Part three of a series. Start here if you haven’t: hillmediagroup.com/google-io-2026-small-business-impact
When Google demonstrated its new AI features at its developer conference in May 2026, they chose safe, relatable examples to illustrate what the technology could do. An AI agent that monitors apartment listings. Another that alerts you when your favorite athlete announces a sneaker collaboration. A persistent assistant that helps you organize your calendar and stay on top of your inbox.
The examples were designed to feel helpful and approachable. And they are. But they are also carefully chosen to introduce powerful surveillance-level technology in a way that does not make anyone uncomfortable.
What they did not demonstrate is the full picture of what Google already knows about your customers — and what it will be able to do with that information as AI becomes more capable. That is the conversation I want to have in this article. Not to alarm you, but because understanding it is one of the most important things a small business owner can do right now to position themselves for what is coming.
Google Has Been Collecting Data on Your Customers for Decades
Let’s start with something that most people know in a vague, abstract way but have never really sat with.
Google has been the dominant search engine for over twenty years. During that time, every search query your customers have ever typed has been logged. Every YouTube video they have watched has been recorded — including how long they watched, whether they skipped the ad, and what they searched for next. Every place they have navigated to in Google Maps. Every email they have sent and received through Gmail. Every photo they have backed up to Google Photos, timestamped and geotagged and increasingly identified by subject matter using machine vision.
If your customers use Android, Google knows which apps they use and when. If they use Google Fit or a connected health app, Google has data on their physical activity, sleep patterns, and health goals. If they have a Nest thermostat or other Google Home devices, Google knows their daily routines at home.
Pause and think about this. Think about your own Google account for a moment. Pull up your Google Photos and scroll back five years. Look at your search history in My Activity. Think about every question you have asked Google, every place you have navigated to, every video you have watched. That archive exists. Google has it. Now think about what a sufficiently capable AI could infer from all of that data about who you are, what you need, and what you are likely to want next.
This data has existed for years. What has changed is the AI capable of making meaningful use of it. Until recently, Google used this data primarily for ad targeting and algorithm tuning — useful, but a relatively blunt application of an extraordinary dataset. As AI becomes more capable and computing power continues to expand, that same dataset becomes the foundation for something far more sophisticated: an AI that understands your customers as individuals, anticipates their needs before they consciously identify them, and surfaces solutions at exactly the right moment.
That is not a hypothetical future state. It is the direction every announcement at Google I/O 2026 was pointing toward. And the businesses that understand this dynamic will be positioned to be the solution AI surfaces. The businesses that do not will simply not be part of the conversation.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Abstract data points are hard to connect to business decisions. So let me make this concrete with an example that illustrates exactly how Google’s data history translates into customer behavior — and what it means for the businesses those customers might find.
The Running Shoes Example
Six months ago you bought a pair of running shoes. You searched for them on Google, compared a few options, clicked through to a retailer, and completed the purchase. That transaction is in your Google history.
You also use Google Fit, which has been tracking your running activity since you bought the shoes. Over six months you have logged somewhere around 300 miles. The manufacturer’s recommended replacement interval for running shoes is 300 to 500 miles. Google knows this — it is publicly available information that any AI can access.
Put those two data points together and you have something genuinely useful: a customer who bought running shoes six months ago, has logged enough miles to be approaching replacement range, and has a history of searching for running gear online. An AI system with access to both data points can surface a timely, relevant recommendation before the customer has consciously decided they need new shoes — and before they have done a single search.
This is not targeted advertising in the traditional sense. It is anticipatory recommendation — AI using behavioral and historical data to identify a need before the customer has articulated it and connecting them to a solution at the right moment.
For the running shoe retailer that has strong Google Shopping presence, detailed product listings, competitive pricing, and a robust review profile, this moment is an opportunity. For the retailer whose product information is incomplete or whose presence in Google’s commerce ecosystem is thin, the moment passes without them being part of it.
The Home Services Example
Google Photos has been backing up photos from your customers’ phones for years. Those photos include images of their homes — their kitchens, their bathrooms, their yards, their driveways. Machine vision can identify the age and condition of appliances, flooring, roofing materials, and landscaping with increasing accuracy.
