Small Business Marketing Report 2026
Is your business invisible?
Is confidence misdirected?
We found that small businesses were overwhelmingly confident about their customer’s ability to find them online. That’s great news. But we wanted to find out how that compared to what their consumers actually think, and where they’re searching.
In the 2026 edition of the Small Business Marketing Report, we’ve focused on where small businesses in the US think their customers find them online, and what work they’re doing to get in front of them. We surveyed 1,002 US-based owners of locally-operated businesses with 1-50 employees to ask them exactly that.
We’ve then looked back at our consumer-focused studies, the Local Consumer Review Survey and the Consumer Search Behavior report, to see whether that lines up.
“Small business owners are remarkably optimistic, but there is a stark gap between where they think customers are finding them and where consumers actually look.
When 84% of owners feel confident in their online presence, yet nearly half fall short of basic review thresholds and seven out of 10 consumers rely on a Google ecosystem that businesses under-prioritize, confidence becomes a blind spot.”
– Myles Anderson, CEO & Co-founder, BrightLocal
Key takeaways
Small business owners are underestimating Google, with most consumers using it to find local businesses.
Small businesses can’t keep up with customer review expectations.
Businesses owners are confident about their online visibility, and yes that includes in AI
Small business owners overwhelmingly do their own marketing, but many struggle to see any impact.
Read the full Small Business Marketing Report 2026
Customers still use Google, but small businesses don’t think it’s important
Chapter 1 of the Small Business Marketing Report 2026. Google is used by 71% of local searchers. So why do only 22% of business owners think it leads to new customers?
Small businesses can’t keep up with consumer review expectations
Chapter 2 of the Small Business Marketing Report 2026. 47% of small businesses have fewer than 20 reviews. 47% of consumers say that’s not enough.
65% of small businesses are working on AI visibility, but are they overlooking the channels that feed it
Chapter 3 of the Small Business Marketing Report 2026. Small businesses are very confident they show up online, and in AI search.
85% of small business owners make marketing decisions alone. So what’s holding them back?
Chapter 4 of the Small Business Marketing Report 2026. Budgets, complexity, a lack of time, and simply not seeing the return are all stopping small businesses from doing more marketing.
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