March 31, 2025 /
All industries / Apple Updates
Apple is preparing to launch iOS 18.4, and with it comes a notable change for iPhone users in the European Union: the ability to set a third-party navigation app such as Google Maps or Waze as the default, replacing Apple Maps. Until now, users have been locked into Apple’s native app for navigation, even though the company began allowing default...
February 4, 2025 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Google has introduced AI Overviews to its Circle to Search functionality on Android devices, adding a new layer of intelligence to visual search. For those unfamiliar, Circle to Search allows users to highlight any product within an image or video by circling it, providing shopping results based on their selection. For example, circling a winter jacket prompts Google’s AI to...
February 4, 2025 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Google took another step in incorporating AI into all its services, with its latest attempt appearing to be a Google Q&A enhancement. For those unaware, Google Q&A is a feature incorporated into all Google listings, allowing users to ask any question about a business and have it answered by the public or the listing owner. These are often used for...
February 4, 2025 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Google has reportedly fixed the Google Maps pin attack exploit that had been lingering since at least June of last year. Spammers were able to manipulate a business’s Google Maps pin placement, moving it to an inaccurate location. With proximity being a major search ranking factor, and the moved pin surrounded by dozens of other maliciously placed listings, this exploit...
February 4, 2025 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
What was presumed to be an unannounced Core Algorithm Update caused far more drastic changes in rankings than similar updates in the past. Many businesses that were once in the local three-pack dropped into the teens or lower. This happened across all industries and businesses of every size, making it difficult to track exactly who was affected or why. With...
December 5, 2024 /
All industries / Apple Updates
Apple made a recent announcement that included some important items related to Apple Business Connect. As per Apple, “For the first time, businesses of all sizes around the world — even those without a physical presence — can manage the way they appear to over 1 billion Apple users using Apple Business Connect. Any verified business can now create a...
December 5, 2024 /
Retail / Algorithm Updates
Google has introduced a new shopping feature in Google Lens. For those unfamiliar, Google Lens is Google’s AI-powered image identification technology, enabling users to search via photos and videos, along with other image-related functionalities. One of these new features allows shoppers to obtain real-time price comparisons and local inventory searches simply by taking a photo of any product they see....
December 5, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
When searching on Google Maps, users will now see “Products Nearby” alongside the usual assortment of business locations. This is an even more direct way to show consumers the exact items they’re looking for, rather than just leading them to a business that stocks those products. According to Google: “Now, you can search in Google Maps for items like pickleball...
December 5, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Google announced a large-scale core algorithm update this past month. These routine updates are necessary to ensure the overall health of ranking algorithms—a collection of minor tweaks that aren’t noteworthy individually. However, something notable about this update is that it seems to have exacerbated the changes made to sites affected by the September 2023 Helpful Content Update. Approximately 22% of...
October 31, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
At Google’s annual developer conference, I/O, they announced a host of new AI features coming to search. Some are launching immediately, impacting both organic and paid search result pages. Several new AI shopping features are also now available to the public. With all these changes rolling out in 2024, just ahead of the holiday season, no marketer can afford to...
October 31, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
With the numerous benefits that a Google Business Profile provides, even for service area businesses without a fixed address, few businesses pay for ads without also managing a Google listing. However, for those holdouts, it will now be mandatory. Google issued a notice stating: “By Thursday, 21 November 2024, your Local Services ad will need a matching Google Business Profile...
October 31, 2024 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
Many businesses and consumers view reviews as a one-off event, but Google is aiming to make the process more dynamic. Google has allowed the editing and deletion of reviews for some time, but a recent update makes this capability more prominent, with a new “Edit/Delete” button on the same line as the review’s star rating and date. The objective is...
October 31, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Losing verification of your Google profile locks you out of listing features and requires significant time to navigate back to verified status. Claiming one’s listings is one of the first and most crucial steps a business undertakes to optimise its online presence, so reverting these listings to an unclaimed status is a substantial setback for marketers. Business owners would go...