A customer who has photos in Google Photos showing an aging roof, combined with a location history that places them in an area that recently experienced a significant hail storm, combined with a search history that includes weather-related queries — that combination of signals tells an AI system something specific about what that customer might need right now.
The roofing company that shows up in that moment is the one whose Google presence is built to be found by exactly this kind of contextual recommendation. Complete business profile. Strong, specific reviews that mention the types of work they do. Service area clearly documented. Response time that signals an active, operating business. These are not technical SEO tricks. They are the signals that tell AI this business is a credible, relevant answer to a specific customer need.
Pause and think about this. Think about your own search behavior over the past month. How many times did you ask Google, Siri, or an AI assistant something out loud rather than typing it? How many times did a recommendation surface in your phone that you did not explicitly search for? How many decisions did you start to make — a restaurant, a product, a service — and then delegate to a search or AI tool to finish? Now think about your customers doing the same thing. Where does your business show up in those moments?
Where Your Customers’ Attention Is Already Going
The shift in customer attention is not coming. It is already underway. Understanding where attention is moving — and what is driving it — is the most practical thing a business owner can do to stay relevant in the environment that is already forming around them.
From Search Results Pages to AI-Generated Answers
The traditional search experience — type a query, get ten blue links, click through to a website — is being replaced at a meaningful rate by AI-generated responses that answer the question directly inside the search interface. Google’s AI Overviews, which are already live across desktop and mobile worldwide, pull from credible sources and synthesize an answer without requiring the user to click anywhere.
For the user, this is a better experience. They get the answer faster with less effort. For businesses, it means the visit to your website may not happen even when your content was the source Google used to construct the answer. Being the source AI cites is valuable even when it does not generate a direct click — it builds the association between your business and credible answers in your category, which influences future recommendations.
The businesses that are building content specifically designed to be cited by AI — clear, specific, self-contained answers to the questions their customers ask — are building an asset that compounds over time. The businesses that are still writing content primarily to entice a click are optimizing for a behavior that is declining.
From Deliberate Search to Ambient Assistance
There is a meaningful difference between a customer who sits down at a computer and intentionally searches for something and a customer who asks their phone a question while driving, cooking, or walking between meetings. The second behavior is growing significantly faster than the first.
Voice queries tend to be more conversational, more specific, and more action-oriented than typed searches. “Hey Google, find me a plumber near me who can come today” is a different query from “plumber Kalispell MT” and it requires a different kind of business presence to answer well. A Google Business Profile that includes service availability, response time signals from reviews, and a direct booking option is positioned to answer the voice query. A website that ranks well for a typed keyword is not necessarily the same thing.
The shift toward ambient assistance — AI that is present in the background of daily life rather than something you have to deliberately open and interact with — is the direction Google’s entire product line is moving. Gemini Spark running persistently in the background. Search agents monitoring topics on your behalf around the clock. Ask Maps responding to conversational queries rather than keyword searches. These are not separate features. They are a coordinated shift toward AI that is always present, always listening, and always ready to make a recommendation.
From Platform-Specific Behavior to Cross-Platform Context
One of the most significant implications of Google’s data history is that customer behavior is no longer siloed by platform. A search someone did three months ago can influence a recommendation they receive today. A photo backed up to Google Photos can contribute to a home services recommendation. A YouTube video watched last week can shape what products get surfaced in Google Shopping this week.
This cross-platform context is what makes Google’s AI fundamentally different from any single-platform recommendation system. It is not just reading what you searched today. It is reading the accumulated pattern of your digital behavior across every Google product you have ever used and constructing a model of who you are, what you care about, and what you are likely to need next.
For businesses, this means that your presence across Google’s ecosystem — not just your website, not just your Google Business Profile, but your YouTube content, your Google Shopping listings, your Maps presence, your review profile — is being read as a unified signal about whether you are a credible, relevant, active business. Gaps in that presence are gaps in your visibility to an AI system that is constructing recommendations from the whole picture.
