Florida contractors who travel to the customer, including roofers, HVAC technicians, and plumbers, win or lose most new jobs during a short window of online research.
This article examines eight local search statistics that show where homeowners look for service-area businesses, how quickly they decide, and how Google’s AI features are changing which contractors they see.
Each statistic lists its publisher, year, and the business type it applies to. National figures are labeled as national. Florida-specific figures come from U.S. Census Bureau data, Florida contractor licensing records, and a Florida contractor case study.
Key Florida Local SEO Statistics
- 84% of US consumers searched online for a local business in the past three months (BrightLocal, 2026)
- Only 22% of zip code plus service keywords registered search volume in a 50-keyword test (DataPins, 2023)
- AI Overviews appeared on 15% of local-intent searches but 97% of hybrid searches (WhiteSpark, 2025)
- 52% of consumers started their latest local search on Google Search, and 9% started on Google Maps (BrightLocal, 2026)
- 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, and 49% trust them as much as personal recommendations (BrightLocal, 2026)
- Only 35% of small and midsize businesses have a Google Business Profile (BrightLocal, 2025)
- 45% of consumers used AI tools such as ChatGPT for local business recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier (BrightLocal, 2026)
- 30.1% of Floridians age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019–2023)
| Statistic | Source | Year | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 84% searched online for a local business in the past 3 months | BrightLocal Consumer Search Behavior | 2026 | Both |
| 22% of zip code + service keywords registered search volume | DataPins zip code study | 2023 | Service-area businesses |
| AI Overviews on 15% of local-intent and 97% of hybrid searches | Whitespark | 2025 | Both |
| 52% start local searches on Google Search, 9% on Google Maps | BrightLocal Consumer Search Behavior | 2026 | Both |
| 97% read reviews; 49% trust them like personal recommendations | BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey | 2026 | Both |
| 35% of small and midsize businesses have a Google Business Profile | BrightLocal SMB Marketing | 2025 | Both |
| 45% used AI tools for local recommendations | BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey | 2026 | Both |
| 30.1% of Floridians speak a language other than English at home | U.S. Census Bureau (ACS) | 2019–2023 | Both (Florida) |
1) 84% of Consumers Searched Online for a Local Business in the Past Three Months
Online search is the default starting point for hiring a local business. In BrightLocal’s 2026 Consumer Search Behavior survey of 1,227 US consumers, 84% had searched online for a local business in the previous three months.
Those searches end quickly. The same BrightLocal survey found that 75% of consumers choose a business in under 30 minutes, and 28% decide in under five minutes.
The shortlist is small. According to the same data, 72% of consumers look at three or fewer businesses before deciding, and only 1% look at more than ten. Because most consumers consider only a few businesses, appearing early in a homeowner’s research can give Florida roofers an advantage.
According to BrightLocal, trades and home repairs are among the industries where consumers are least likely to decide within five minutes. Homeowners hiring a contractor take longer, giving reviews, service pages, and job photos more time to influence the choice.
When this doesn’t apply: these figures cover all local business searches nationally, from restaurants to dentists rather than Florida contractors specifically.
2) Only 22% of Zip Code Queries Register Search Volume
Adding zip codes to SEO titles is a weak local SEO tactic for most contractors. Our 2023 DataPins study tested 50 keywords that combined five trades (plumbing, roofing, painting, pest control, and electrical) with ten of the most popular US zip codes.
Only 11 of the 50 keywords (22%) registered any search volume in keyword research tools, and only five showed more than three searches.
Our DataPins study traces the popularity of zip codes in SEO titles to around 2013, and the tactic is still used by contractors who serve large service areas.
Search volume estimates miss a large share of real searches. Ahrefs found that anonymized queries made up 46.77% of website traffic across 887,534 Google Search Console properties in April 2025.
Our internal data also showed zip code queries were rare even among these hidden terms, as outlined in our study.
When this doesn’t apply: zip codes in titles occasionally rank. In our same DataPins test, 25 of 50 queries returned at least one top-10 result with the zip code in the title tag, although Yelp pages accounted for many of those rankings, so it’s hard to credit the zip code itself. The tested zip codes were in Texas, California, and Illinois.