October 22, 2024 /
All industries / Apple Updates
Apple’s September press event focused heavily on the new iPhone 16, including a new online search feature reminiscent of Google’s Google Lens AI offerings. Apple announced Apple Visual Intelligence, a feature utilizing the iPhone camera that lets users automatically search online using the content of their photos. If this sounds familiar, it’s because nearly identical functionality has been present in...
October 22, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
To the surprise of many legitimate businesses, they woke up to the following message regarding their Google Business Profiles. Either due to a glitch or a failed attempt at curtailing spam, Google mass disabled many businesses in certain categories. The affected sectors include: Garage Door Services Waste Management Personal Injury Lawyers These business categories, and many others, are typically rife...
October 22, 2024 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
Google wants businesses to utilize every aspect of their Google Business Profiles, and now the search engine is encouraging this even further by combining different listing attributes. Reviews are already a major part of rankings, with Google taking into consideration not only star rating but also volume, freshness, and the text content of those reviews. All of this is done...
October 14, 2024 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
Last month, the United States Federal Trade Commission enacted a law banning fake reviews, following earlier consumer practices introduced by the EU’s Digital Services Act. In what appears to be a move to comply with these new legal requirements, Google is taking additional steps to crack down on fake reviews, an issue that has become more prevalent this year due...
September 5, 2024 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
Fake reviews have been a constant problem on Google, Amazon, Yelp, and other platforms where users leave feedback. It was always annoying for consumers to encounter such things, with bad actors consistently padding their numbers by reviewing themselves or offering incentives for others to leave them positive feedback, but these issues have only gotten worse in recent years. Rather than...
September 5, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Ratings and Reviews
Two months ago, a Google Maps exploit came to light where bad actors moved competitor pins to where they would lose all traffic. Before that, service area businesses suffered a major attack through a Local Service Ads loophole. Google also started the year by suffering under the weight of a massive spam attack. Well, it now seems it’s a specific...
September 5, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Every business under the sun is pushing new AI features, but Google has just released one with a tangible time-saving benefit. Now, by using only a photo of your physical menu, Google makes it possible to automatically generate a digital copy to upload to your Google Business Profile. This is more than uploading a PDF; this is Google taking each...
September 5, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Despite what many would consider a less-than-ideal launch for Google’s AI Overviews, the feature seems to be here to stay. Though scaled back to now appear in about 4% of all queries, this still results in a substantial number of daily users experiencing the feature. That number is only going to increase as Google has now expanded AI Overviews into...
August 1, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Google Business Profile
What has only been assumed as a ranking signal in the past has now been confirmed through a report put together by SEO experts. Restaurants have a variety of ways they can upload their menu items onto their Google Business Profile, including through links, photos, and Google’s own menu transcription. Posting your menu online has always been considered a best...
August 1, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Google announced that its URL shortener service will stop working completely on August 25, 2024. Some may not be aware of the service as they have never intentionally typed a goo.gl address into a browser, but these shortened URLs actually serve common business purposes. When businesses generate QR codes, request reviews, or provide a restaurant menu, these shortened goo.gl URLs...
August 1, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
For those uninitiated, Google’s “AI Overviews” are attempts by the search engine to integrate AI into standard search engine queries. These overviews take the content of the search, the user’s history, and other factors to answer the user’s questions without needing to navigate away from the billboarded results. The launch of AI Overviews has been fraught with issues, however. From...
August 1, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Negative SEO is the practice of intentionally sabotaging a competitor by trying to make them appear to Google as if that competitor is spam. This is primarily done by linking low-quality websites back to the legitimate website, attempting to create an association between that business and scams, regulated industries, and other websites which search engines deprioritize. However, while these negative...