The Gap Between Google’s Demo Examples and Reality
Let’s return to where we started. Google demonstrated AI agents monitoring sneaker drops and apartment listings. These are real use cases. But they are the safest, most consumer-friendly examples of a technology that is already being used in ways that are significantly more personal and significantly more consequential for businesses.
People are already using AI tools to research major purchases before setting foot in a store. They are asking AI assistants for recommendations on contractors, doctors, restaurants, and service providers in ways that never show up in traditional search analytics. They are using AI to draft the questions they will ask before a sales call, which means they arrive already knowing the answers they expect and are simply evaluating whether you match them.
They are using AI to summarize reviews so they do not have to read them individually — which means the overall sentiment and specific language in your reviews matters more than the star rating alone. They are using AI to compare service providers side by side without visiting any of the providers’ websites. They are asking AI whether a business is trustworthy based on the totality of its online presence, and receiving an answer in seconds.
None of this shows up in your website analytics. None of it generates a referral source you can track in GA4. It is invisible to traditional measurement tools, which means most businesses are significantly underestimating how much of their customer’s decision-making process has already moved into AI-mediated environments.
💡 What this means: The question is no longer just whether your business ranks on page one of Google. It is whether your business has enough credible, specific, consistent information across the entire Google ecosystem that an AI system evaluating you on a customer’s behalf comes back with a confident yes.
What Your Business Needs to Be Visible in This Environment
Understanding the landscape is one thing. Knowing what to actually do about it is another. The good news is that the foundational work required to be visible in an AI-mediated search environment is the same work that has always made businesses more findable and more trustworthy online. AI did not invent new rules. It raised the stakes for following the existing ones.
Be Findable Across the Entire Google Ecosystem
Your Google Business Profile is the single most important asset you have in Google’s ecosystem. It is the primary source AI tools use to evaluate and represent your business. But it is not the only one.
If you have a product-based business, your Google Merchant Center listings need to be complete, accurate, and regularly updated. If you offer services, your service area needs to be clearly documented in your profile and on your website. If you create any video content, YouTube is part of your Google presence — videos that explain what you do, how you do it, and who you serve contribute to the picture AI builds of your business.
Think of your Google presence not as a single listing but as a network of signals that collectively tell AI systems whether you are a credible, relevant, active business in your category and geography. Gaps in that network are gaps in your visibility.
Give AI Specific Answers to Specific Questions
The shift from keyword search to conversational AI query means that the questions your customers are asking are getting more specific and more contextual. The businesses that answer those specific questions — in their website content, their FAQ sections, their Google Business Profile descriptions, their review responses — are the ones that AI can match to those queries.
Think about the most specific questions a customer in your category might ask. Not “who is a good plumber” but “who can fix a leaking pipe in a 1970s home with galvanized pipes on a Saturday.” Not “where can I get a birthday cake” but “where can I order a custom cake with 48 hours notice that specializes in allergy-friendly options.” The businesses whose content answers those specific questions will be surfaced. The businesses with generic service descriptions will not.
- Write service descriptions that include the specific types of jobs you do, not just the category
- Build FAQ content around the actual questions your customers ask before hiring you
- Encourage customers to leave specific reviews — what did you fix, what was the situation, what made the experience good
- Use your Google Business Profile posts to document recent work, seasonal availability, and specific capabilities
- Create content that answers questions your competitors are not answering
Build a Review Profile That Tells a Story
Star ratings are a threshold signal — customers and AI systems use them to filter out businesses below a certain quality floor. But above that threshold, what differentiates businesses in AI recommendations is the specificity and recency of the language in their reviews.
A plumber with 47 reviews that mention specific job types, older homes, emergency availability, and fair pricing is a dramatically better match for a conversational AI query than a plumber with 200 reviews that all say “great service, highly recommend.” The specific language in reviews is what AI matches against the specific language in customer queries.
This means your review collection strategy should include a gentle prompt toward specificity. Not scripted or manufactured — that reads as inauthentic and customers can tell. But a simple ask: “if you have a moment to leave a review, it really helps when people mention the specific work we did and what stood out” is enough to shift the kind of reviews you receive over time.
