Google Maps now lets users leave business reviews under a custom nickname instead of their real name. The feature is part of a four-feature Maps update and is rolling out globally on Android, iOS, and desktop.
Local SEO agency Whitespark was among the first to document the change in detail, describing it as one of the more notable shifts to Google’s review system in years.
What Changed
Google’s support documentation outlines the new setting. Users can enable a custom display name and picture for posting through their Maps or Google profile. Once enabled, that identity appears on reviews, photos, videos, and Q&A posts across Maps.
The feature works retroactively. If you edit your nickname later, past contributions update to show the new name.
Whitespark notes that people have long created Google accounts with aliases. This is the first time Google has offered a dedicated posting identity separate from your main account profile and documented it officially.
How It Affects Spam Detection
Google’s blog post says its existing review protections remain in place. Reviews written under a nickname are still tied to an account and its history. Businesses can still report reviews they believe violate policies.
Whitespark calls this “pseudonymous rather than truly anonymous.” The public display name differs, but Google still sees the underlying account and contribution history.
Why This Matters
Expect to see more nicknames and illustration-based profile pictures in review feeds. Whitespark highlights industries like legal, medical, and financial services where clients often hesitate to post under their real name. This could increase review volume in those categories.
If you work with businesses in privacy-sensitive categories, you may want to update review request templates to mention the nickname option.
Looking Ahead
The nickname feature is live or rolling out for most users, though some local SEOs, such as Joy Hawkins, report they don’t yet see it in their own profiles.
Do you keep information consistent across every platform?
Do you share fresh updates (ex: photos, posts, or promotions) that show you’re active?
Do you provide transparent details like pricing, wait times, or insurance accepted?
If you answered no to any of the aforementioned, it’s time to switch to a brand experience mentality. That shift shows up clearly in the data. Six in ten people say they at least sometimes click on Google’s AI-generated overviews, which means discovery is no longer only about traditional rankings. It’s about whether your brand shows up well when search engines pull together information in context.
Reputation follows the same logic. In Rio SEO’s latest study, three out of four consumers said they read at least four reviews before deciding where to go. And it’s not just the rating itself. Many put just as much weight on whether a business responds; silence feels like neglect, while engagement signals you’re listening.
The clock has also sped up. Nearly six in ten customers now expect a reply within 24 hours, a sharp jump from last year. For many, that means a same-day response is the expectation. Fast, human replies aren’t a nice touch anymore; they’re the baseline.
The major search platforms reinforce this reality. Google’s local pack favors businesses that post fresh photos, keep details up to date, and engage with reviews (and not just negative reviews but positive ones too). Apple Maps is becoming harder to ignore as well, Rio SEO’s research reveals about a third of consumers now use it frequently. With Siri, Safari, and iPhones all pulling from Apple Business Connect as the default, accurate profiles there can tip the balance just as much as on Google.
Put it all together, and the picture is clear: search visibility and customer experience are already intertwined. The brands thriving in 2025 treat local search as part of a unified Brand Experience strategy and Rio SEO helps brands stay visible, responsive, and trusted wherever customers are searching.
The BX Advantage: Connecting Signals to Action
Every brand gathers signals. Search clicks, review scores, survey feedback; it all piles up. The trouble is most of it never makes it past a slide deck. Customers don’t feel or see the difference.
That’s where Brand Experience (BX) comes in. BX connects visibility and reputation with actionable insights, so signals don’t just sit in a dashboard.
At Rio SEO, we put BX into motion. Our Local Experience solutions help brands connect discovery with delivery and turn what customers see in search into what they feel in real life. It’s the bridge between data and experience, helping enterprise marketers identify patterns, respond faster, and build trust at every location.
The goal isn’t to watch the numbers. It’s to quickly identify and make changes customers notice, such as faster check-ins, smoother booking, and clearer answers in search; all of which amount to better experiences and outcomes, for customers and employees alike.
Technology helps make this possible. AI platforms now tie search data, reviews, and feedback into one view. With predictive analytics layered in, teams can see trouble before it shows up at the front desk or checkout line. And with Google’s AI Overviews and Bing’s Copilot changing how people discover businesses, brands that prepare for those formats now will have an edge when others are still catching up.
Industry context shapes how this plays out. A retailer might connect “near me” searches to what’s actually on the shelf that week. A bank has to prove reliability every time someone checks a branch profile. A hospital needs to make sure that when a patient searches for “urgent care,” the hours, insurance info, and provider reviews are accurate that very day. Different settings, same principle: close the gap between what people see online and what they experience in real life.
And this isn’t just about dashboards. The real win comes from acting quickly on what the signals show. Think about two retailers with dipping review scores. One shrugs and logs it. The other digs deeper, notices the complaints all mention stockouts in one region, and shifts supply within days. Customers stay loyal because the brand responded, not because it had a prettier chart.
That’s the difference BX is designed to create. Reports tell you what already happened. Acting on those signals shapes what happens next.
The New Mandate for Marketing Leaders
In the experience economy, BX isn’t abstract; it’s actionable. And Rio SEO gives brands the tools, data, and automation to operationalize it, turning every search, review, and update into a moment that builds loyalty and long-term growth.
Today’s marketing leaders aren’t being judged on traffic spikes anymore. What matters now is whether customers stick around, how much value they bring over time, and what it costs to serve them. That shift changes everything about the role of local search and puts Brand Experience (BX) at the center of the conversation.
