In a year marked by the increase in the closure of companies in Brazil, the way in which businesses position themselves at points of search and contact with the consumer has become decisive for survival.
Data updated until August 2025 indicates that around 1.9 million companies closed their activities in the country, a number more than double that recorded in 2024, when approximately 800 thousand businesses closed their doors. The scenario reveals an increasingly competitive environment, especially for small and medium-sized companies, pressured not only by economic factors, but also by the difficulty of being found and recognized by consumers.
ToRafael Somera, CEO of Solutudo, a platform that connects local solutions to the population, the absence in digital environments where customers seek information has become a silent factor in market exclusion. "Today, if the company doesn't appear when the consumer searches, it simply gets on the radar. And if it doesn't get on the radar, it isn't considered", he states. According to him, the purchasing decision takes place before the first direct contact, during the research and comparison stage.
Consumer behavior has changed structurally. Google research shows that 93% of people research online before purchasing and go through, on average, three to six different channels before making a decision. Search engines, social networks, maps, institutional websites, evaluation platforms and, more recently, artificial intelligence tools have become part of this journey.
In this context, depending on a single visibility channel has become a high-risk strategy. "Consumer attention is fragmented. Betting everything on social networks or just Google leaves the company vulnerable to algorithm changes and sudden loss of reach", says Somera.
More than being discovered, companies began to be constantly verified. International studies by BrightLocal indicate that 99% of consumers read online reviews at some point in their journey, while data from Google itself shows that updated information, photos, responses to comments and consistent presence directly influence choice, especially in local businesses. “The consumer discovers it on one channel, but goes to others to confirm whether that company is trustworthy, whether it is active and whether other people speak highly of it,” explains Somera. “There is no point investing in paid traffic if, when checking, there are no reviews, updated content or signs that the business is alive.”
In practice, companies that do not take care of this integrated presence end up trapped in a silent cycle of lost opportunities. Outdated profiles, lack of basic information or inconsistency between channels generate distrust and lead consumers to return to the initial search. Research shows that complete pages, with updated photos and data, can generate up to three times more interactions than incomplete or abandoned pages.
Solutudo’s experience illustrates this movement. In the last 12 months, the platform registered more than 60 million hits and accounted for more than 3 billion views of content from companies registered on Google's first page, according to internal data. For Somera, the numbers reinforce that visibility is not just punctual presence, but constancy and coherence. "Consumers don't just want to find a company. They want to confirm that it is reliable, accessible and relevant. Being on multiple platforms today is not excess, it's survival", he states.
In an environment of heightened competition and increasingly impatient and suspicious consumers, a consistent presence at different search and contact points is no longer just a growth strategy. For many businesses, it has become a fine line between continuing to operate or closing their doors.
