Microsoft’s Copilot is now linking local review stars in its AI local cards directly to Google Maps business profiles — a surprising routing choice that was first spotlighted on X by SEO consultant Nathan Gotch and summarized by Search Engine Roundtable, and quickly replicated by others testing Copilot’s local “near me” queries. (seroundtable.com)
Microsoft has spent the last two years folding increasingly capable AI into search, rebranding Bing Chat as Microsoft Copilot and layering map and local features into its conversational results. Copilot’s local answers have previously shown maps, business listings, and local ads inside the Copilot UI — normally pulling from Microsoft’s own local index and Bing Places — but recent tests show Copilot’s review links sending users to a direct Google Maps listing instead of a Bing or Copilot-hosted review page. (seroundtable.com)
This behavior was captured in screenshots and a GIF by Nathan Gotch and chronicled by Search Engine Roundtable on August 15, 2025; Barry Schwartz’s coverage includes the screenshots and shows that clicking the review stars or rating in a Copilot local card navigates a user to the business’s Google Maps profile. (seroundtable.com)
Additionally, Copilot’s product evolution has included broader web actions (agentic site interactions) and deeper real-time browsing abilities, which gives the system both the ability and precedent to navigate to external services and partner sites. Tech reporting on Copilot’s web-action and browsing features shows Microsoft is building Copilot to interact with external web services for actions like bookings — the same plumbing can be used for linkouts. (techcrunch.com)
Businesses and local SEO professionals should treat this as a clear signal: maintain and optimize presence across Google Business Profile and other major listings, instrument conversion funnels beyond clicks, and monitor Copilot (and other AI assistant) behavior for changes. Meanwhile, product and policy observers should press Microsoft and similar vendors for clarity about sourcing choices, transparency in link attribution, and the rules that govern when an AI assistant links out to a competitors’ property.
The observed behavior is documented and replicated in public reporting, but whether it becomes a long-term design choice remains uncertain. Organizations that want to stay ahead should assume the multiplexer model (Copilot may source from many providers) is here to stay and adapt operationally rather than betting on a single search ecosystem. (seroundtable.com, microsoft.com, techcrunch.com)
Conclusion
The Copilot-to-Google-Maps routing is a pragmatic solution for Copilot’s immediate need to point users to authoritative local review content, but it creates strategic and competitive headaches for Microsoft, businesses, and the ecosystem. The incident highlights the new realities of AI-powered local search: assistants can and will stitch together the web’s best parts, but when they favor third-party properties for deeper engagement, the winners and losers will be decided by which platforms host the most trusted, complete, and conversion-ready local signals. Continued monitoring and cross-platform readiness will be the essential response for businesses and search professionals.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable Microsoft Copilot Links Local Reviews To Google Maps
Background / Overview
Microsoft has spent the last two years folding increasingly capable AI into search, rebranding Bing Chat as Microsoft Copilot and layering map and local features into its conversational results. Copilot’s local answers have previously shown maps, business listings, and local ads inside the Copilot UI — normally pulling from Microsoft’s own local index and Bing Places — but recent tests show Copilot’s review links sending users to a direct Google Maps listing instead of a Bing or Copilot-hosted review page. (seroundtable.com)This behavior was captured in screenshots and a GIF by Nathan Gotch and chronicled by Search Engine Roundtable on August 15, 2025; Barry Schwartz’s coverage includes the screenshots and shows that clicking the review stars or rating in a Copilot local card navigates a user to the business’s Google Maps profile. (seroundtable.com)
What exactly was observed?
- When Copilot returned local results (for example, “best coffee near me”), the result card displayed the business name, star rating, and an excerpt of review-based information.
- Clicking the star rating or the reviews/rating element in the Copilot card opened Google Maps — specifically, the Google Maps business profile for that place — rather than a Bing Places entry or a Copilot-native review overlay. (seroundtable.com)
How plausible is this technically?
Copilot is designed to synthesize information from multiple web sources and to use “open web search” when configured to do so; Microsoft has explicitly added capabilities that allow Copilot agents and responses to surface real-time, high-quality information from the open web when needed. That architecture makes it technically feasible for Copilot to reference or link to third‑party sources — including Google Maps — as the authoritative place for local review content. (microsoft.com, blogs.bing.com)Additionally, Copilot’s product evolution has included broader web actions (agentic site interactions) and deeper real-time browsing abilities, which gives the system both the ability and precedent to navigate to external services and partner sites. Tech reporting on Copilot’s web-action and browsing features shows Microsoft is building Copilot to interact with external web services for actions like bookings — the same plumbing can be used for linkouts. (techcrunch.com)
Why would Microsoft point Copilot users to Google Maps?
