When someone asks Google's AI Mode for a good salon nearby, they don't get ten blue links. They get a few business names, their star ratings and, more and more often, a link that goes straight to a booking page. If the only way to book with you is to send a DM on Instagram, there's nothing for that link to point to.
That's the takeaway from a study published by Cheers, a local search software company, which counted what Google AI Mode actually shows when people ask about local businesses. A quick note on timing: the data was collected in September and the write-up was last updated on September 28, 2026. So it's about a month older than the other news we've covered this week. It's still worth your time, especially if you run a small salon.
What the study measured
Cheers looked at 9,435 Google AI Mode answers. They came from 32 questions asked in 100 metro areas across the US and Canada, collected between August 31 and September 20, 2026. For each answer, the team logged which businesses were named, their star ratings and review counts, and which links showed up.
Here's what stood out:
- Ratings were a firm line. Of the 8,523 answers that showed rated business cards, only 3.7% named any business under 4.0 stars.
- Review count mattered less. 23.5% of those answers named at least one business with fewer than 20 Google reviews. A newer business with a strong rating still had a shot.
- Booking pages showed up a lot. According to Cheers, 31% of the answers linked to a booking page.
Two caveats, and they matter. First, the questions were about home services, not salons. Second, Cheers says plainly that these numbers describe what AI Mode happened to show, not a rule Google follows. Google doesn't publish a formula for which local businesses get recommended. Think of the findings as strong patterns, not guarantees.
