Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back to recap the most important local SEO developments from the past two weeks. In this episode, they cover:

📝 Google Reviews Bug on Chrome (Vinay Toshniwal)

📝 New “Insights” section in GBP (Dipa Gandhi)

📝 AI Isn’t Replacing Local Search (Crystal Carter on the NearMemo podcast)

📝 How to improve LSA visibility (Eric Levine on the NearMemo podcast)

📝 What if User Satisfaction is the most important factor in SEO? (Marie Haynes)

📝 Moving from a Google-shaped Web to an Agent-shaped Web (Mike King)

📝 Does Schema Help with AI Visibility? (Mark Williams-Cook)

😍 Whitespark Local Ranking Grids

Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back with a fresh roundup of the most important local SEO updates from last week. In this episode, they cover:

📝 Ranking in Google's AI Results in 2026 with Mike King (SterlingSky)

📝 The local SEO gatekeeper: How Google defines your entity (Claudia Tomina)

📝 Franchise Website Migration & Improved Local SEO For BTDT (Kick Point)

📝 We've Analysed 236 SEO, Content, Social, and Digital PR case studies (Rise at Seven)

📝 Whitespark’s Ultimate Guide to Local Business Reputation Management (Miriam Ellis)

📝 The Future of Brand Visibility: Optimizing for AI Citations with Dan Petrovic & Jes Scholz (Patrick Hathaway, Sitebulb)

📝 How To Contact GBP Support (Stefan Somborac)

It was a busy week in local SEO, so Claire and Darren are breaking down the updates you actually need to know.
In this episode, they talk about:

📝 Query Fan-Out in Practice: Turning One Search into an Omnimedia Content Plan (Francine Monahan)

📝 Tough Reinstatement Season Reminder (Vinay Toshniwal)

📝 Common Crawl is Interesting (Cyrus S.)

📝 Google’s announcement on the ‘Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)’

📝 What UCP Means for Ecommerce SEO: Preparing for Agentic Commerce (Aleyda Solis)

📝 Meta Title Tags Length SEO Experiment (Dr James Davidson)

📝 How to Clone Yourself (or make an AI advisor for anything) (Orbitmedia)

Your favorite local SEO podcast is finally back after the holidays and packed with local SEO goodness 🔥 In this episode, Claire and Darren discuss:

📝 Social profiles showing up in Search Console (Steve Toth)

📝 Google is pulling in “Today” justifications into the Local Pack from Instagram posts (Valentina Vasileva)

📝 1-Minute-a-Day Strategy for Getting More Yelp Reviews (Phil Rozek)

📝 Top digital marketing trends and predictions for 2026 (Phil Wilson)

📝 Why many firms should stop competing on reviews (NearMemo, Gyi Tsakalakis)

📝 The Google Business Profile 2-Hour Rule is a Myth (SterlingSky)

We’re wrapping up the year with a special episode of the Whitespark Local Update! Darren is joined by the one and only Mike Blumenthal from Near Media. In this episode, they discuss:

📝 Google Removing Q&A Feature In Google Maps For AI-Powered Ask Button (Barry Schwartz)
📝 A Guide to Web Guide: Our Hybrid Search Future (Dr. Peter J. Meyers)
📝 AI-generated VS Human-written SEO Content (Andrew van Rossenberg)
📝 People Prefer AI-written Content (Kevin Indig)
📝 The Global Wave of Deleted Google Reviews: What Our Data Reveals About AI, Law, and Trust (Michel van Luijtelaar)
📝 Complaints About Review Takedowns Are Rising (Mike Blumenthal)
📝 AI Mode and Agentic Local Results (Mike Blumenthal)
📝 Future of the SERP Is Dynamic (Near Media)
⭐Near Media Podcast

We are back with another episode of the Whitespark Local Update, where our host Claire Carlile and special guest Elizabeth Rule discuss:

📝 New weekly and monthly views in Search Console (Google)

📝 New AI-powered configuration in Search Console (Google)

📝 Google introduces social channels in Search Console

📝 Stop asking ChatGPT how it works (Britney Muller)

📝 Google review blocks are on the rise (Claudia Tomina)

📝 Google revamped the verification issue options in GBP Support forms (Claudia Tomina)

✍️ Sign up for the December Local U webinar: 3 Major Local SEO Threats to Prepare for in 2026

A lot happened in SEO last week, and we’re breaking down the updates you actually need to know. In this episode, we talk about:

📝 How geotagging photos affects Google Business Profile rank: Study (Search Engine Land, Jake Hundley)
📝 Anonymous Google Reviews Are Here: What Your Business Should Do Now (Whitespark, Allie Margeson)
📝 8-Step Business Name Change Checklist (SterlingSky, Elizabeth Rule)
📝 Google’s prompting guide 101
📝 Actionable AI For Marketers (Britney Muller)
📝 Secret AI Community: Orange Labs (Britney Muller)

Another busy week in SEO! Here’s the roundup of the biggest updates, weirdest bugs, and most interesting findings this week:

📝 The proximity paradox: Beating local SEO’s distance bias (Miriam Ellis)

📝 Ben Franklin Effect applied to asking for reviews (Sam Knight)

📝 RIP Service Area Ranking Factor (Claudia Tomina)

📝 Google Local Pack Links To Places Tab With Pagination Bug (Barry Schwartz)

📝 Google Business Profiles adds scheduling and multi-location publishing to Google Posts (Barry Schwartz)

⭐ Download your Google reviews with the Whitespark Local Platform