Nobody knows this: you can optimize your Google Business Profile to rank in different languages. Here’s how:

Thoughts?

Do your rankings suck, or does your rank tracker suck? If you’re tracking rankings when your business is closed, your rankings may look a lot worse than they actually are. We just added a small but helpful feature to the Whitespark Local Ranking Grids that fixes this.

🚨 You need to know this: Google just updated its review guidelines, and a really common review strategy is now banned.

Google Posts Just Became Way More Powerful

🚨 More breaking news from Google: You can now edit videos directly in the Google Maps app prior to posting them! Find the full episode below or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

🚨 Breaking Google News: New Google Posts feature to set posts to repeat. Here's what you need to know 👇

Watch out for chickens and ducks

I know you know this client 😂

Did you see the new “Text Message” button in Google’s mobile Local Pack? Miriam Ellis covers this and 19 more local search developments from the first quarter of 2026 in her newest Local Search Roundup. Read it below to stay informed about the present and future of local search!

Google’s new Google Business Profile playbooks are actually really good, and you should take a look if you haven’t yet.

I bet you don’t know all of these Google Business Profile hacks. My latest YouTube video covers 6 of my most obscure Google Business Profile tips that you need to know.

Have you tried this new brand filter in Google Search Console? It reveals what Google THINKS your brand is. Here’s how to do it: 1. Go to Google Search Console 2. Click Performance > Search Results 3. Click Filter > Query 4. Select Branded queries

who forted? 😂

Citations are having a major revival because of AI. Unstructured citations are the #4 most important AI visibility factor in the 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey. Read @miriamellis.bsky.social’s new guide to know how you can earn these valuable unstructured citations.

Our client was outranking a major national brand and lost it overnight. Sometimes the biggest SEO losses aren’t caused by competitors, but by clients who inadvertently mess up their own SEO. Here’s what happened with one of our clients:

Google just added AI to Google Maps, and local businesses need to pay attention. Google’s new Ask Maps feature brings Gemini into Google Maps, letting people ask detailed questions about places and get personalized recommendations.

I have a brilliant review tip for you that you definitely haven’t heard before. My new Slovenian friend Tadevž Ropert used to own laundromats, and he found a clever way to generate Google reviews through Facebook ads.

Browsing r/googleReviews never disappoints 😂

🚨 Breaking Google News: Google is testing AI-generated replies for reviews in Google Business Profile.

People often forget about this when buying/selling a business: Transferring primary ownership of the Google Business Profile.

I analyzed nearly 3 months of trial signups data for our new software, and the biggest traffic source wasn’t Google. Whenever someone signs up, we ask them one simple question: “Where did you hear about Whitespark’s Local Ranking Grids?”

A Google Local Services Ads insider is now sharing all the LSA secrets. @clairecarlile.bsky.social and I discuss this and more in today's episode of the Whitespark Local Update. Find the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify!

Getting outranked just because someone stuffed keywords into their business name SUCKS. But there’s a good reason Google still allows it:

This might be one of the dumbest pieces of SEO advice I’ve ever heard (maybe even worse than geotagging your photos). Someone left this comment on one of my YouTube videos about removing negative Google reviews.

This 5-minute local SEO hack will make almost any local business more money. And 95% of your competitors still aren’t doing it.

This one simple Google Business Profile fix unlocked 7 new ranking opportunities for our gym client. When this client started working with Whitespark, we noticed they were only using one category on their Google Business Profile: “Gym”.

The statistic that 90% of searches happen on Google is outdated. The real number is more like 73% according to new research by @randfish.bsky.social. @clairecarlile.bsky.social and I talk about Rand’s findings and more in today’s podcast episode. Watch the full episode below!

All the AI SEO bros are telling you to use schema, but it turns out that it’s useless. There’s been a lot of discussion about this lately, and Mark Williams-Cook’s recent experiment might give us the answer. Here’s what he did:

Here’s a simple SEO tactic that almost nobody talks about, but it can drive surprisingly big results. @joyhawkins.bsky.social recently shared a 10-step Local SEO Audit checklist, and one tip in there really stood out to me: Consolidate your navigation.

@miriamellis.bsky.social's new guide is here! Read it below to learn how local businesses can utilize social media. Plus, get a free copy of the top 8 things that have worked for me in my personal social media journey!

We just launched an absolutely incredible new feature in Whitespark Local Ranking Grids, and you need to see it.

How do you structure your page in such a way that Google’s AI cites it in its answers? I love @dejanseo.bsky.social. He recently did some amazing technical research into Google’s “grounding snippets”, i.e. the sentences it selects from your page to then build its answer to the user’s query.

Ugh! Is there a way to contact a real human at Google Support? Yes, there is. Here’s a little trick most people don’t know about.

Here are some more absolute gems of business names. Happy Friday!

If you work in local search, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss 👇 I’ll be joining the brilliant Ben Fisher and Will Scott in a free live webinar all about AI and local SEO. March 4th (Wednesday), 3:00 pm EST.

Every local SEO who works with restaurants can learn a thing or two from Marilyn Hagerty.

Most SEOs don’t realize they can see AI search prompts inside Search Console. I saw this tip from Chris Long on LinkedIn, and it’s too good not to share. Try it out and let me know if you see any crazy prompts in your data!

My new @searchengineland.bsky.social article, “The perfect local business contact page built for Google and conversions”, is here! Read it below and find a handy checklist in there that you can use when you decide to update/build your Contact Page. Enjoy!

What if you could sit down with your ideal customer and ask them anything before updating your website, and use those answers to 10x your content’s conversion power?

Nobody knows this: you could get sued for spam fighting. Did you know that a business can subpoena Google and request a record of who’s been making edits to their Google Business Profile?

Hey, have you guys seen the organic results anywhere? I can’t seem to find them lately…

Most businesses are missing a huge opportunity with their Google Posts. They add photos to their Posts instead of videos. Videos stand out way more in the Google Posts feed, communicate more information in less time, and feel more authentic to potential customers.

There’s a wild black-hat SEO case study where Holly Starks put 100 cell phones in her car, turned on driving directions to a business, and that business jumped to #1 in rankings.

Whitespark’s YouTube channel just hit 1 000 000 views 🎉 Thank you all for watching our videos! ICYMI: Episode 20 of the Whitespark Local Update is now up on the channel, so go check it out if you haven’t

Have you seen the new “Insights” section on your Profile? Dipa Gandhi recently shared a screenshot of it, and it’s pretty cool. It highlights optimization opportunities right inside your Profile.

Local SEO hack you NEED to know: Google says you can only upload 30-second videos to your Google Business Profile. That’s what the guidelines say. But that’s not actually true.

Let’s settle this once and for all. The business Description is NOT a local ranking factor, even if you stuff it with keywords. Google does not use it as part of the local search algorithm.

No matter how good you are at local SEO, if your business sucks IRL, you’re not going to rank well. Luckily, @miriamellis.bsky.social’s new guide explains how to turn your real-world reputation efforts into local SEO wins. Read it below and get the free checklist!

Here’s a mistake I see businesses make all the time: They try to make one Google Business Profile rank for multiple categories. Well, it usually can’t. That’s just not how Google works.