July 1, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
An automated bot leaked documents from Google’s internal Content API Warehouse. The documents demonstrated features of Google’s Search ranking algorithm, listing more than 2,500 modules and over 14,000 attributes that go into ranking websites. Many well-known factors such as clicks, links, content, entities, and Chrome data all go into rankings, with the document revealing the relevance, or lack thereof, of...
July 1, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google will be shutting down the Google Business Profile chat and call history feature on July 31, 2024. Chat functionality will continue through July 15th, but all features and historic data will see complete removal at the end of that month. Despite Google Business Messaging being a successful and highly convenient customer touchpoint, Google continues its “Launch, Promote, Abandon” cycle....
July 1, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google is now adding a wheelchair-accessible icon to the business profiles that have self-reported accessibility attributes. In addition, businesses that have uploaded menus now have an icon making those menus immediately accessible in the business profile side panel. This differentiates from a menu’s other placement which would require users focusing on a specific business to view the menu option, removing...
July 1, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
What once appeared to be a potential bug in Google Maps’ pin placement has been revealed to be malicious attacks against local businesses. The issue that listing managers saw was their pin placements not only being highly inaccurate but also placed in areas crowded with dozens of other inaccurately placed businesses. While this error had the signs of being a...
June 7, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
The rise of AI has led every tech company, from the smallest startups to the largest corporations, to adopt this remarkable technology. Google is no exception, having integrated AI into its major products, namely Google Search and Google Maps. Google’s new AI Overview (previously known as the Search Generative Experience) utilises artificial intelligence to provide a more robust, personalised, and...
June 7, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Service areas were previously thought to have no impact on rankings for a Service Area Business, but recent tests have demonstrated that they are indeed a relevant ranking factor. While historically, setting the service area had no influence on your Google local rankings, this has now changed. Recent tests by SEO experts have shown that businesses, which were once unaffected...
June 7, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Apple is committed to providing the best possible navigation experience for its users, and if this requires closing some businesses, then so be it. If Apple doubts the accuracy of the information it provides to its users, it finds it preferable to remove the listing from its directory altogether. Rather than risk directing customers to a business outside of operating...
June 7, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
In a much-needed update to Apple Maps’ relaunch, Apple Business Connect now enables marketers to include Calls-To-Action (CTAs) in their local listings. These CTAs can range from scheduling an appointment and requesting a quote, to purchasing tickets for a promoted event. Such features are crucial for online listing marketing, as they minimise the gap between a customer’s initial interest in...
May 2, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
In time for 2024’s Earth Day, Google announced a slew of new Google Travel and Google Maps features aimed around sustainable choices, as well as improved utilities for electric vehicles. For marketers with EV Charging stations, ensuring proper data management continues to be a priority. Updates to Google Maps, Travel, and Search 1. Driving alternatives in Google Maps: Google’s driving...
May 2, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Google Business Profile
Compliance and regulations unique to the European market are seeing changes in the way hotels are handled on Googles SERP. The Digital Markets Act forbid Google and other tech giants from having preferential rankings for their first-party reviews and sales platforms. As such, Google’s built-in and default hotel price comparison feature is now something that European hotels can opt out...
May 2, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Algorithm Updates
Google released several minor updates to Google Business Profiles (GBPs). Individually, they are small changes but cumulatively, business owners shouldn’t ignore this shift in the digital landscape. The first will settle an issue that many restaurant owners face. Google now allows for a preferred source to where users can see online menus. This update will ensure that users see the...
April 1, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
This past month, Google released its first large-scale core algorithm update of 2024. These are routine updates which are necessary to ensure the general health of ranking algorithms, a collection of minor tweaks that aren’t worth note individually. Google did however highlight its additional March spam update, stating that the latest patch should result in 40% less spam content across...
April 1, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
oogle announced at the beginning of this year that it would drop support for the webpages it automatically generates from Google Business Profiles (GBPs). As of March 5th, 2024, these websites now redirect back to the GBP and on June 10th, these links will instead lead to “page not found” errors. For small businesses with little additional information to post...
