Google tests an AI Overview local pack with no reviews or buttons: Reveneau

Why it mattersA local business loses most of its clicks when the pack strips its Google Business Profile. Teams tracking local traffic should watch the drop and ask Google if the test spreads.

Google is testing a mobile AI Overview that leaves local businesses with little to click. Joy Hawkins, a local SEO consultant, spotted the new pack and posted about it on X. Barry Schwartz covered it the same day at Search Engine Roundtable.

What the test removes

Hawkins writes that in the last few days a new version has shown on mobile. "On mobile, every time I get this version, the traditional local pack is gone. It uses the Google Business Profile but yet removes a ton of its features (reviews, address, hours etc)."

Schwartz lists what else is gone from the pack when this version shows: the action buttons, the photos, and the review counts. The call button, the directions button and the website button go with them.

The pack still names the three top businesses. A user who taps a name still reaches the detail panel on the right. But the choice between the three happens on far less information than before.

What this means for a local business

The pack was the main place a Google Business Profile earned clicks on mobile. Reviews, ratings, hours and the call button gave a reader the signals to pick a shop. When these are gone, the pack shows three names and little else.

Schwartz writes that the new version "cannot be good for clicks, calls and direction actions to businesses". Hawkins calls it "the ugliest version of the AI Overview I've seen in local thus far".

What a team can do this week

The test is live on mobile for some queries. Google has not confirmed how wide the test runs or whether it will roll out. Three steps still make sense now.

Watch Google Business Profile insights. A drop in direction requests, calls or site clicks on mobile is the first sign the test reached you. Compare this week to the two before it.

Test the queries that matter. Search your main service plus your city on a phone, in a signed-out window. Note which pack version shows up each time, and keep screenshots.

Make sure your own site covers the basics. The hours, the address and the phone number should be on the first screen of the service page. A reader who lands with no pack signal still has to find them in one tap.

Source

Google AI Overview Local Pack Dropping Action Buttons, Photos & Reviews, Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz

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