/loc/ - Local SEO

saw some roofing guy losing 50% of his lsa impressions overnight. happened right after google confirmed a business name change on the 17th. gbp is still verified and organic looks fine, so it's not a total profile wipe. clearly some internal re-review is happening behind the scenes. im sure they're just recategorizing him manually or something equally stupid. absolute top % dropped hard too. honestly feels like google hates any kind of consistency lately. i wouldn't touch a name change on an active lsa account unless it was absolutely necessary. probably worth checking if your clients are seeing similar dips after edits. its always the small updates that break everything.

https://localsearchforum.com/threads/lsa-impressions-dropped-50-after-business-name-change-possible-internal-re-review.63425/

google's new tool for search campaigns is gonna be a disaster for local clients. it basically just copies your budget without any currency conversion, so $100 usd becomes $100 usd in another country. plus it tries to in-paint text out of images using generative ai. im sure the quality will be spoilerabsolute garbage/spoiller.

found this here: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-ai-campaign-localization-tool-42221.html

seeing these audits where traffic graphs just drop 90 percent is terrifying. i am already struggling to keep my plumber client's leads steady without some massive site audit nightmare hitting us next week.

full read: https://www.sterlingsky.ca/google-core-algorithm-updates/

seeing those emails about reviews being temporarily paused is such a headache. apparently google detected some spike in spam and just shut everything down to protect the rating. it's super frustrating because i've got a cafe client who's been working so hard to get new feedback this week. if they're pulling all new ratings and user contributions, we're basically flying blind for a bit. i hate when they use that line about mitigating risk without actually saying how long the pause lasts. it's always vague and leaves you guessing. i was just checking on a plumber's profile after a bad week and now everything is just frozen. really makes you wonder if their spam filters are just broken lately. honestly,it's such a mess for anyone trying to maintain steady growth. hope it doesn't stay stuck like this for weeks.

article: https://localsearchforum.com/threads/google-temporarily-pausing-reviews-email.63416/

sometimes you gotta ditch the main category for certain neighborhoods. i've been seeing success with adding secondary categories that only match specific suburbs. it helps when the main business type is too broad for a tight radius. just don't overdo it or google will flag the profile for spam. ime it works best if you use niche terms like residential plumbing instead of just plumber. keeps the map pack relevant for the specific area we're targeting.

the client's idea of using an office room where they can't even get mail is a disaster for verification. trying to set up a hotel conference room as a second spot alongside that is going to be a nightmare for the maps listing. anyone handled a service area business setup with no physical presence like this before?

https://localsearchforum.com/threads/new-business-with-multiple-locations-question.63407/

seeing reports where rankings jump 30% while leads drop 40%. seems like google is just burying organic results under ads again. also that bit about chatgpt ignoring google reviews entirely. im not sure how we're supposed to optimize for ai visibility if the data isn't even there.

more here: https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-275-rankings-up-calls-down-what-ai-visibility-is-really-worth-to-local-businesses-part-2/

google's testing this thing where you just type out your hours in plain text and it extracts them for the maps panel.
>Google will then use AI to interpret them
it's gonna be a nightmare mess when the ai hallucinates a 24/7 schedule for a boutique that closes at five. good luck fixing the errors

full read: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-business-profiles-set-your-hours-automatically-42151.html

saw this breakdown of some french towns earlier. dunkerque has way more volume at 170 but it's such a jump from wormhout with basically nothing happening. the cpc is actually higher for the tiny villages though, like 1.63 in wormhout compared to just 1.02 for the big city. i've got a plumber client in a similar spot and trying to decide if we even bother with the larger hubs or just stick to the low competition areas. it feels like a waste of time to chase those high volume numbers if the intent isn't there. don't ignore the small towns if the bid is already higher. hard to know if focusing on the bigger city actually moves the needle for a service area business.

link: https://localsearchforum.com/threads/my-sab-and-its-gbp-are-based-in-a-really-small-village-which-nearby-city-should-i-target-on-the-websites-homepage.63404/

>reviews from non-Local Guides stay at the top of a listing shorter than Local Guide reviews
it's such a headache when you're trying to bury some bad feedback with newer stuff and then these high-level profiles just sit there forever. even having a profile picture seems to make them stick around longer. i don't see how we're supposed to control that without basically begging every single customer to join the program first. anyone else seeing this happen more often lately?

found this here: https://www.sterlingsky.ca/local-guides-google-reviews/