April 1, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google Business Profiles (GBPs) can now show services with bookable buttons. Local panels have had the option for booking button since 2017 but now they are also available within profile’s service section. The services section is also now separated into two sub-menus on mobile. The first tab is “Bookable services”, where you can find a “Book” button next to each...
April 1, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google steadily lowered the value of a social media presence as a ranking factor on its Search Engine Results Page (SERP) until it became a non-factor. Over a decade ago, every business was encouraged to link their social accounts and regularly post to give them a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) boost. Google has since toned down the ranking factor of...
March 4, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Google Business Profile
In a recent update, Google has mandated that all third-party food providers such as UberEats, Skipthedishes, and Grubhub, include a dedicated opt-out landing page within the Google Business Profile (GBP) dashboard. This page must clearly outline the steps a merchant can follow to disconnect their GBP from any booking, waitlist, or food ordering application. Google documents have been updated with...
March 4, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google Local Service Ads (LSA), also known as Google Guaranteed Ads, are at the top of the results page above the local pack and are an advertising product intended for service area businesses. Their intent is to promote trusted and immediately accessible contractors, plumbers, repairmen, and other local service providers. There was however a vulnerability in this ad space that...
March 4, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google has begun to rollout a new AI-Powered Local Business Search for select local guides in the U.S. More than a test, soft launches such as these are given to a smaller group of users to confirm functionality, the kinks ironed out before programs see mass adoption. Once the new AI Local Business Search is proven to work through this...
March 4, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is beginning its implementation within Google, Amazon, Facebook, and other major tech gatekeepers. The purpose of this act is for tech companies to avoid “self-preferencing”, meaning that they cannot intentionally give their own service and product offerings greater exposure than those of competing businesses. What this means for a consumer that is researching something like smart...
March 4, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Starting in late January and flowing into February, a bug occurred with Google’s driving directions metric. Many business listings saw a significant increase in this KPI seemingly without reason. Google initially made the following comment on the issue: “Starting in January 2024, you might see fewer direction requests. This is because Google is making updates to better protect people’s privacy...
January 29, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
In the typical “Promote, Launch, Abandon” cycle that is prevalent in the tech world, Google is shutting down its once incredibly convenient auto-generated websites. These websites will stop working on 1 March 2024 and will only redirect to a Google Business Profile listing until 10 June 2024. After that, anyone who tries to go to that listing will get a...
January 29, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Google Business Profile
Google has been testing out a new local search box titled “Nearby events and deals.” The title is rather self-explanatory but what is important to note is where Google pulls this information from. Google relies heavily on its first-party software, meaning that this new feature will pull almost entirely from Google Business Profiles. This means if businesses want to be...
January 29, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
A recent paper from the Leipzig University, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and ScaDS.AI in Germany revealed that not only are there increased issues with Google search but also Bing and DuckDuckGo. The study looked at 7,392 unique search queries, generally in the product reviews category, where they scrapped the search results every two weeks between 26 October 2022, and 19 September 2023....
January 29, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Circle to Search: Google launched its “Reverse Image Search” functionality in 2011. This impressive piece of technology allowed users to seek out an images origin as well as finding other places online where that identical image was posted. Through over a decade of development, Reverse Image Search now allows users to find images with similar but not identical content. Google’s...
January 29, 2024 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Google started 2024 off strong with a highly impactful Local Ranking Algorithm Update in the first week of January. This is not a named update with specific goals in mind, but we saw far higher ranking volatility with this routine tweak than seen from similar ones in months prior. Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, it means that your...
January 23, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Google Business Profile
Google seems to be testing allowing searchers to “heart” and other emoji reactions a photo in the local search results. This can be a way for Google to learn if the images uploaded to the hotel listing is useful to searchers and maybe also help searchers interact with the Google local search results more.
January 23, 2024 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Google Business Profile
Google is testing showing a justification (or label) for local restaurant listings within Google Search and Google Maps that says “serves vegetarian dishes” with a green leaf icon.