Mass-producing a page for every zip code in a service area creates thin, near-duplicate content. Our DataPins study identifies this as a risk under Google’s guidance against content created primarily for search engines.
3) AI Overviews Appear on 15% of Local-Intent Searches, but 97% of Hybrid Searches
Google’s AI Overviews rarely appear on straightforward “service plus city” searches, but they dominate the research questions homeowners ask before hiring.
Whitespark’s May 2025 study of 540 searches across six industries, including plumbers, in Houston, Phoenix, and Denver found AI Overviews on 15% of local-intent queries, 92% of informational queries, and 97% of hybrid queries.
Local packs show the opposite pattern. In the same Whitespark study, local packs appeared on 93% of local-intent queries, 6% of informational queries, and 17% of hybrid queries such as “average cost of dental implants in Phoenix.”
The widely repeated claim that AI Overviews appear for 68% of local queries comes from this study’s average across all three query types combined. Applied to local-intent searches alone, that figure overstates AI Overview presence by more than four times.
For Florida contractors, these findings suggest two opportunities: appearing in local packs for service-and-city searches and publishing useful answers to the informational and hybrid questions that frequently trigger AI Overviews.
AI Mode extends the same shift. Google reported in May 2026 that AI Mode had surpassed one billion monthly users.
A St. Lucie, FL plumbing company shows how this plays out in Florida. Drain to Drain appeared in an AI Overview, was cited as that Overview’s first source, and held the Featured Snippet and Knowledge Panel for the same query within weeks of starting DataPins in February 2025, as demonstrated in our Drain to Drain case study.
Its website traffic, measured in Google Analytics 4, rose 498.6% over the following 60 days. These results come from a single observational case study.
Search Console now reports AI visibility directly. Google’s AI performance reports are available to all Search Console accounts and cover AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to Search Engine Land.
Website reports still miss part of the picture: a homeowner who sees a contractor named in an AI answer and calls directly never visits the website, so that lead shows up in call logs rather than traffic reports.
When this doesn’t apply: Whitespark’s data predates Google’s 2026 AI Mode updates and did not include Florida cities. AI Overview frequency also varied by industry, reaching up to 50% of local-intent queries for real estate agents.
4) 52% of Consumers Start Local Searches on Google Search, and 9% on Google Maps
Google remains the main starting point for local business searches. In BrightLocal’s 2026 Consumer Search Behavior survey, 52% of consumers began their most recent local search on Google Search, and 9% on Google Maps, and 71% used Google Search at some point during that search.
Most local searches happen on a phone. The same BrightLocal survey found that 73% of consumers started their latest local business search on a mobile device.
Most homeowners also check more than one channel. According to the same data, 75% of consumers used more than one channel during their most recent local business search.
Google ranks local results primarily on relevance, distance, and prominence, according to Google Business Profile Help. Google states that review count and review score factor into local ranking, and that more reviews and positive ratings can improve a business’s local ranking.
Each of those three factors explains a common reason a service-area business does not appear in Google Maps. An incomplete or inaccurate Business Profile weakens relevance.
Few reviews and a thin web presence weaken prominence. Distance is the factor a contractor controls least, because Google measures how far each result is from the location in the search or from the searcher, so a business is less likely to appear for homeowners at the far edge of its service area.
When this doesn’t apply: the channel figures are national and cover all business types.
5) 97% of Consumers Read Reviews, and 49% Trust Them as Much as Personal Recommendations
Reviews play a role in most consumers’ local business research. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, a survey of 1,002 US adults, found that 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses. In 2026, 41% “always” read reviews when choosing a business, up from 29% the year before.
Trust in reviews is high but not universal. In the same 2026 survey, 49% of consumers said they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Review volume and recency set a minimum bar. In the same BrightLocal survey, 47% of consumers said they will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 74% care only about reviews written in the last three months.
Expectations for ratings are also rising: 31% will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher, up from 17% in 2025.
New contractors face the steepest climb. Only 9% of consumers are willing to use a business with five or fewer reviews, according to BrightLocal. Asking helps: 28% of consumers say they will always write a review when a business asks, up from 16% in 2025.
6) Only 35% of Small Businesses Have a Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile adoption remains surprisingly low among surveyed small businesses. BrightLocal’s 2025 survey found that only 35% of respondents said they had a Google Business Profile, although some businesses may have existing profiles they do not actively manage.
