Phil RisherPhlash Consulting · No. 1 Digital Marketing Consulting Company For $1m-10m Home Service Businesses 🚀

The businesses that win in 2028 are not going to build their strategy in 2028. #shorts

7 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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0:49

In this short, Phil Risher highlights a dramatic change in how different age groups conduct local searches. He cites data showing that 80% of all local searches occur on Google Search and Google Maps, but the split by generation is stark: 72% of boomers rely on Google Search, while only 46% of Gen Z do. Instead, 26% of Gen Z turn to social media for local searches. Risher forecasts that by 2028 AI-powered search will become the primary venue for local queries, overtaking Google. He warns businesses to act now, preparing for this shift over the next two to three years to avoid missing out when the new AI search landscape emerges.

Chapters

80% of local searches happen on Google Search and Google Maps. The very unique thing to this is that they broke it down by demographic from age. So they saw that boomers, 72% of them use Google Search for local searches, which of course they go to Google, that's what they're programmed to do. But Gen Z is 46%, less than half of them are using Google Search for local searches. So right now they're not searching for HVAC contractors or any of that stuff because they don't own homes. But when they own a home, they're not going to magically just go to Google to start searching for local businesses. This is why there's a big shift happening. What they found was that 26% of Gen Z uses social media for local search. They said that by 2028, search is going to shift. It's not going to be on Google Search anymore. It's going to be— AI search is going to be the top place that people are searching. So it's shifting, and I'm kind of teeing it up because I want people to understand that this is not right now, right now, but in the next 2 to 3 years, you're going to wish that you have done these things to prepare your business.