January 23, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google struggled to contain a massive spam attack that took place over the last two weeks of December. Many spam domains ranked for hundreds of thousands of keywords each, an indication that the scale of the attack easily reached into the millions of keyword phrases.
January 23, 2024 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Before creating your Google Business Profile listing, make sure you are using the right language. If not, it may cause serious issues for you in the long run where the services will be wrong and will appear in that language. A Local Search Forum thread highlights this issue where the language entered for one Google Business Listing was in Ukrainian....
January 23, 2024 /
All industries / Restaurants and Hospitality / Algorithm Updates
The Local SEO world is ablaze with a new report, which DAC and our clients already held as common knowledge. This report showed that hours impact local pack rankings, a lot. When Google builds a SERP, the time of day is important, and Google likes to show businesses that are open at the time of the search.
December 6, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google Maps experimented with allowing users to follow individual businesses. This meant alerts for Google Posts, events, and other major updates for the local listing. Google is now taking that a step further by allowing users to not only follow specific businesses but to tailor their search experience to their personal topics of interest. Some users will begin to see...
December 6, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Service area businesses have often had a problem with verifying their businesses on Google. As typical verification methods require pictures of signage and other aspects of a physical location, those that travel to their clients do not readily possess the tools to verify who they are. This has also resulted in a lot of industries dealing with rampant spam, fake...
December 6, 2023 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Google wrote “On October 5, we found a bug with how our October 2023 core update was applied to Discover. As of October 31, we fixed the bug. Some sites may see an increase in Discover-related traffic, as a result of this bug fix,” Following the announcement of this bug fix, Google announced a different algorithm update, this one intent...
December 5, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
A month can’t go by without Google updating the available attributes to assign a Google Business Profile. Such an astounding success since they were made commonplace in 2020, Google now sees the feature as a necessity for every Maps listing to utilise. The first of this month’s batch are types you’d expect, a few meant for specific industries and then...
December 5, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google Maps expanded AI features for route preview, visual search, and electric vehicle charging. These AI features are currently live in the U.S, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K. Highlights of this update include: Immersive View feature that shows detailed 3D previews of routes on Google Maps. The Maps Lens tool using AI and AR is expanding to over 50 more cities...
November 6, 2023 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
A slew of updates for Google occurred in Q3 and the during the start of Q4. Google saw recent completion of its October 2023 core update. This happened concurrently with the October 2023 spam update and only weeks after Google finished rolling out the August 2023 and September 2023 core updates. October’s update saw several bugs occur, including a massive...
November 6, 2023 /
All industries /
Apple Maps is a mapping service developed by Apple Inc. It was first introduced in 2012 as a replacement for Google Maps on iOS devices. Since then, Apple has continuously worked to improve its mapping service, adding features, and enhancing accuracy, leading to a full relaunch in 2023. “Apple Business Connect” is Apple’s answer to Google Business Profiles. To have...
November 6, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Online listings for medical professionals saw massive updates in the past three years. Telehealth and online appointment booking made commonplace due to the pandemic. While the need for these services has calmed since their peak, there are certain services that are now expected by modern users. One feature that all listings are expected to contain is the ability to book...
November 6, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google has added two new attributes for businesses listed in Google Business Profiles. These attributes are “identifies as disabled-owned” and “identifies as Indigenous-owned.” Google said, “When businesses choose to identify as disabled-owned and/or Indigenous-owned in their Business Profile, the attribute will appear on their listings in Maps and Search. This update builds on our existing business attributes, including Asian-owned, Black-owned, Latino-owned,...
November 6, 2023 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Google Business Profile
Google began a test in letting its users set permanent food preferences in their profiles. Using the gear icon within your map settings, users will be able to choose several options related to personal taste and/or dietary restrictions. This would be a convenient filtering option for users but indicates greater necessity for businesses to give data to Google. Google listings...
