Someone asked an AI chatbot about your business last week. What it said back may well have decided whether they bought from you, and there is now a number on how often that goes against you.
Search and AI
Chatbots talked more than half of AI users out of buying
Semrush and Exploding Topics surveyed 2,338 adults in the United States during July and published the results on Monday. The headline finding is blunt. 57.5 percent of people who use AI have decided not to buy something because of what a chatbot told them. Among the people who name chatbots as one of their shopping research sources, that rises to 80.93 percent, and 42.81 percent have been talked out of a purchase more than once.
The persuasion runs both ways. 57.51 percent of AI users have bought something a chatbot recommended and 59.27 percent have discovered a brand through one. What decides the direction is what the chatbot has read about you. 74.15 percent of all consumers said they would be less likely to buy if a chatbot flagged mixed or negative reviews, and among people already using AI that figure reaches 85.31 percent.
The local finding matters more here than the shopping numbers do. 87.41 percent of people who already use AI to research companies said they would at least sometimes consult a chatbot before hiring a local business, and 31.48 percent said they would always do it. Just over four in ten of them think AI gives better advice on local firms than it does on big brands.
Why this matters for your business: Open ChatGPT and Gemini today and ask each one what it knows about your company, your main service and your two closest competitors. Write the answers down. If the reply is thin, wrong, or leaning on one old review, that is the version of your business a buyer meets before your website gets a look in. The fix is unglamorous. Tighten the service pages that describe what you actually do, keep your Google Business Profile current, ask happy customers for recent reviews, then run the same three questions again in a month and compare.
Two Google reports have quietly stopped updating
Google Business Profile insights are showing nothing at all for September. Barry Schwartz reported on Monday that eight days into the month there was still no data, with complaints starting to surface on Reddit. Separately, the Search Console links report has not refreshed since around 8 August, which leaves a full month of stale backlink data sitting in the interface.
Neither outage means you lost calls, views or links. Both mean you cannot currently see them. Google has said nothing publicly about either one and has given no fix date, so treat both as reporting holes rather than performance drops.
Why this matters for your business: Do not judge your September performance from a blank Google chart, and do not let a client conclude their listing has died. Take a screenshot of what you can see now, write the gap into your reporting notes, and lean on the numbers that are still moving. Your own analytics, your call log and your enquiry form submissions all still work. If you send a client a monthly report, tell them about the gap before they spot it themselves.
Social
Australia will make platforms offer a feed with no algorithm
Australia’s government confirmed on Tuesday that it will legislate to let every social media user switch to a chronological feed. Platforms will have to notify new and existing users and offer them the choice, and anyone who opts out of recommendations will see only the accounts they chose to follow. Regulators will be able to fine platforms up to 109.2 million dollars for failing to comply.
Most platforms already offer a version of this, buried in a submenu where almost nobody finds it. None of them offer it as a default. If a meaningful share of Australians take the option, this becomes the largest real world test of what happens to reach when recommendation stops doing the work, and other governments will be reading the results closely.
Why this matters for your business: Nothing changes in South Africa this month. What changes is the risk sitting underneath your social strategy. If nearly all your reach comes from being pushed to people who do not follow you, a single regulator in a single market can shrink it without warning. Spend part of this quarter turning borrowed reach into something you own. That means followers who actually chose you, an email list, and a WhatsApp broadcast list you can reach without asking permission.
Automotive
Buyers put a fair price well below what cars actually sell for
Escalent published its 2026 Affordability DeepDive on Tuesday, drawn from more than 1,000 respondents in its EVForward study. Asked what counts as a reasonable price for a new vehicle, buyers put it between 31,865 and 47,838 dollars. The average new vehicle actually sells for 49,461 dollars and the average electric vehicle for 55,211. 61 percent now believe vehicle prices are at an all time high.
The useful part is what buyers will trade away. 75 percent of likely electric buyers said a manageable monthly payment can make an expensive vehicle affordable, 87 percent said running costs weigh as heavily as the sticker price, and 47 percent would accept fewer features to hold the price at 30,000 dollars. On used electric vehicles 55 percent would consider one, but 71 percent named unknown battery health as their single biggest worry.
Why this matters for your dealership: Your listings almost certainly lead with the number buyers have just told researchers is too high. Put the monthly instalment on the vehicle detail page right next to the price, add a plain line on running costs, and for every used electric vehicle publish a battery health figure with the date it was measured. That last one answers the exact objection 71 percent of buyers raised, and almost no South African listing carries it today. It costs you nothing but the checking.
What to do this week
- Ask ChatGPT and Gemini what they say about your business, and write the answers down
- Note the Google Business Profile and Search Console reporting gaps before your next client report goes out
- Move some of your social reach into a list you own, whether that is email or WhatsApp
- Add monthly payments to your vehicle listings, and battery health to used electric stock
If you want a hand checking what AI currently says about your business, or getting your listings to answer the questions buyers are actually asking, get in touch with us.
Sources
- Semrush, AI chatbots talked 57.5% of AI users out of buying
- Search Engine Roundtable, September data in Google Business Profiles insights missing
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Search Console links report not updated in a month
- Social Media Today, Australia moves to enable algorithm opt outs
- Digital Dealer, For many consumers EVs feel out of reach