Two things moved this week that Alberta owners should actually use. First, a Canadian local-SEO shop published hard SERP counts for AI Overviews versus the map pack. Second, Google’s own help page now walks a verified owner through managing a Business Profile inside Gemini. Neither one is a reason to buy a national GEO retainer.
The Whitespark counts
Whitespark’s case study — a Calgary-based local SEO firm — found AI Overviews on 57–80% of the queries they ran, averaging 68% for local-business-type searches. Local packs appeared on 39% of the same set. They also report an inverse pattern: the queries most likely to show an Overview are the least likely to show a pack. Whitespark: AI Overviews for local business searches.
Search Engine Journal’s recap of that work is the version most agencies are circulating. SEJ on the 68% / 39% gap.
Read it the way we price work: if a customer is asking a research question, the Overview may answer before the map appears. If they want “open now / book now,” the pack still shows up more often. That matches the older Tracsoft finding that Maps discovery can rise even when organic CTR falls on Overview-heavy queries. Tracsoft local AIO paper.
Gemini can touch a Business Profile — with limits
Google’s help article says you can connect a verified Business Profile to the Gemini web app and ask it to update hours, action links, attributes, posts, and review replies, or to summarize insights. Manage your Business Profile with Gemini.
The same page still restricts it: owner or manager of only one verified profile, personal Google account (not work/school), Keep Activity on, not available in the EEA or UK, and a gradual rollout. If a newsletter says multi-location is already live, treat the help page as the source of truth until Google changes it.
What we will do for clients this week
- Keep the Google Business Profile complete. Gemini and Overviews both read it.
- Put FAQ-style answers on the website in visible HTML, not only in ads — that is the query type Whitespark says Overviews dominate.
- Do not buy “special code” to get into AI features. Make the public pages fetchable and consistent. Scan the live URL.
- If you want us to ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini the questions a customer would ask, that is still the $299 audit — not a free company-name score.
This desk scans the niche weekly. We will update or replace this briefing when Whitespark, Google Help, or Alberta pricing sources move again.