Local Search News

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...