all local searches?

No. The figures are respondent-reported first channels for each panelist's most recent local-business search. They are not a count or share of every local-search event.

Can the 29% Google Maps value be used as an overall Maps-use rate?

No. The report's chart presents 29% as consumers who used Google Maps as well after the Google-first group. The report does not state that value as an unconditional share of the full panel.¹

Did Google Maps become less common than Google Search in 2026?