Several plausible explanations explain why Copilot might route review clicks to Google Maps:- Data completeness and freshness. Google Maps maintains a very large, frequently updated review corpus; for some businesses, Maps may simply have the most complete review set. Sourcing or linking to Google could improve answer completeness and perceived accuracy in the short term.
- User intent and UX flow. Copilot might be surfacing a link to the canonical place where reviews are hosted (Google Maps), reasoning that users will want the full review timeline, user photos, or directions — all things Google Maps specializes in.
- Practical engineering trade-offs. Integrations that display summaries can still link out to original or best-of-breed platforms; linking reduces the need to crawl, cache, and display every review verbatim while still providing attribution and a path to the primary source.
- Third-party content licensing and search plumbing. While Microsoft operates Bing Places, the open web often contains better, deeper or more current data. Pointing to Google Maps could be an emergent behavior of Copilot’s web-sourcing orchestration rather than an explicit “favoring” of a competitor. (microsoft.com, seroundtable.com)
What this means for local search, businesses, and SEO
Immediate implications for businesses
- Traffic routing: A click on Copilot’s review stars now may send potential customers to Google Maps rather than to the business’s Bing or own-site listing, shifting the conversion and click-through path away from Microsoft-controlled touchpoints. This could affect how businesses measure AI-driven traffic and conversions.
- Visibility dependence: If Copilot surfaces local cards but then funnels users to Google Maps for deeper review exploration, businesses may find that visibility on Google Maps matters even more for AI-driven discovery — regardless of Microsoft’s own indexing or Bing Places status. (seroundtable.com)
For local SEO practitioners
- Cross-platform optimization is essential. Relying on a single maps/profile system is risk-prone. Businesses should keep Google Business Profile (GBP), Bing Places, Yelp, and other key profiles current because AI assistants may reference or redirect to any of them depending on freshness and completeness.
- Monitoring AI-source attribution matters. Traditional organic ranking reports won’t capture every AI referral; teams will need to instrument new analytics points, track referral behavior from Copilot and other AI assistants, and measure downstream conversions rather than clicks alone. (blogs.bing.com)
Competitive and regulatory angles
This routing raises several competitive and policy questions:- Search neutrality and platform steering. It’s unusual for a search product to route users into a direct competitor’s property for the most critical piece of local user-generated content. Users and regulators could view this as a pragmatic UX decision — or as an oddity that complicates antitrust arguments around search favoritism and platform leverage.
- Advertising and monetization consequences. Google Maps is a critical ad and conversion surface for Google. If third-party AIs regularly funnel users to Google Maps, that could undercut Microsoft’s ability to monetize local intent pathways on its own platforms.
- Privacy and data handling. Clicking a review link and leaving Copilot might expose the user to different privacy rules and tracking regimes; Copilot users whose session context or account is bound to Microsoft may abruptly be in a Google session with different cookies and data capture. This raises user-consent and transparency considerations. (seroundtable.com)
Strengths of Microsoft’s approach (why it may be defensible)
- Better user experience today. If Google Maps offers a fuller set of reviews and practical tools (directions, photos, user timelines), sending users there can be the most helpful, pragmatic choice in the short term.
- Focus on accuracy and provenance. Pointing users to the definitive source improves transparency: users can see the full reviews on the platform that hosts them instead of consuming a partial summary inside an AI chat.
- Flexible web-sourcing model. Copilot’s ability to reference best-of-breed sources aligns with a modern assistant design that prioritizes the most reliable data over brand-protective siloing. Microsoft documentation about Copilot’s open web search capability supports this architecture choice. (microsoft.com)
Risks and downsides
- User confusion and friction. Users who expect Copilot to be a closed, unified experience may get confused when clicks leave the app and land in Google Maps — the experience can feel disjointed.
- Loss of value capture. Routing users to Google Maps cedes downstream interactions — ad clicks, directions, calls, bookings — to Google. That could reduce Microsoft’s ability to monetize Copilot-driven local intent.
- Trust and perception. Some users and SEOs may read this as Microsoft conceding its local index’s completeness to Google, which could damage Copilot’s reputation as a full search alternative.
- Potential for change without notice. This behavior may be an experiment, an A/B test, or a region-specific rollout; relying on it strategically could be risky if Microsoft flips the behavior later. Search Engine Roundtable’s replication suggests the behavior is reproducible in at least some contexts, but the durability of the change is not yet verifiable. (seroundtable.com)
How platform owners and businesses should respond
- Audit cross-platform listings now. Ensure Google Business Profile, Bing Places, and other major directory listings are accurate, complete, and actively managed.
