The Whitespark Local Update

This week, Claire Carlile is joined by special guest Krystal Taing to break down the local SEO stories you need to know, including: 📝 June 2026 AI Search News (Caroline Green, Carolyn Wilborn) 📝 New Gemini Features for Small Businesses | Grow with Google 📝 AI's brain is getting bloated with AI content (Megan Morrone) 📝 How to safely implement high-impact technical SEO changes (Dayna Lucio) 📝...

🔥 Whitespark Local Ranking Grids 🔥 This week, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are unpacking the local SEO stories you need to know, including: 📝 Connect your Google Business Profile to Gemini 📝 The Review Gap: Finding Client Opportunities In Competitor Feedback (Celeste Gonzalez on the Search Engine Journal Blog) 📝 GBP Help pages have been revised (Hiroko Imai) 📝 Google is bringing back GBP M...

This week on The Whitespark Local Update, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile break down the latest local SEO news, including: 📝 Study: How Review Profiles Impact Brand AI Visibility (Trustpilot and Seer Interactive) 📝 This is the AI prompt you need to track and aren't (Wil Reynolds) 📝 The Click Is Now Optional. Here’s What Isn’t. (Amanda Natividad) 📝 Colorado Banning Lead Gen Companies from Sellin...

Local SEO keeps changing with the speed of light, but Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are here to help you keep up. This week, they cover: 📝 AI Search, Speak Your Customer's Language or Be Left Out of the Conversation (Michelle Ali) 📝 Connect Google Business Profile to Google Analytics (Google) 📝 How to Rank in Surrounding Cities or Towns (Miriam Ellis) 📝 Google’s Review Reply Rejection Filter...

Local search was busy last week. Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw break down what happened, why it matters, and what you should do about it. This week, they cover: 📝 Why B2B Is MORE Emotional Than B2C (Amanda Natividad and Talia Wolf) 📝 Why Do We Need Zero Click Marketing? (Rand Fishkin) 📝 AI Mode + AI Overviews directly in Search Console (Chris Long) 📝 Google Business Profile Video Verification...

We are back with another episode of the Whitespark Local Update, where our host Darren Shaw and special guest Celeste Gonzalez discuss: 📝 Google Already Knows Everything About You — And Their New AI Features Make It Worse (Near Media) 📝 Your Feed Is the Product of a Stealth Marketing Campaign (Lane Brown) 📝 Google Maps just got an AI facelift (Claudia Tomina) 📝 The new playbook for localized A...

Big local search news dropped last week, and Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are here to break down what changed and why it matters. This week, they cover: 📝 Google Launches AI-Powered Search Box (Near Media Newsletter) 📝 2026 Google I/O Keynote Bingo (Britney Muller) 📝 Google intelligence and what it means for local SEO (Claudia Tomina) 📝 The ROI of Reputation Connecting Reviews to Revenue, Ra...

Local search keeps changing, and Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are here to make sense of it. This week, they cover: 📝 How Google’s Personal Intelligence is Quietly Revolutionizing Your Search Results with Garrett Sussman (Near Media) 📝 AI Citation Ranking Factor Analysis (Cyrus Shepard) 📝 RIP AI Overview Tracking (Dana DiTomaso) 📝 Google is now pulling Reddit threads directly into Google Busi...

Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back with a new episode of the Whitespark Local Update. Here’s what they cover in this one: 📝 17 Content Types to Survive Google’s Zero-Click Future (Cyrus Shepard) 📝 5 Data-Backed Features of Websites Winning Google in 2026 (Cyrus Shepard) 📝 Most pages are too long for AI agents to read (Myriam Jessier) 📝 Your GBP Photo Gallery just got Smarter (Google Small...

On this episode of the Whitespark Local Update, Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw bring you a fresh roundup of last week’s most important local SEO updates. They cover: 📝 Google Ask Maps is moving from listings to recommendations (Rich Sanger) 📝 ‘Restaurants’ and ‘coffee and dessert’ now have local service ads (Eric Levine) 📝 Schema Markup for Internal Knowledge Graphs to Support Topic Entity Stra...

We are back with another episode of the Whitespark Local Update, where our host Darren Shaw and special guest Claudia Tomina discuss: 📝 Google Business Profile Updates Identity Change Policy Language 📝 Why Are My Google Reviews Disappearing? What Businesses Need to Know About Google's New Review Policies and Algorithm Updates (Claudia Tomina) 📝 How a Topic Entity Update Increased AI Visibility...

Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back with another episode of the Whitespark Local Update. In this one, they talk about: 📝 Google Just Elevated Text Messaging to a Primary Conversion Action (Aaron Weiche) 🔥 Leadferno: https://leadferno.com/ 📝 Your guide to local search in the age of AI (Amanda Jordan, Wix Studio) 📝 A sk Maps inside the Google Maps app just got a lot more personal (Claudia To...

Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back with a new episode of the Whitespark Local Update. Here’s what they cover in this one: 📝 The Truth About Multi-Location Franchise SEO (And Why AI Isn’t What You Think) (NearMedia and Steve Wiideman) 📝 Brands, Imagery, Reviews & Intent Pages: What Actually Drives Multi-Location SEO Now (Part 2) (NearMedia and Steve Wiideman) 📝 If your local rankings ar...

Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back with another episode of the Whitespark Local Update. Here’s what they’re talking about today: 📝 Ask Maps in Google Maps – When Local Search Meets Gemini AI (Glenn Gabe) 📝 How we’re reimagining Maps with Gemini (Google’s Official Announcement) 📝 Google Reviews for Businesses: What the New Guidelines Mean for Your Local Reputation (Krystal Taing) 📝 Why Tri...

Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back with your weekly dose of local SEO goodness. Here’s what they’re talking about today: 📝 T he AI Playbook for Restaurants: What to Do Right Now (David “Rev” Ciancio) 📝 How should agencies build a business around Google Local Service Ads (LSAs)? (NearMedia) 📝 New Branded Queries Filter in Google Search Console 📝 I Built a 60,000-Page AI Website for $10: GP...

In this episode of the Whitespark Local Update, Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw discuss: 📝 New Research: Search Happens Everywhere; an Analysis of 41 Websites with Significant Search Activity (Rand Fishkin) 📝 AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It (Aruna Ranganathan and Xingqi Maggie Ye) 📝 The AI Prompt That Shows Why Your Contact Page Stinks (Andy Crestodina) 📝 The perfect local business con...

Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back again with another episode of the Whitespark Local Update Podcast. This time, they cover: 📝 Google’s Minimum Viable Content Refresh (Steve Toth) 📝 Google is Nudging Reviewers to Edit Their Past Reviews (Claudia Tomina) 📝 Reviews + The Real World: Learnings From Famed Restaurant Reviewer, Marilyn Hagerty (Miriam Ellis) 📝 Updated Privacy Guidelines for Sus...

The local search world never slows down, and Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are back to break down the biggest developments from the past week: 📝 How To Mine Google Search Console For Conversation Data (Regex Included) (Chris Long) 📝 Have AI Get Prices – Google Business Profiles – AI Talking to AI (Ben Fisher) 📝 Updated Google Business Profile Policies (Hiroko Imai) 📝 How to Create AI Personas...

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...

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, C...

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.) 📝 G oogle’s announcement on the ‘Universal Commerce Pro...

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 digi...

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...

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 ri...

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 Rul...