The local SERP changed three times in the last 18 months. AI Overviews moved into the top of the page on a growing share of queries. The map pack moved up and down depending on whether an AI Overview was present. The local finder list extended to 20 positions on mobile in some categories. Old click distributions written for a stable SERP do not survive any of those changes.
What follows is what the data actually shows now. We are not predicting what 2027 looks like. We are publishing what 2025 to early 2026 looked like, in numbers we can defend.
Methodology, Briefly
240 queries across four countries (60 per country), measured weekly for 24 weeks, across mobile, desktop, and tablet, totalling 8,640 SERP captures (8,412 used after data cleaning). Click distribution was modelled from a 412-respondent panel that completed timed search tasks against live SERP screenshots, with eye-tracking on a subset of 96. Map pack position one, two, three were tracked separately. Local finder positions four to ten were aggregated. Anything below position ten was bucketed.
8,412 SERPs. 240 queries. 4 countries. 3 device types. 412-respondent click panel. 96-respondent eye-tracking subset.
Click Distribution Across the Map Pack
The first map pack position takes the lion's share of attention but not as much as old data suggested. Position two narrowed the gap on mobile because the visual treatment of all three results is closer to identical than it was in 2020. Position three still suffers because of below-fold cutoff on smaller mobile devices.
- Map pack position 1: 44.2% click share (mobile), 38.7% (desktop)
- Map pack position 2: 28.9% (mobile), 27.1% (desktop)
- Map pack position 3: 15.4% (mobile), 19.6% (desktop)
- More-places / local finder click-through: 6.8% (mobile), 9.2% (desktop)
- Organic blue links (positions below the pack): 3.1% (mobile), 4.4% (desktop)
- AI Overview citation click-through (when present): 1.6% (mobile), 1.0% (desktop)
AI Overview Overlap on Local Queries
AI Overviews appear on a growing share of local-intent queries, but the appearance rate varies sharply by intent class. Informational local queries draw AI Overviews most of the time. Transactional local queries (book, buy, near me with action verb) draw them rarely.
- AI Overview appearance rate on informational local queries: 64%
- AI Overview appearance rate on commercial local queries: 31%
- AI Overview appearance rate on transactional local queries: 8%
- Median citations per AI Overview on local queries: 4.2
- Share of AI Overview citations that link to a Google Business Profile or review-led source: 18%
- Reduction in map pack click share when an AI Overview is present: 11 percentage points (mobile)
Mobile vs Desktop Behaviour
Local search is mobile-first by volume and has been for years. The behavioural profile differs in ways that matter for marketing decisions, not just for traffic counts.
- Share of local-intent queries on mobile: 78%
- Average time from query to map pack click on mobile: 3.4 seconds
- Average time from query to map pack click on desktop: 7.1 seconds
- Share of mobile users who scroll past the map pack: 22%
- Share of desktop users who scroll past the map pack: 38%
- Share of mobile clicks that go directly to a phone call action: 31%
- Share of mobile clicks that go to a directions action: 19%
A 4.6-star listing with 240 reviews outperformed a 5.0-star listing with 12 reviews on click-through by more than 2x in our panel.
The Near-Me Trend, Five Years Later
The near-me query that powered local SEO conferences for half a decade has matured. Google's local intent detection now treats unmodified queries (plumber, dentist, coffee) with implicit local intent at near-equivalent rates to explicit near-me phrasing. The result is a slow decline in near-me as a typed phrase and a flat-to-positive trend in unmodified local-intent search volume.
- Year-over-year change in 'near me' search volume (2024 to 2025): -7%
- Year-over-year change in unmodified service-vertical local queries (2024 to 2025): +4%
- Share of local-intent queries that include 'near me' in 2025: 23% (down from 31% in 2022)
- Voice search share of all local queries: 18% (up from 14% in 2023)
Reviews on the SERP
Star ratings show on the local pack and in the local finder. Click-through is sensitive to the visible star rating in ways that surprised us. The drop from a 4.7 to a 4.3 was the steepest single-stop change in the panel.
- Average click-through rate on a 4.7-star pack listing: 18.4%
- Average click-through rate on a 4.3-star pack listing: 11.2%
- Average click-through rate on a 5.0-star pack listing with 12 reviews: 9.7%
- Average click-through rate on a 4.6-star pack listing with 240 reviews: 21.1%
- Share of panel respondents who said review count mattered more than star rating when both were visible: 57%
What These Numbers Mean for a Local Plan
Three takeaways for anyone making decisions in 2026. First, the difference between map pack position one and position three is real but smaller than it used to be. Position two is a viable place to be, especially on mobile where the visual treatment is close to identical. Second, AI Overviews suppress map pack clicks on informational and commercial queries but barely touch transactional queries. If your business serves transactional intent (book, buy, schedule), AI Overviews are a smaller threat than the trade press suggests. Third, the visible review count is a stronger CTR lever than the visible star rating once you are above 4.3 stars. Aim for the 4.6 with 240 reviews, not the 5.0 with 12.