Make Sure AI Can Take Action on Your Business
This is the piece most businesses are missing entirely. It is not enough to be findable and credible. As AI agents become more capable of taking action on behalf of customers — booking appointments, placing orders, requesting quotes — your business needs to be connected to systems those agents can interact with.
An online booking option connected to your Google Business Profile makes you bookable by AI agents without a phone call. A Google Merchant Center product feed makes your products shoppable through the Universal Cart. A clear, simple contact process that does not require account creation or excessive form fields means that when an AI agent surfaces your business, the path from recommendation to conversion is as short as possible.
The businesses that are easy for AI to act on will convert more of the recommendations they receive. The businesses that can only be reached by phone, whose booking process is complicated, or whose information is incomplete will receive fewer recommendations and convert fewer of the ones they do receive.
A Note on the Data That Already Exists
I want to close with something worth sitting with. The data that Google has collected over the past two decades is not going away. It is not being deleted. And the AI capable of making meaningful use of it is improving rapidly.
This is not a reason for alarm. The same data infrastructure that allows Google to surface a running shoe recommendation at exactly the right moment is the infrastructure that allows a small business owner in a mid-sized market to compete with national brands for local customer attention — because local relevance, local reviews, and local context are exactly the kinds of signals that give smaller businesses an advantage when AI is doing the matching.
The businesses that will be most affected are not the ones that are too small to compete. They are the ones that have been operating as if the internet is still primarily a directory — a place where you list your name, your address, and your phone number and wait for customers to find you. That model is not broken yet. But it is breaking.
The businesses that treat their online presence as a living, active, specific representation of what they do and who they serve are the ones that AI will be able to work with. The businesses that treat it as a static placeholder are the ones that will become invisible as the tools your customers use every day get better at filtering signal from noise.
Your customers are already using these tools. The question is not whether that is happening. It is whether your business is part of the conversation when it does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Google really using my personal data to make AI recommendations?
Google has always used behavioral data to inform search and ad results — this is how personalized search has worked for years. What is changing is the sophistication of what can be done with that data as AI becomes more capable. Features like Gemini Spark and persistent search agents are explicitly designed to use calendar, email, location, and search history to make proactive recommendations. Google is transparent about this in its product documentation. The practical implication for businesses is that the recommendations AI makes are increasingly contextual and personal, which means the businesses that show up are the ones whose information matches the specific context of an individual customer’s history and needs.
How do I know if my business is showing up in AI-generated search results?
The honest answer is that current analytics tools do not give you a complete picture of AI-driven visibility. Google Search Console will show you some of the queries your site appears for, but AI Overviews and agent-driven recommendations do not always generate trackable clicks. The most reliable approach is to manually test. Ask Google’s AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity the kinds of questions your customers would ask when looking for a business like yours. See whether your business appears in the responses. Note what information is cited and where it comes from. This gives you a practical baseline for where your visibility stands and what gaps exist.
What is the difference between AI search and traditional Google search?
Traditional Google search returns a ranked list of links based on keyword relevance and other ranking signals. The user clicks through to a website to find the answer they need. AI search synthesizes information from multiple sources and delivers a direct answer inside the search interface — often without requiring any clicks. The key difference for businesses is that in traditional search, showing up means getting a visit to your website. In AI search, showing up means being cited as a credible source, which may or may not generate a website visit but still influences how the customer perceives your business. Optimizing for AI search means creating content that is specific, self-contained, and structured in a way that AI can pull from and cite clearly.
Should I be worried about competitors using AI to outrank me?
The concern is less about competitors using AI as a tool and more about competitors having better information infrastructure. The businesses that will gain ground in AI-driven search are the ones with more complete profiles, more specific content, more recent reviews, and more connected systems — not necessarily the ones spending the most on AI tools. This is actually good news for small businesses because it means the advantage is available to anyone willing to do the foundational work, regardless of marketing budget. A local service business with 80 detailed Google Reviews and a complete profile will outperform a larger competitor with a bigger ad budget but thin organic presence in AI recommendation environments.
What does Google Photos have to do with business recommendations?
