To get the most from your Google Business Profile in 2026 you need to be thorough, accurate and of use to the locality. That is where optimising for AI summaries begins. It is a matter of updating the profile, being precise with categories, having a clear account of services, earning some real reviews and making sure all the public details of the business are in order across the web.
Clara Whitmore here. I have always made a point of treating local search as one would a regional road trip: get an accurate map, see what conditions are like and do not take it for granted that the sign at the last junction has not been moved. Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini and its local recommendations on Maps will want unambiguous signals from a business, yet there is no way to be certain of an appearance in an answer put together by AI. What one can do is make it straightforward for Google to vouch for and recommend a business when the occasion calls for it.
The Local Implications of AI Summaries
With Google AI Overviews able to give a summary right in the results and tools like Gemini and Google Maps letting users size up the competition, the old local pack is no longer the extent of local visibility for a Geelong plumber, a Toowoomba physio or a café in Fremantle, highlighting the effects of AI Overviews locally.
One might see less clicking on simple queries but more worthwhile enquiries from those who know what a business is about. Do not mistake AI search for a way to put in an appearance at the top of Google without effort; it is simply another means of discovery hinging on relevance, location, user behaviour and the information a business puts forward.
Put Relevance Before Anything Else
A complete profile will only go so far in convincing Google’s systems to pair a searcher with a business that is not relevant. There is no point in a Ballarat operation filling out its profile with every suburb down to Melbourne; describe the service area and the services actually provided.
In a sense AI SEO for the Australian market is about dispelling uncertainty instead of putting words to paper for a robot. Make your case as to why the business is credible and tell customers where they will find you and when.
Recommendations and Profile Data
Between the Google Business Profile, the website, customer reviews, local citations and what is on Google Maps, Google has the data to form an opinion of a business and put it up against others. You will not find a formula from Google for an AI Overview or a surefire list for a Gemini recommendation, so be wary of anyone saying a particular setting will secure it. The best course is to put in hand what you can and see if it translates to better local activity.
Alignment of Signals
There should be no discrepancy between the name, address and phone number on your site and what is in your directories or Google Business Profile. A little variation in formatting is one thing, but an old phone number or two listings for the same place is just confusing. Consider your online footprint a road map; if one sign has people going to a shopfront that is shut and another to somewhere new, confidence is lost. Google’s own systems run into trouble when the public records do not concur. Maintaining this NAP consistency across platforms ensures customers can reliably locate and contact your business.
Get the Core Details in Order
It is hardly glamorous work, any more than checking the tyres before a long drive, but you have to fill in the information on your Google Business Profile that a customer will look at first. Go into the Manager and put yourself in the position of someone new to the business. Look at the description, the hours (including holidays), the appointment links, the website and so on. If there is a physical premises to visit the access and address must be up to date.
Checklist
- Make sure the website, phone number, address and business name are as they are in the real world.
- Regular hours and any special ones for public holidays should be set.
- Let it be known if you are a service-area business or if the customer is to come to you.
- Put in the suburbs and towns you actually cover.
- Do away with any profiles that are duplicates or past their use and complete verification.
- Test the contact and booking links on a mobile.
And for those in the service sector, a virtual office is no substitute for an accessible location. If a business has a wide reach in the Australian suburbs, it is better to put forward some substantive service areas than to put on display a national footprint of any size. A localised offering will be seen as more credible than one that overreaches.
Be Selective With Categories
Google will take your categories at face value. The primary one is of especial importance since it ought to be the service for which you are known by your customers, not the one with the best margin. You can use secondary categories for context, provided they are true to the business; a café with cakes on offer would be within its rights to have a bakery category. But do not think to pad out the profile with unrelated categories in order to see an improvement in Google Maps visibility, it will only muddle things.
Categories Should Be What They Are
One sees all too often a broad category picked for its size. In fact a more specific one will serve you better if it is in line with what the customer wants. Have a look at what is in the Google Business Profile Manager and how your competitors are set up, then pick a category your website, services and signage can back up.
There is no need to be altering the primary category on a weekly basis. Make a decision and stick with it for a while to see how it goes; only make a change when the original was manifestly wrong or the business has moved on.
Put Some Answers In Your Services
Before people get in touch they will want to know what you do, where you are and who you help. Put that in the description along with any practicalities like emergency availability or booking. And write in a way an Australian will understand. “Residential pest control in and around Bendigo” is far preferable to a run of “best pest control Bendigo, pest control near me” and the like. There is little point in keyword stuffing.
Speak The Language Of Local Search
Only put in towns, landmarks and service terms if they are called for. A description may well say “mobile dog grooming in Wodonga and the Albury-Wodonga area” but there is no reason to say you cover Victoria because some will search in such a manner.
Make your services an explanation and not a label. Tell the customer what is involved and what to do next, something both Google and Gemini will find useful for local queries.
Let Reviews Do Their Work
A review is how a customer will judge if you are active and reliable. It is also a source of content from the customer on your staff and services. After a job is done, ask for some straight talking from the customer and be courteous in your response. Do not dangle rewards for good reviews or tell them what to write. For the rest of your digital marketing and review organisation, the online marketing guidance from Google for Australian businesses is a sound guide.
Reply In A Human Way
When you respond to a review, deal with the substance of it. If it is a positive one, a thank you for the relevant service is in order, not a cut and paste job. On the negative side, keep your temper and put forward a means of contact. I have been witness to a business making a public show of itself by replying in anger to a complaint that was otherwise manageable. Put down a first draft and let it be, go and boil the billy and come back to it before you hit publish.
And keep an eye on the numbers: total and average rating, response rate (the number of replies as a percentage of reviews in the period) and those from the last 28 days. Note the period so you have something to compare against.
