Grounding.In plain English.

Grounded answers can cite their sources and reflect recent changes, such as new hours or a new location. Answers without grounding rely on older training data.

Google defines grounding as connecting a model's output to verifiable sources of information. Its Gemini API offers grounding with Google Search, which Google says reduces hallucinations, covers recent events and adds citations, and grounding with Google Maps, which draws on places, reviews, addresses and opening hours for more than 250 million places.

Microsoft says Copilot grounds answers in the latest web information by sending Bing a short query, a few words based on the user's prompt rather than the prompt itself. OpenAI says its web search tool returns answers with inline citations to the pages it found.

That's why current listings matter for local businesses. A grounded answer reads what your profiles say today, not what they said last year, and a page that plainly says what you do, where and when is easier to find with a short search.

Example: someone asks an assistant whether a dental office is open on Saturdays. A grounded answer checks the office's current Business Profile hours instead of relying on what the model learned months ago.