Updated 25 October 2026. We first published this in April 2026. We've checked the facts again and added what has happened since.
Between mid-March and mid-April 2026, several changes landed across the platforms that decide how Australian businesses are found online. None came with a big announcement. Each looked like a small update.
Together, they changed local search more than anything in years. Many multi-location brands are still working as if none of it happened. If you look after a network of stores, offices, branches or franchises, here's what changed and what to do.
1. Google Maps started answering questions with AI
In March 2026, Google launched Ask Maps, a feature that lets people ask Google Maps questions in everyday language and get an AI-written answer. It started in the United States and India and is spreading from there. It's part of Google's move away from the old questions and answers section on Business Profiles, which it began phasing out in late 2025.
Instead of scrolling a list of profiles, a customer can ask something like "a quiet cafe near Central with good coffee and outdoor seating" and get a short answer. The AI builds that answer from what it can find: your Business Profile, your reviews, your photos and your website.
That changes what matters. A complete profile is still the starting point. But the AI also leans on what's recent and specific: fresh reviews, current photos, accurate attributes, and details that match across every location.
For a franchise network where head office looks perfect but individual stores are out of date, thin on reviews or named inconsistently, those weak locations are less likely to be recommended.
What to do: make every location's profile complete and current, not just the flagship. Give each location its own local content: photos, posts and replies to its own reviews.
2. Apple Business Connect became Apple Business
On 24 March 2026, Apple announced that Apple Business Connect, Apple Business Manager and Apple Business Essentials would merge into one free platform, Apple Business. It launched on 14 April 2026.
Apple moved existing data across automatically: claimed locations, place cards, photos and account details. For most businesses, the change was quiet.
That's the risk. Accurate data moved across accurately. Wrong data moved across too. Any location with a wrong address, old hours, a missing phone number or an unclaimed listing carried that problem into Apple's new platform.
Apple also announced ads in Apple Maps, starting in the United States and Canada. Brands with clean, verified listings will be better placed when ads reach Australia.
What to do: check every location on Apple Maps. Claim any that aren't claimed, and fix hours, phone numbers and addresses. Read our primer on Apple Business Connect.
3. Bing became a source for AI assistants
When someone asks Microsoft Copilot "where's the nearest mortgage broker?", the local answer draws on Bing's business data, not Google's. Bing Places for Business is where that data comes from.
Most Australian brands built their local marketing almost entirely around Google. Their Bing listings are often unclaimed, incomplete or years out of date. Bing's share of search is small. But as AI assistants use its data, its reach goes well beyond Bing itself.
What to do: claim and complete every location on Bing Places. Read our guide to Bing Places for Business.
4. Recent activity counts for more
Across 2026, local search research has pointed the same way: recent activity matters more than it used to. New reviews, fresh photos, recent posts and replies to reviews all show that a location is open, active and cared for. They're also exactly what AI answers draw on.
A business that set up a perfect profile in 2023 and has been quiet since may now lose out to a competitor who has been steadily active, even with a less complete profile.
For multi-location brands, this adds up. Stores that went quiet in a lean period, or were never properly looked after, drag down the whole network in their local areas.
What to do: this isn't a one-off clean-up. It's steady activity at every location: ask for reviews, reply to them, post weekly and refresh photos.
5. You can't fix what you can't see
There's no shortage of software promising AI that will manage your listings for you. Before you hand anything over, you need a clear picture of where every location stands today, across every platform customers use:
- is each listing accurate on Google, Apple, Bing and Facebook?
- what's each location's rating, and is it moving?
- which locations have photo gaps or wrong hours?
- how do they compare with nearby competitors?
That's where to start.
The window is now
Ask Maps, Apple Business, Bing's role in AI assistants, and the weight on recent activity aren't passing changes. They're how local discovery works now.
Brands that check and fix their locations now will be ahead. Gaps left open now get harder to close later.
See where your locations stand
Start with the Free AI Visibility Check.
For chains, Local Intelligence audits every location for free. The 18-point audit scores each location out of 100 across Presence, Reputation and Marketing, and shows what to fix first. On Premium, you can manage every location from one console and publish to Google, Apple, Bing and Facebook. You also get competitor insights and industry benchmarks. Read how we help multi-location brands.