Google’s AI Mode Is Rewriting Local Search — What Businesses Must Do for 2026 P#2

Google’s AI Mode, Gemini-powered search, and AI Overviews are already reshaping how customers discover and choose local businesses. In this episode, Mike Blumenthal and Greg Sterling are joined by Michel van Luijtelaar of GMBapi to break down how AI-driven search changes visibility, trust, reviews, and competition in local markets. The conversation explores how Google is blending AI answers with local results, why reviews across the web matter more than ever, and what businesses must do now to prepare for 2026. This is a practical, experience-based discussion about where local search is headed — and how to adapt before rankings alone stop mattering. • 00:00 – Why local reviews now power AI-driven local search • 02:45 – AI Mode example: local discovery expanding beyond the local pack • 07:35 – Conversational search, follow-up questions, and richer content for Local search • 12:00 – The future of the Map Pack and blended SERPs • 17:00 – Trust, integrity, and the uneven local SEO playing field • 22:20 – AI as the new discovery layer for the web and local search • 26:00 – Ads, monetization, and Google’s AI dilemma • 31:15 – Practical Local SEO/Digital marketing advice for businesses heading into 2026