AI Assistants Become SMEs' Search Engine

AI is already as relevant as social media in the first search step: 13% of the population start their SME search directly with AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot, bypassing traditional search engines. Thus, AI ranks at the same level as social media.

Already one in five people use AI for SME searches: Nearly 20% of the Swiss population have used AI like ChatGPT or Copilot in the last twelve months to learn about services from SMEs, with particularly high usage among younger age groups.

Half of the population plans to use AI for SME searches in the near future: Around 50% of the population intend to use AI models in the future to find suitable SMEs for the corresponding service - a clear indication of the impending change in digital information retrieval.

AI also changes booking: About 40% of respondents can imagine booking appointments for SME services directly via voice-based AI assistants.

AI is rapidly evolving, opening new possibilities and bringing profound changes. This digital transformation does not stop at SMEs, as the current study 'SME Digital Pulse 2025' by localsearch and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) shows. 'The way people search for SME services is fundamentally changing. AI-based systems are increasingly becoming the SME search engine,' concludes Stefano Santinelli, CEO of localsearch.

According to the study 'SME Digital Pulse 2025', more than three-quarters of the population (77%) are open to new digital technologies such as AI-supported applications. But it doesn't stop with openness: consumers are already using AI tools significantly to specifically search for SME services.

AI is as relevant in the first SME search as social media.

When the Swiss population searches for an SME and doesn't yet know a provider, the vast majority still turn first to search engines (80%), as Figure 1 shows. However, already 13% of respondents start their SME search directly with AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot, thereby bypassing traditional search engines. This puts AI at the same level as social media. The use of AI for initially searching for SMEs is particularly pronounced among 18 to 29-year-olds with an above-average share of 21%. With increasing age, usage decreases: 16% among 30 to 44-year-olds, 12% among 45 to 59-year-olds, and 6% among 60 to 79-year-olds.

The increasing importance of AI in SME search is evident in both current and expected future use. According to the study 'SME Digital Pulse 2025', in the last twelve months, almost 20% of the Swiss population have used corresponding applications to find information about SME services (see Figure 2). The already observed trend is confirmed that younger generations rely considerably more on AI: the share among 18 to 29-year-olds is 26%, and 23% among 30 to 44-year- olds. Both values are thus above the average across all age groups. As age increases, AI usage declines significantly: 17% among 45 to 59-year-olds and 11% among 60 to 79-year-olds.

The increasing significance of AI is most evident in the planned future use for searching SME services: of the current users who have already used AI for this purpose (19%, see Figure 2), almost eight out of ten (78%, see Figure 3) say they intend to do so more frequently in the future. This high willingness is similarly pronounced across all age groups; the differences between age groups are not statistically significant.

Every second person wants to use AI for SME searches in the future.

Even among previous non-users of AI (79%), the readiness is great: 40% of them would like to use AI in the future for searching and obtaining information about SME services (see Figure 4). In contrast to the current users of AI, the intention to use it in the future is age-dependent. While it is clearly over 40% among up to 59-year-olds, among 60 to 79-year-olds, it is a quarter of the respondents: 44% (18 to 29-year-olds), 46% each (30 to 44-year-olds and 45 to 59-year-olds), 60 to 79-year-olds 26%.

Based on these results on AI, it can be assumed that in the near future, around half of the Swiss population (50%) will use AI to obtain information about SME services.

The 'SME Digital Pulse 2025' study illustrates that SMEs must also be found through AI assistants if they do not want to miss valuable customer potential. A complete company profile on various platforms combined with optimized content is not only crucial for traditional search engine searches - it also enhances visibility in search queries via AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot. Stefano Santinelli, CEO of localsearch, puts it plainly: 'Digital visibility does not end with the search engine. In the AI age, presence in intelligent systems like ChatGPT determines whether an SME is even perceived or remains in the digital shadow.'

AI not only changes searches - but also bookings.

In addition to information search, a growing interest in AI-supported booking processes is also evident: 39% of respondents can imagine arranging appointments via voice-based AI assistants like Siri, Alexa, or ChatGPT. The age- specific analysis shows constant values up to 59-year-olds: 40% (18 to 29-year-olds), 43% (30 to 44- year-olds), 42% (45 to 59-year-olds). Only among 60 to 79-year-olds does the share drop significantly to 29%.

'Customer expectations are clear: services must be bookable online. SMEs that do not take this step lose visibility, trust, and ultimately revenue - at the benefit of digitally better- positioned competitors,' says localsearch CEO Stefano Santinelli, concluding: 'The future is digital, the search is AI-driven - and the time to act is now. SMEs that do not actively shape their online presence lose not only market share but access to the digital clientele. Those who are not visible today will be forgotten tomorrow.'

With the new version of the product digitalONE, localsearch addresses the digital shift towards AI: SMEs can ensure their visibility not only on over 50 relevant search engines, directories, and social media platforms but also on the most important AI platforms like ChatGPT and Copilot.

Further information on the 'SME Digital Pulse 2025' study and the white paper are available under this link. The graphics for the study can be downloaded here.

Press contact:
Stefan Wyss
Head of Communications
media@localsearch.ch
+41 58 262 76 82

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