Key takeaways
- ChatGPT is the most-used AI chatbot in the UK. Depending on how they measure it, recent UK and US surveys put recent AI use for local search at roughly a third to a half of consumers.
- Most people use ChatGPT to build a short list, then check Google, the business's website or reviews before they make contact.
- Being used is not the same as being chosen: in one US test of large multi-location brands, ChatGPT recommended only a small fraction of their locations.
- Google remains the dominant search service in the UK, so AI is an extra place to be found, not a replacement.
- No published data yet measures how often people use ChatGPT to choose an accountant specifically, so test real client questions yourself rather than relying on general figures.
- The practical priority is making your services, location and proof clear and consistent wherever a prospective client checks.
If you run an accountancy practice or an established local business, you have probably heard that "everyone is using ChatGPT now". It is a fair question to ask whether that includes the people who might hire you, and whether it should change where you spend time and budget.
The honest answer is more useful than the hype. Customers are using ChatGPT, and the numbers are growing quickly. But the evidence shows they mostly use it as a starting point. What they find when they go to check is still what wins or loses the enquiry.
Direct answer
Do customers use ChatGPT to find local businesses?
Some customers do use ChatGPT to find local businesses, and that share is rising. Very few stop there: most verify what they read on Google, on your website and in reviews. Treat ChatGPT as one more place you can be shortlisted, and make sure everything a customer checks afterwards tells the same clear story.
Are customers really using ChatGPT to find local businesses?
Yes, though the figures depend on which survey you read and what it measures. The clearest UK picture of ChatGPT's general reach comes from the regulator. In its Online Nation 2025 report, published in December 2025, Ofcom found that ChatGPT had 1.8 billion UK visits in the first eight months of 2025, up from 368 million in the same period of 2024. Ofcom's November 2025 discussion paper on answer engines, using Ipsos audience data, adds that 13 million UK online adults (26%) visited ChatGPT in June 2025, nearly three times the 4.4 million a year earlier, although Ofcom notes that visits do not show how many people used it for search.
Surveys that ask specifically about local businesses point the same way. In a Yext survey of 600 UK consumers published in June 2026, 36.7% said they had used AI for local search in the past month, with ChatGPT the most used tool among them. In the US, BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, a panel of 1,002 US adults published in February 2026, found that 45% had used ChatGPT or other generative AI tools for local business recommendations in the past 12 months, up from 6% in the previous year's survey. In BrightLocal's follow-up analysis, 31% had used ChatGPT specifically. A separate US survey, SOCi's 2026 Local Discovery Index of more than 1,000 consumers weighted to the US population, found that 52% had used an AI tool to research or find a local business in the past 30 days, up from 9% in its 2025 edition.
These figures are not directly comparable. They cover different countries, samples and time windows (the past month, the past 30 days, the past year), and all three surveys come from companies that sell local or AI visibility services. None of them is a UK-wide official statistic. The direction, though, is consistent: AI is now part of how a substantial share of customers look for local help.
What do people ask ChatGPT when they look for a local business?
Mostly the same things they would want to know from any search: who is nearby, who is well thought of, and whether a business fits their situation. The difference is that they can ask in full sentences and add detail, such as "an accountant who works with small limited companies near me". The answer is usually a short list: in a BrightLocal study of more than 200,000 local prompts for 1,342 US business locations, published in September 2026, ChatGPT named an average of 4.1 businesses per response.
UK hospitality offers a concrete example of what people look for. In a Zonal and NIQ survey of more than 5,000 British consumers, 19% used AI tools to plan a visit to a pub, bar or restaurant. Of those, 45% used them to find reviews and ratings and 35% to check opening times. Professional services are different, but the pattern of checking reputation and practical details is likely to be familiar.
More broadly, OpenAI's own research shows that looking things up is one of the main reasons people use ChatGPT. Its study of how people use ChatGPT found that practical guidance, seeking information and writing together account for most conversations.
