A Twin Cities contractor can sit at the top of the Google Maps 3-pack and still be invisible when a homeowner asks ChatGPT for a recommendation. BrightLocal tracked 200,085 localized searches across 1,300 business locations in a study published September 16, 2026, and found that a business ranked well on Google Maps showed up in that same platform’s results 66 percent of the time, but only 32 to 38 percent of the time across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. Maps rank and AI visibility are two different scoreboards, and most contractors are only tracking one of them.
The gap, in numbers
BrightLocal’s Local AI Visibility Tracker logged 1.9 million AI citations across the three platforms. The headline findings for any Twin Cities general contractor, remodeler, roofer or dock builder watching their local rankings:
| Metric | Google Maps | ChatGPT | Google AI Mode | Google AI Overview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentions a tracked, well-ranked business | 66% | 33% | 32% | 38% |
| Consistency across repeat runs of the same prompt | 99% | 23% | 21% | 33% |
| Overlap with Google’s own AI Overview | n/a | 19-20% | 29.3% | 29.3% |
| Average businesses named per answer | n/a (pack of 3) | 4.1 | 3.5 | 2.5 |
Two numbers matter most for a contractor budgeting local marketing dollars in 2026. First, ChatGPT and Google’s own AI Mode agree on fewer than one in three named businesses, so optimizing for one does not optimize for the other. Second, ChatGPT’s answers for the identical prompt change 77 percent of the time between runs, meaning a single “best deck builder near me” query run twice in the same week can return two different company lists.
Why Google Maps rank does not carry over
Google’s Local Pack runs its own proximity-and-relevance algorithm against a single query. The AI platforms instead run what BrightLocal calls a fan-out query: they break “best general contractor in Minnetonka” into several related searches, pull sources from each, and blend the results. Google Business Profile accounted for 28.5 percent of all citations in the study, which explains part of Google AI Mode’s and AI Overview’s overlap with Maps. ChatGPT leans more heavily on Yelp and Bing-indexed pages, which is why it overlaps with Google’s own AI surfaces just 19 to 20 percent of the time. A contractor who only maintains a Google Business Profile is optimized for Google’s three surfaces and largely invisible to ChatGPT’s two biggest sources.
What actually moves the needle
The study also found that 93 percent of unique domains used as AI sources were the business’s own website, accounting for 42 percent of all citations, the single largest source category ahead of any directory. For a Twin Cities contractor, that means:
- A real website with clear service and location pages still outweighs a thin Google Business Profile, because AI platforms are increasingly running site-specific searches against it directly.
- Directory presence beyond Google matters more for ChatGPT specifically. Yelp, Facebook Business and the Better Business Bureau carry real citation weight on a platform that treats Google Business Profile as a minor signal.
- Proximity is still real, but the radius differs by platform. ChatGPT’s “circle of influence,” the distance containing 90 percent of its recommendations, stretched to 287 kilometers in the study, versus 39-64 kilometers for Google’s two AI surfaces. A Minneapolis-based contractor can plausibly be recommended for a St. Cloud or Rochester job on ChatGPT in a way Google’s own AI would never surface.
- Reviews and expertise content on your own domain are what the fan-out queries are pulling from. A contractor with no FAQ page, no project write-ups and no named service pages gives the AI nothing citable about itself beyond a directory listing.
How to check where you actually stand
Run the same question a homeowner would ask, on ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google’s AI Overview, for your actual service and city, for example “who should I call for a kitchen remodel in Eden Prairie.” Run it from two different parts of your service area, since the study found AI Mode and AI Overview answers only overlap 46.9 to 47.4 percent of the time between locations in the same town, and ChatGPT overlaps just 36.2 percent. A single query, run once, tells you almost nothing because of how much variance the study measured; run it a handful of times across a week before concluding you are or are not being recommended.
A free AI visibility scan from Peek runs this check for you across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI surfaces at once and hands back exactly what each platform says about your business today, keep the report either way.
FAQ
Does ranking number one on Google Maps mean I’ll show up on ChatGPT?
No. BrightLocal’s 2026 study found Google Maps mentioned a tracked, well-ranked business in 66 percent of searches, while ChatGPT mentioned the same business only 33 percent of the time. The two systems pull from different sources and run different query logic.
Which AI platform should a Twin Cities contractor prioritize?
Both, but through different levers. Google AI Mode and AI Overview lean heavily on Google Business Profile (28.5 percent of all citations in the study), so keeping that profile complete and current still matters. ChatGPT leans on Yelp, Bing-indexed pages and the contractor’s own website, so a strong site with named service pages carries more weight there.
How often does the AI’s answer actually change?
BrightLocal found only 20 to 33 percent average overlap when the exact same prompt was run multiple times in the same spot: 23 percent for ChatGPT, 21 percent for AI Mode, 33 percent for AI Overview. A business that appears once reappears in roughly half of later attempts.
Does my location in the Twin Cities metro affect which AI recommends me?
Yes, more for some platforms than others. Proximity still predicts most results: 53 to 59 percent of AI picks fall within 5 kilometers of the searcher across platforms. But ChatGPT’s recommendation radius extends much further, 287 kilometers for 90 percent of results, compared to 39-64 kilometers for Google’s AI surfaces, so a metro-wide contractor has a real shot at being named for jobs well outside their immediate service radius on ChatGPT specifically.
What is the single highest-leverage fix?
Build out your own website’s service and location pages with real project detail. The study found 93 percent of domains used as AI sources were business websites, making up 42 percent of total citations, more than any directory including Google Business Profile.
Want a 15 minute walkthrough of your own results instead of reading the study? Book a free strategy call and we will pull your actual AI citations live on the call.
Learn more about how we build AI visibility for contractors on our construction marketing page, or see the full GEO marketing approach we use to close this exact gap. See how this fits into the full managed system on Propel OS. For more on what BrightLocal found across other verticals, see our related piece on why ChatGPT skips financial advisors in the Twin Cities.
