For years, the online playbook for a small business was fairly simple: Build a website, make sure Google could find it, post on social media and hope customers followed the trail.

That trail is changing.

Google Search, once known mostly for sending users to other websites, is increasingly giving people answers directly on the search results page. Artificial intelligence summaries, business panels, maps, snippets, videos, reviews and other Google-owned features now answer many questions before a user ever clicks through to a business, news site, tourism page or event listing.

For New Glarus businesses, that change may seem distant or technical. But it could affect something very practical: whether people searching for restaurants, shops, lodging, events, contractors, attractions or “things to do in New Glarus” ever reach the websites where those businesses tell their own stories.