AI Overviews vs. Google Maps: which one actually drives customers to you?
Right now, both — but they work differently and can disagree with each other. Google Maps still runs on its own local ranking signals (proximity, reviews, categories, citations). Google's AI Overviews pull more broadly from the web and can surface a different set of businesses than the Maps pack shows, especially for questions phrased conversationally ("who's a good electrician for an emergency call") rather than as a search term ("electrician near me").
The deeper picture
A business can rank well in the Maps pack and still get skipped by an AI Overview answer, because the Overview is synthesizing from a wider set of sources, not just your Google Business Profile. Reviews, mentions on other sites, and how clearly your services are described online all factor in — the same variables that affect ChatGPT and Perplexity, since they're all drawing on overlapping signals of "is this business well and consistently represented."
Where this leads
Treat them as two separate channels to check, not one. The AI Visibility Audit specifically covers what AI Overviews and chat assistants say, as a complement to whatever you're already doing for Maps rankings.