October 16, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
While businesses in the gaming, cannabis, tobacco, and adult entertainment industries are legal in the areas where they operate, strict regulation of their content has made it difficult to promote their services online. Google however is now behaving more amicably towards adult-oriented businesses, adding new lines under the “adult-themed content” section of their terms of service. Where once a listing...
October 16, 2023 /
Google Business Profile / Healthcare
Google seems to add new attributes to is listings every month. Just in August the new “Pets Allowed” attribute went live and now in September, Google is adding the attributes for “Nursing Rooms” and “Children Allowed.” Businesses intended for a long stay, such as airports, would find it a necessity to specify if they have rooms for mothers to feed...
October 16, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
In a small test within the US, Google has begun showing third-party reviews along with its usual Google reviews. This is the first time in over a decade since Google has done this for non-hotel listings. It does not seem that Google would wish for all business types to replicate the unique profile style of the hospitality industry, but this...
October 16, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile /
Few millennials answer their phones and a large portion of that issue stems from the rampant abuse of robocalls. Businesses don’t have the luxury of ignoring when their phone rings however and when the spam calls come in, someone will be on the other end of the line listening to the annoying message. Larger issues than wasted time are occurring...
August 31, 2023 /
Ratings and Reviews
Google often generates an “editorial summary” on the top of listings, a short two sentence description of what the business can offer a customer. This summary pulls from reviews, the business’s website, and the business’s own owner description to try to succinctly explain the organization. It’s essentially written by AI. While these summaries are often mediocre, Google attributes that to...
August 31, 2023 /
Ratings and Reviews
When a business receives enough reviews on Google, users examining those reviews will start to see keywords available to filter feedback by topic. This section is called “Place Topics”. The top of a business’s review section will show commonly mentioned features such as customer service, individual products, or other unique aspects of the business. Along with this type of filtration,...
August 31, 2023 /
Google Business Profile
A new attribute now exists in Google Business Profile under the heading “Pets”. Business owners can now specify if dogs are allowed inside and/or outside their business establishment. This follows a slew of attributes that Google has released over the past two years such as veteran-owned or LGBTQ+ friendly, and the multitude of recycling and environmental indicators. These attributes often...
August 31, 2023 /
Google Business Profile
In a gradual rollout, Google is now allowing businesses to add links to their social media directly on their business profiles. Businesses can add their Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, (X) Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms to their listings on both search and Maps. While businesses can only add one link per platform, Google allows for the same...
July 28, 2023 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Along with Google’s expansion into AI Search Generative Experiences, Bing announced several new features in Bing Search, Chat, and the Edge sidebar. The features include AI-generated buying guides, AI-generated review summaries, new price match monitors, and the ability to upload images into Chat for a visual search. Buying Guides: Bing now incorporates AI with user’s purchase profiles to suggest categories...
July 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile / Algorithm Updates
Google introduced a new Search Generative Experience, that being a search engine results page that incorporates AI elements. What someone will notice with these generative experiences is that they show above everything else. The section for the local 3 pack is also expanded to include a 5 pack. DAC has also discovered that ranking for this generative local pack follows...
July 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
It’s shown time and time again that including all the categories you can on your Google Business Profile will give a substantive increase to your rankings. As one of the simplest and yet most impactful optimization methods a business can undergo, there is no reason why a listing shouldn’t utilize this feature. Even a slight boost in rankings can lead...
July 28, 2023 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Canadian news organizations will see a significant fall in search and social media traffic from July onward. The Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18, limits the ability of third-party platforms to display the content of Canadian news articles, without either guiding users to the news outlet for full information or otherwise paying a “link tax” as compensation. The...
June 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
It is well known that offering incentives for reviews such as discounts, gift cards, or giveaways goes against Google’s terms of service. This is being emphasized further by Google stating that charitable donations also go against these terms. Google specified that donations would fall under the fake engagement policy, which reads, “Paying, incentivizing or encouraging the posting of content that...