The same survey found that 89% of these businesses invest in local SEO, yet only 29% of those investing say it has a high impact on their business. BrightLocal describes this as a knowledge gap between knowing local SEO matters and knowing how to execute it.
For a contractor, this gap is an opening. When most consumers consider three or fewer businesses, a complete profile and a useful website can improve a contractor’s chances of appearing in local search results and earning consideration.
When this doesn’t apply: the survey covers small businesses across all industries. Competitive Florida roofing and HVAC markets may have much higher profile adoption than this national average.
7) AI Tool Use for Local Recommendations Jumped From 6% to 45% in One Year
AI tools have become a major source of local business recommendations. According to BrightLocal’s 2026 review survey, 45% of consumers used ChatGPT or other generative AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% the year before, making AI tools one of the three most commonly used recommendation sources alongside Google and Facebook.
Most AI recommendations still get checked. BrightLocal’s 2026 search behavior data found that 23% of consumers used an AI tool during their most recent local search, but only 18% of AI users felt ready to contact a business an AI tool recommended. Among consumers who started on an AI tool, 43% went on to check Google.
Google is building contractor hiring directly into AI search. In the same May 2026 announcement, Google said users would be able to ask Google to call businesses on their behalf in select categories, including home repair, with rollout to everyone in the U.S. announced for summer 2026.
When this doesn’t apply: While this practical consideration is not part of the survey itself, a contractor whose name, services, or reviews differ between AI answers, Google, and its own website risks losing the homeowner at the verification step, even after an AI tool recommends it.
8) 30.1% of Floridians Speak a Language Other Than English at Home
Florida’s local search audience is large and linguistically diverse. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates for 2019–2023 show that 30.1% of Floridians age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. The same Census data estimates Florida’s population at 23,372,215 as of July 1, 2024.
For contractors, this means a meaningful share of potential customers may search, read reviews, or ask AI tools questions in a language other than English.
Contractors serving multilingual communities may benefit from providing service information in their customers’ preferred languages. Translated content can help those customers understand services, compare providers, and contact the business.
Florida’s roofing market is crowded. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 County Business Patterns data, Florida had 2,215 roofing contractor establishments with paid employees (NAICS 238160). This figure excludes roofing businesses without paid employees.
With 72% of consumers considering three or fewer businesses, Florida contractors compete for a limited number of spots on each homeowner’s shortlist.
Storm season further compresses the hiring window. When storm damage leaves many homeowners in one area needing a roofer at the same time, contractors with established local visibility may be better positioned to attract homeowners searching after a storm.
Where Florida Service-Area Businesses Appear in Google Search
| Surface | When it appears most | Optimization focus | What to publish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local pack and Google Maps | Local-intent searches (93% in Whitespark’s study) | Relevance, distance, and prominence, per Google | A complete Business Profile and recent reviews |
| Organic results | Most query types | Website content that matches the search | Service and city pages with real job detail |
| AI Overviews | Informational (92%) and hybrid (97%) searches | Pages that answer the question directly | Cost, repair, and process answers |
| AI Mode | Conversational and follow-up searches | Consistent information across sources | Matching details on the website, profile, and reviews |
How Florida Service-Area Businesses Can Use These Statistics
These statistics point to five concrete actions for Florida contractors:
- Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Only 35% of small businesses have one, and Google uses profile information to judge relevance and distance.
- Keep reviews recent and steady. Aim to pass 20 reviews and add new ones every quarter, since 47% of consumers avoid businesses with fewer than 20 and 74% only care about reviews from the last three months.
- Avoid building zip code pages. Spend your resources on creating original helpful content rather than mass-producing title variations for zip codes that few people search.
- Answer the questions homeowners research before hiring. Cost, repair versus replacement, and timeline questions are the hybrid searches where AI Overviews appeared 97% of the time in Whitespark’s study.
- Check AI visibility and keep details consistent. Review Search Console’s AI performance reports, and make sure your name, services, and reviews match everywhere, because 43% of consumers who start with AI verify on Google.
When this doesn’t apply: contractors who get most of their work through referrals or long-term commercial contracts, or who operate in areas with very few competitors, may see smaller returns from local search, because these statistics describe consumers who search online for a business.