Google Photos uses machine vision to analyze and categorize the images in your photo library — identifying faces, locations, objects, and scenes. This capability, combined with other behavioral data, gives Google increasingly detailed context about individual users’ lives, homes, possessions, and routines. As AI becomes more capable of connecting these signals to relevant commercial needs, the potential for anticipatory recommendations grows significantly. For businesses, this is a longer-term development rather than something to act on immediately, but it underscores why building a strong presence in Google’s ecosystem now — before the full capability of this data becomes commercially active — is a compounding investment rather than a one-time task.
How is voice search different from typed search for my business?
Voice queries are typically longer, more conversational, and more action-oriented than typed searches. Someone typing might search “plumber Kalispell.” The same person using voice is more likely to say “find me a plumber near me who does emergency calls on weekends.” These are different queries that require different kinds of content to answer. Your Google Business Profile needs to include the specific attributes that voice queries reference — service types, availability, specializations, response times. Your website FAQ content should be written in the natural language your customers use when they speak, not the abbreviated language they use when they type. Businesses that have optimized for typed keywords without considering conversational query patterns are missing a growing segment of how customers are actually searching.
I am a small local business. Does Google really have enough data about my customers to make personalized recommendations?
Yes, and more than most business owners realize. Any customer who uses Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, or an Android device has a significant behavioral profile that Google can work from. In smaller markets, local signals carry even more weight in AI recommendations because there is less competition for relevance. A local plumber in a mid-sized market with strong reviews, a complete profile, and specific service documentation is not competing against every plumber in the country — they are competing for local relevance, which is a much more winnable category. The data infrastructure that makes personalized AI recommendations possible actually favors locally relevant, well-documented businesses over generic national competitors in local search contexts.
What content formats work best for AI citation?
Self-contained answers work best — content that answers a specific question fully without requiring the reader to click somewhere else for context. FAQ sections are effective because they mirror the conversational query format that AI search uses. Structured how-to content with clear steps is frequently cited. Specific, factual claims with clear attribution perform better than general opinion-based content. For local businesses, content that includes specific geographic references, service area details, and local context gives AI more signal to work with when matching against location-specific queries. The general principle is that if your content answers a specific question in clear language that stands on its own, AI has something to cite. If your content is primarily designed to intrigue a reader into clicking through for the full answer, AI has less to work with.
How often should I be updating my Google Business Profile?
Recency is a trust signal. An actively updated profile signals to AI systems that the business is currently operating and engaged with its online presence. At a minimum, your profile should be reviewed monthly to confirm that hours, services, and contact information are accurate. Using the Posts feature weekly or bi-weekly keeps fresh content flowing through your profile without requiring significant time investment. Responding to reviews within a few days of them being posted signals engagement and is a factor in how prominently your profile appears. Uploading new photos every few weeks — real photos of recent work, your team, or your location — contributes to the sense of an active, credible business that AI tools favor when making recommendations.
What should I do this week to start building my AI visibility?
Start with a Google search for your own business as if you were a new customer who does not know your name. Search for the category of service or product you offer in your area. See where you appear and what the AI Overview or top results say about businesses in your category. Then search your business name directly and look at the Knowledge Panel — the information box that appears on the right side of the results. That panel is pulling from your Google Business Profile. If anything is missing, outdated, or less specific than it could be, that is your first edit. From there, run the same test in Google Maps using Ask Maps or a conversational query. Note what businesses show up and what information is being used to recommend them. That exercise will give you a clear, practical picture of where your visibility stands and what the highest-impact gaps are to close.
Is Your Business Part of the Conversation?
The shift toward AI-mediated customer decisions is already shaping how your customers find, evaluate, and choose businesses. The foundational work of building visibility in this environment — a complete Google presence, specific content, a strong review profile, and connected systems — is available to any business willing to prioritize it.
At Hill Media Group, we help small businesses build the presence and infrastructure that makes them visible and actionable in the environment that is forming around them. If you want to understand where your business stands and what the most impactful next steps are, schedule a free 15-minute Digital Growth Strategy Session.
Schedule your free strategy session at hillmediagroup.com/l/strategy
Crafting your digital success,
Jerad Hill | Hill Media Group