It is well known that offering incentives for reviews such as discounts, gift cards, or giveaways goes against Google’s terms of service. This is being emphasized further by Google stating that charitable donations also go against these terms. Google specified that donations would fall under the fake engagement policy, which reads, “Paying, incentivizing or encouraging the posting of content that...
June 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
It may seem obvious that failing to specify a physical address will impact your business listings, but Google itself has misled users with its policies. Google’s own guidelines state: “Important: If you don’t serve customers at your business address, do not enter an address under the “Info” tab in Business Profile Manager. Leave the “business location” field blank.” Service area...
June 28, 2023 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
Spam is overbearing for Google, especially with AI such as ChatGPT increasing the volume and undetectability of the problem. With Google’s automatic systems consistently failing to prevent spam (only 20% of it was removed in 2022), it falls on business owners to manually remove the content that is costing them leads. To assist in this manual process, Google released a...
June 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Google constantly struggles against spam. In October of last year, it specifically targeted the search engine optimizations spammers use to outrank legitimate businesses. In February, Google then tried to purge listing and review spam, but accidentally removed legitimate content in the process. The problem has only grown worse with Google admitting that its attempts only managed to block 20% of...
28 May 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile / Algorithm Updates
Google has been testing placing the “services” tab as the first action displayed when users interact with when viewing a local listing. This tab offers a quick look into what a business can provide a customer without them needing to navigate a business’s website. A house painter for example could list services such as “fence painting” or other such tasks...
28 May 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile / Algorithm Updates
Over the past 90 days, instances of the local pack have been severely reduced in local search results. What was assumed a bug has sparked a different theory given its persistent presence and lack of response from Google. A change that appears to lower the quality of search results may be a test by Google to understand the impact of...
May 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile / Algorithm Updates
Google is now able to show your businesses address in multiple languages within Google Maps and in the Google local search results. Google previously only displayed addresses into the translated language of the user but now show the user’s local language as well as the exact address. While this may not be relevant for many businesses, for those in travel...
May 28, 2023 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews / Algorithm Updates
Yelp has launched three new features which it claims are to “transform the user experience and boost engagement.” While the platform has been failing to find success outside its initial niche of restaurant reviews, Yelp is hoping that at least one of these new features will help change that. Yelp Guaranteed: A satisfaction guarantee program for quotes from Home Service professionals....
May 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
The trend of Google calling business location to confirm hours of operations continues but Google has now begun a second method of verifying more than just hours. Along with calls, Google is now texting businesses when their listed number is capable of receiving messages. This is verifying not only hours of operation but other aspects of the business profile which...
April 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
While LPM is almost always about organic and free traffic to your listings, there is occasionally paid ad news substantive enough to warrant its inclusion. Google has recently launched Online-Conversion Local Ads, a subset of the Online Local Ads (OLA). This new ad format allows for business owners to promote products or services relevant to specific locations, not something that...
April 28, 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
The Google March 2023 broad core update completed its rollout after 13 days. Starting on March 15th and finishing March 28th, we are now seeing the effects of this update through April. While the changes from many core updates are imperceptible and only general SEO best practices can be used to comply with them, this latest update appears to target...
28 April 2023 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
In a completely unsurprising use case for AI, bad actors are using tools such as ChatGPT to generate fake reviews on Google. The platform already had a spam problem, but now fake lead-stealing listings will appear more legitimate, and honest businesses will be plagued with even more defamatory material. Google already struggled with removing spam on their platform, only blocking...
28 April 2023 /
Travel / Google Business Profile
Google announced three new features for Google travel including a new story format for hotel bookings, price guarantees for some flights and discover tools for locations. Hotel rooms can be viewed like Stories now Google introduced a swipeable story format when looking at hotel properties or other places to stay. Users can tap through photos of the hotel and get...
