- Guide
- AI Search
- Part of: AI Visibility
Where Google's AI Overview Gets Its Information About Your Business
Michael Paul
Last updated October 29, 2026
Google's AI Overview doesn't invent what it says about a local business. It pulls from places Google already knows about you: your Business Profile, your website, and other pages and listings that mention you.
What Google says
Google's guide for site owners says AI Overviews and AI Mode may run several related searches across subtopics and data sources, then show supporting links. Its checklist for appearing includes keeping your Business Profile information up to date, letting Google crawl your site, and keeping important content in text.
The four sources to keep accurate
- Google Business Profile: name, categories, services, hours, attributes, photos, reviews.
- Your website: one clear page per service, your area, and matching contact details.
- Third-party listings: Yelp, Apple, Bing, Facebook, Nextdoor, BBB and your industry's directories.
- Reviews, on Google and elsewhere, in customers' own words.
Why an answer can get you wrong
If your hours, services or address differ across those sources, the AI has to guess, or it picks a competitor whose details agree everywhere. Fixing mismatches is often the fastest win.
What we saw in one small test
On September 28, 2026 we ran nine local searches twice, about 20 minutes apart, for one Vancouver, WA dog groomer we manage. Google showed an AI Overview for 3 of 8 searches in the first run (one search errored) and 4 of 9 in the second, so even back-to-back results differed. The business was named in several of those overviews. The sources behind the mentions were its Google Business Profile and third-party sites such as Yelp and Nextdoor. Its own website was cited in none of them.
This is one business and one day. Read it as a pointer to profile and directory data, not as a prediction of what any AI will say about yours.
The takeaway
You can't tell Google what to say about you. You control the sources it reads: your profile, your website and your listings.
Related answers
Sources
Common questions
Can I tell Google what to say about me in AI Overviews?
Not directly. You control the sources: your profile, your website and your listings.
Does schema markup help?
Google says structured data should match the visible content on your page. It helps Google understand the page, but it isn't a switch that puts you in an AI answer.
My AI Overview has wrong information. What do I do?
Find which source says it, usually an old listing or an out-of-date page, and fix it there. You can also send feedback on the AI Overview itself.
Want to see whether AI names your business? Run the free Visibility Report (about 10 minutes).
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