Update Your Posts, Videos And Photos
These provide evidence of your business to the customer and allow Google to make sense of the profile. Clear shots of the premises, team, work done and entrances are to be had. Where there is no shopfront a service business can put forward branded vehicles and equipment in the field of work. Steer clear of stock photos that could be from any business in the country.
As for Google Posts, they are for actual news: a new stock, a change in hours or community activities. They are not to be used in lieu of correct details or as a place to offload the same old sales copy.
Show The Current Business
There is no getting around seasonality. For a business in the Top End, one has to be ready to put wet season access in context; northern WA operators would do well to factor in cyclone alerts from November through April in any discussion of availability. Down south, extreme heat or a summer bushfire can put a crimp on opening hours and access. When conditions are not what they were, make a prompt update to the profile so customers are not left to find out once they have made the drive.
Strengthening local assets
One cannot optimise a Google Business Profile in isolation. The website has to bear out the details: the name, address, phone number, hours and services should be in agreement with the profile. Put dedicated pages in place for your services and locations to leave no doubt for the customer or search systems. Make use of structured data for local business information that is consistent with what is on the page. As for citations on the likes of industry associations, chambers of commerce or reputable directories, add them where they are called for. But do not go about amassing every directory you can find; it is accuracy and relevance that count.
Making the connection between website and profile
Do not just link the profile to the home page if there is a more useful destination. Someone in need of an electrician in an emergency wants to see contact options and service locations right away. A customer sizing up a regional accommodation provider will want to put together a booking and see the facilities and how to get there.
Plainly set out access for those of you with a business close to a shopping precinct, railway station or major thoroughfare. Be accurate in talking of parking, entrances and public transport. Think of it as the local-search way of putting in the right turn-off before the road turns into a goat track.
Measuring leads and visibility
An impression is not something to get excited over unless it is translating into action on Google Maps. Keep tabs on the profile views, the searches, calls, visits to the site, bookings and enquiries.
Put performance in perspective by location and time. After a change to opening hours a business could be fielding more calls but not the bookings to show for it. Or perhaps adding parking details has prompted more direction requests. You need the statistics to tell you that a busy weekend is not some sort of enduring trend.
| What to track | Useful comparison | What it can suggest |
|---|---|---|
| Profile views | Last 28 days compared with the prior period | Whether local discovery is on the up or down |
| Search phrases | Service, category and suburb terms | How a customer puts their needs |
| Calls and website visits | Broken down by location and service | Which profile elements are having an effect |
| Direction requests | By hour of day or season | Whether the premises is within reach |
| Reviews | Rating and response rate | How feedback is evolving |
With AI Overviews reporting being what it is, inconsistent at times, do not put forward that a lead is the result of an AI summary without the analytics to back it up. Rely on call tracking, referral data and questions from the customer for a less rosy view.
A 2026 workflow in practice
Should you be short of time, deal first with the things that cause confusion: verify the business and see that the name, address, phone, hours, primary category, service area and website are all in order. Have a look at the profile on a mobile as a customer would. In the weeks to come, put in better descriptions of your services, put up some new photos, ask for a review and make sure the website is in step with the rest. For a small business in Australia, the value of this method in local SEO is that it yields results of substance and does so without the need for an exorbitant marketing spend or to be surrounded by a wall of dashboards.
A monthly cycle is the way to work
- Week one is for auditing your links, categories, verification and profile accuracy.
- In week two you put new photos up and refresh the description, services and access details.
- By week three you have had a look at customer feedback and put in responses to any reviews left unaddressed.
- The fourth week is to put pen to paper on qualified local leads and see how 28 days of performance has been.
AI can be of use in putting together review replies or Google Posts, provided one reads over every sentence prior to hitting publish. A machine will not know better than to make up a service or put forward some hollow promise; the result can come across as robotic. Human oversight is a must.
FAQ: Local AI Search
Australian businesses tend to have certain practical questions when they get to grips with local discovery and the AI Overviews on their Google Business Profile. Here are answers to some of them.
Optimising Your Google Business Profile For AI Search
The answer is to verify the business and fill in all pertinent fields, using plain English for your services and making sure NAP is consistent. Put up some recent photos, be responsive to real reviews and ensure your website and local citations are in step. While nothing will put an AI Overview in front of you, if the information is straightforward and credible Google will be better placed to make sense of your business.
Is There An Impact On AI Overviews?
In a query with local intent, your Google Business Profile will help Google to form an understanding of the business. But it is only one of the sources for an AI summary and there is no undertaking from Google that optimisation of the profile will secure a given ranking or inclusion.
What Goes Into A Local AI Summary?
Google may draw on public signals of various kinds: data from Google Maps and your own site, structured data, local citations and reviews as well as what is on the Business Profile. It is impossible to divine a secret formula so just be sure your public information is right.
How Frequently To Update?
Any time a fundamental detail is altered, be it the phone number, where you are located, opening hours or the like. A once a month review is advisable, though in the case of a cyclone warning, wet season, bushfire closure or some other event of note in the locality, check more often.
Will Reviews Make A Difference To AI Search?
They can be a trust signal and put words to your services but do not expect them to be a ranking factor in and of themselves. Encourage people to give an honest opinion and deal with it in a professional manner. And remember the key factors for a good ranking in Australia: prominence, distance, relevance, accuracy and how the customer is treated.
Some Parting Advice
If the goal is to have a Google Business Profile that is optimised in 2026, it should stand up to scrutiny: be specific, current and verifiable. Get the map pin and hours right first, then attend to the rest, from images and services to website alignment and measurement.
There is no magic phrase that will win you visibility on Google Maps or a recommendation from Gemini, it is all about context. Be measured in your assessment of local leads over 28 days, put in the hard yards and let your details remain constant from one season to the next. In Australia that is the surest way to go about local search optimisation.