31 March 2023 /
All industries / All industries / Algorithm Updates / Algorithm Updates
Google implemented the first broad core update of 2023. The generality of it left it with the name “March 2023 broad core update.” It began on March 15, 2023, at about 10:30 am ET and will take about two weeks to roll out. Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, it means that your site can do better or worse...
31 March 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Bug 1: GBP services display incorrect pricing (sometimes free) Services have become a big part of Google Business Profiles. General business categories such as “painters” love the ability to rank for far more specific queries such as “fence painting” and that is made possible by including all their standard and custom services within their profile. Services have the option to...
31 March 2023 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Ratings and Reviews
Google now lets some reviewers leave reviews specifically recommending dishes from the restaurant where they ate. Frequently mentioned dishes will fill automatically but diners can manually add any food or dish they wish to recommend. This comes as an obvious boon to restaurant owners as specifying menu items in their reviews, Google posts, and elsewhere helps their listings rank when users...
31 March 2023 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
With Google aiming to be the top review platform in every category, it is now also discouraging adding embedded reviews from non-Google sources. Google’s John Mueller was asked if it would help with web rankings in Google to embed reviews from sites like Facebook, Bing, Yelp, etc., on your website and John stated bluntly that it would not. Google wishes...
31 March 2023 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
Google has updated the Google Maps User Contributed Content Policy around prohibited and restricted content. Specifically, Google updated the definition of personal information under the Civil discourse section and fake engagement under the Deceptive content section. The personal information section has been expanded greatly to include: “Do not distribute or post personal information without consent. Personal information is defined as information that applies to...
28 February 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
It is well known that having a robust Google Business Profile will positively impact rankings. The idea that any aspect that can be filled in, should be filled in, remains true. However, one aspect of profiles that has seen an uncharacteristically high change to how it affects rankings is Google Services. In a study conducted this past month, it was...
28 February 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Comparing year over year metrics is a very important process for businesses. Seeing your growth over time is a great measure of how your business is performing. For businesses that also work with seasonality, comparing year over year is the only viable way to compare metrics. Google however is changing their GBP Insights for views. Comparing that KPI for any...
28 February 2023 /
Automotive / Google Business Profile
In a niche update but one that is very impactful for ones within that industry, Google is opening up its local car inventory beta to all US vehicle dealerships. This means that car and other vehicle inventories will be able to show up straight in the Google Business Profile. For users searching for a specific make or model, this can...
28 February 2023 /
All industries / Algorithm Updates
During a recent livestream in Paris, Google announced a number of features coming to Google Lens, Google Translate, and most important to Local Presence Management, Google Maps. Google has deemed the AI that is bringing improvements to these platforms as Google Bard, it’s answer to ChatGPT. Google is rolling out new Map features for electric vehicles, glanceable directions, immersive views,...
31 January 2023 /
Restaurants and Hospitality / Algorithm Updates
Some restaurants have included a “Join Waitlist” button on their Google listings through third party “Reserve with Google” partners. It now appears that Google includes a secondary button that allows users to “Check Wait Times”, without implying they are looking to commit to any type of waitlist. The previous join button would be followed up by questions such as “party...
31 January 2023 /
All industries / Google Business Profile
Through changes made to the Google Business Profile API, mainly the deprecation schedule, we have learned of large alterations to what metrics Google listings will be able to report in the near future. As of February 20th, 2023, Google will no longer give data on the following: Search Count Discovery Direct Branded Photo Views Photo Count Google Local Post View...
31 January 2023 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
Every month comes with new review updates from Google. With them looking to become the premier review platform for every type of business from restaurants to lawyers, it is not a surprise that Google is now encouraging users to add even more substantive information to their feedback. There are currently new data fields available for some users when leaving reviews...
31 January 2023 /
All industries / Ratings and Reviews
Many a business owner have noticed their total review counts going down in February. This is due to a tried and partially failed attempt at Google purging spam and other reviews that went against their terms of service. Google has been overzealous in this latest attempt however and over the past month, many legitimate and positive reviews have been disappearing...