- Instrument conversions, not just clicks. Update analytics to capture Copilot-specific referrers and measure actual customer actions (call, direction, booking) rather than pageviews alone.
- Prepare for mixed-navigation flows. Design user journeys that assume users may start in Copilot and finish on Google Maps — optimize Google Maps content (photos, reviews, Q&A) accordingly.
- Monitor announcements and experiments. Watch Microsoft and industry coverage for confirmation, policy changes, or rollback. Copilot’s behavior could be adjusted quickly, and businesses must stay nimble. (blogs.bing.com, seroundtable.com)
What journalists and researchers should test next
- Reproduce the behavior across regions, accounts, and Copilot versions (web, Edge, Windows Copilot) to determine whether the routing is global or experimental.
- Check whether the review link always points to Google Maps or if other local providers (Yelp, TripAdvisor, Bing Places) are used for different queries or locales.
- Measure referral headers and URL parameters to understand whether Copilot is explicitly attributing the content provider or simply redirecting via an intermediate Microsoft URL.
- Determine whether enterprise or Pro Copilot accounts show the same behavior as free accounts; licensing or feature tiers may alter source selection. (seroundtable.com, microsoft.com)
Verification status and caveats
- The core observation (Copilot linking review stars/ratings to Google Maps business profiles) is documented and reproducible in at least one independent report by Search Engine Roundtable and by the original X (Twitter) post from Nathan Gotch that started the thread. (seroundtable.com)
- Microsoft’s documentation shows Copilot can use open web search and surface external content, so the linking behavior is technically plausible within Copilot’s architecture. (microsoft.com)
- It is not possible from the available public reporting to determine whether this behavior is:
- a deliberate product decision to prefer Google Maps for reviews,
- an emergent consequence of the web-sourcing orchestration,
- or a temporary experiment/A/B test that will be rolled back or refined.
Readers should treat the routing behavior as observed but potentially transient, and validate against their own Copilot environment. (seroundtable.com, techcrunch.com)
Broader implications for AI-powered search
This incident underscores a persistent tension in the era of AI-powered search: who owns user intent and the conversion pathway when assistants synthesize answers and then optionally redirect to external sources? Copilot’s synthesis can reduce the need for clicks, but where clicks are still required, the assistant must choose a destination — and that choice redistributes value across the ecosystem.- For users: the most useful answer is the priority; sometimes that means linking to a third-party platform with richer data.
- For platform owners: capturing the full conversion funnel is crucial for monetization; ceding the downstream click can erode business models.
- For regulators and researchers: these hybrid flows raise new questions about neutrality, disclosure, and the competitive dynamics of AI intermediaries.
Final analysis and practical takeaway
Microsoft Copilot’s routing of review clicks to Google Maps is a small but revealing example of how AI assistants mediate — and sometimes rewire — the relationship between search, reviews, and discovery. The immediate effect is simple: users who click review stars in Copilot may land on Google Maps. The broader effect is structural: AI assistants that synthesize web data can change traffic flows and require businesses to maintain strong profiles across multiple platforms, not just the one that ostensibly “owns” the assistant.Businesses and local SEO professionals should treat this as a clear signal: maintain and optimize presence across Google Business Profile and other major listings, instrument conversion funnels beyond clicks, and monitor Copilot (and other AI assistant) behavior for changes. Meanwhile, product and policy observers should press Microsoft and similar vendors for clarity about sourcing choices, transparency in link attribution, and the rules that govern when an AI assistant links out to a competitors’ property.
The observed behavior is documented and replicated in public reporting, but whether it becomes a long-term design choice remains uncertain. Organizations that want to stay ahead should assume the multiplexer model (Copilot may source from many providers) is here to stay and adapt operationally rather than betting on a single search ecosystem. (seroundtable.com, microsoft.com, techcrunch.com)
Conclusion
The Copilot-to-Google-Maps routing is a pragmatic solution for Copilot’s immediate need to point users to authoritative local review content, but it creates strategic and competitive headaches for Microsoft, businesses, and the ecosystem. The incident highlights the new realities of AI-powered local search: assistants can and will stitch together the web’s best parts, but when they favor third-party properties for deeper engagement, the winners and losers will be decided by which platforms host the most trusted, complete, and conversion-ready local signals. Continued monitoring and cross-platform readiness will be the essential response for businesses and search professionals.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable Microsoft Copilot Links Local Reviews To Google Maps