How does ChatGPT know where the customer is?
According to OpenAI's help centre, ChatGPT can use an approximate location based on the user's internet connection, and people can choose to share a more precise device location. When someone asks for something "near me", ChatGPT may turn that into a local search and draw on third-party search providers. OpenAI also warns that results can be incomplete, outdated or incorrect, which is one reason accurate public information about your business matters.
Do customers trust ChatGPT's recommendations, or check elsewhere?
Many say they trust them, but almost all check before acting. In Yext's UK findings (600 consumers, June 2026), about half (49%) of people searched Google or Bing to verify an AI recommendation, 43% went to the business's website and 37% clicked through to the sources the AI cited.
BrightLocal's survey of 1,227 US consumers on local search behaviour, published in July 2026, is even starker. Of people who began a local search in an AI tool, just 2% used it as their only channel, and 43% went on to check Google. Only 18% of AI users felt ready to contact a recommended business without doing more research. SOCi's US survey points the same way: 81% of consumers take a verification step after an AI recommendation, such as checking reviews or social media, and only 19% contact the business straight away.
For a firm that wins work on trust, this is the important point. Appearing in a ChatGPT answer may get you onto a shortlist, but your website, your Google Business Profile and your reviews still have to confirm that you are the right choice.
Does this mean Google matters less?
No. Google is still where most local searches start. The same Ofcom report shows that 82% of UK adults use Google Search, with around 3 billion searches a month, and that about 30% of searches now show AI Overviews. In BrightLocal's US research, 52% of people started their most recent local search on Google Search.
Appearing in Google's local results also does not mean an AI tool will pick you. In SOCi's 2026 Local Visibility Index, which audited about 350,000 locations belonging to 2,751 US multi-location brands, ChatGPT placed only 1.2% of those locations in its top five when asked to recommend ten businesses of that type in their area. The same locations appeared in Google's local "3-Pack" 35.9% of the time. That test covers large chains rather than independent firms, and one standard prompt rather than real customer questions, so it is a sign of how selective AI answers can be, not a measure of your own chances.
AI is better seen as an extra layer on top of the search habits customers already have. Doing well on Google helps, but it does not guarantee that an AI tool will mention you; we explain why in why a business can rank on Google but not be recommended by AI.
What should a local business do about it now?
Start small and practical. You do not need to rebuild your website or chase every new tool.
- Ask the questions your clients ask. Put three or four realistic questions into ChatGPT, such as "accountant for a small limited company in [your town]", and note whether and how your firm appears.
- Check what a customer would find next. Make sure your website, Google Business Profile and reviews confirm the same services, location and contact details.
- Make your proof easy to find. Clear service pages, genuine reviews and up-to-date details help a customer who is checking whether an AI suggestion is right.
- Ask new enquiries how they found you. Recording the answer is the most direct way to learn whether AI tools matter for your firm, rather than for the average business.
- Repeat the check over time. AI answers vary, so one result is a snapshot, not a verdict.
None of this guarantees a mention in ChatGPT, and anyone who promises that should be treated with caution. What it does is make sure that when a customer meets your name, whether in an AI answer or a Google result, the details hold up.
A practical check
Start small and practical
- Ask the questions your clients ask. Put three or four realistic questions into ChatGPT, such as "accountant for a small limited company in [your town]", and note whether and how your firm appears.
- Check what a customer would find next. Make sure your website, Google Business Profile and reviews confirm the same services, location and contact details.
- Make your proof easy to find. Clear service pages, genuine reviews and up-to-date details help a customer who is checking whether an AI suggestion is right.
- Ask new enquiries how they found you. Recording the answer is the most direct way to learn whether AI tools matter for your firm, rather than for the average business.
- Repeat the check over time. AI answers vary, so one result is a snapshot, not a verdict.
If you would like an outside view of how your business currently appears in AI answers, an AI Visibility Report is a sensible place to start.