When search is treated as a checklist—hours updated, pin fixed, job done—brands miss the bigger opportunity. Worse, they give ground to competitors who recognize that discovery is experience, and experience drives revenue.
BX gives CMOs and marketing leaders a framework for connecting visibility, reputation, and responsiveness. It bridges the gap between what people see in search and what they experience when they engage. And that’s where Rio SEO delivers real advantage: by giving brands the unified data, automation, and insights to make BX tangible in every market, every listing, and every moment.
You can see the difference in how leaders approach it across divergent industries:
Retail: Linking “near me” searches directly to in-stock inventory so shoppers know what’s available before they walk in.
Restaurants: Connecting menu updates and “order online” links directly to local search profiles, so when a customer searches “Thai takeout near me,” they see real-time specials, accurate hours, and an easy path to order.
Financial Services: Displaying verified first-party reviews on branch profiles to boost credibility and reassure customers choosing where to bank.
Image by Rio SEO, Nov 2025
The common thread is dependability. Local search is no longer about being visible once. It’s about proving, again and again, that your brand can be trusted in the small but decisive moments when customers are making up their minds. BX provides the vision; Rio SEO provides the infrastructure to bring it to life: connecting discovery with loyalty in a world where customers expect precision, empathy, and instant answers.
The Strategic Case for Local Search
The business case for local search doesn’t sit on the margins anymore. It ties directly to growth, trust, and efficiency. Within a Brand Experience (BX) framework, it links customer intent with measurable business outcomes, and Rio SEO gives brands the precision tools to manage that connection at scale.
Revenue Starts Here
Local search is full of high-intent signals: someone taps “call now,” asks for directions, or books an appointment. These metrics are crucial moments that can lead to sales, often within hours. In fact, most local searchers buy within 48 hours: three-quarters of restaurant seekers and nearly two-thirds of retail shoppers. That urgency makes consistency and accessibility non-negotiable.
Trust is Built in the Details
Reviews have become a kind of reputation currency, and customers spend it carefully. Three out of four people read at least four reviews before making a choice. If the basics are wrong—a missing phone number, the wrong hours—trust evaporates. More than half of consumers say they won’t visit a business if the listing details are off. Rio SEO’s centralized platform keeps data clean and consistent, ensuring that every profile communicates reliability, the foundation of trust in BX.
Efficiency That Pays for Itself
Every time insights from search and feedback flow back into operations, friction disappears before it gets expensive. Accurate listings mean fewer misrouted calls. Quick review responses calm frustration before it snowballs. Clear online paths reduce the burden on service teams.
In healthcare, that can mean shorter call center queues. In financial services, fewer “where do I start?” calls during onboarding. For retailers, avoiding wasted trips when hours are wrong keeps customers coming back instead of leaving disappointed. Each fix trims cost-to-serve while strengthening trust—a rare double win. Rio SEO automates these workflows, saving teams time while enhancing experience quality.
Your Edge Over the Competition
Too many organizations still keep SEO and CX in separate lanes. BX unites them and Rio SEO operationalizes that unity. The ones who bring those signals together see patterns earlier, act faster, and pull ahead of rivals who are still optimizing for clicks instead of experiences.
The Power of Brand Experience
BX blends rigorous data with customer-centric urgency. It gives leaders a way to not only show up in search but to be chosen, trusted, and remembered.
Winning the Experience Economy Starts in Local Search
Search no longer waits for a typed query. With AI Overviews, predictive results, and personalized recommendations, it increasingly anticipates what people want and surfaces the businesses most likely to deliver.
That shift raises the bar. In this new environment, local search isn’t a maintenance task but rather the front line of Brand Experience (BX). Accuracy, responsiveness, and reputation aren’t side jobs anymore; they’re the signals that decide who gets noticed, who gets trusted, and who gets passed over.
The companies setting the pace already treat local presence as a growth engine, not a maintenance task. They link discovery with delivery, reviews with real replies, and feedback with action. Competitors who don’t will find themselves playing catch-up in an economy where expectations reset every day.
The message is clear: customers don’t separate search from experience, and neither can you. Local search is now where growth, trust, and efficiency intersect. Handle it as a checklist, and you’ll fall behind. Treat it as a lever for Brand Experience, and you’ll define the standard others have to meet.
That’s where Rio SEO makes the difference. We help enterprise brands connect the dots between visibility, data, and experience, empowering marketers to act on signals faster, measure impact clearly, and deliver consistency at scale. With Rio SEO, brands don’t just show up in search; they stand out, stay accurate, and turn visibility into measurable growth.
Image by Rio SEO, Nov 2025
Ready to lead in the era of AI-driven discovery?
Partner with Rio SEO to transform your local presence into a connected, data-powered experience that builds trust, drives action, and earns loyalty at every location, on every platform, every day.
Local SEO includes several specific tasks geared to establishing the relevance and authority of a business within a targeted geographic area.
Search engines and large language models (LLMs) like Google Gemini and ChatGPT reference many different data points to determine who will be surfaced in their respective result sets, which include AI Overviews and AI Mode in Google, featured snippets, local map packs, image or video carousels, and other emerging search formats.
So, how can you identify and prioritize optimizations with the greatest potential to deliver converting traffic to your website or your business door from traditional organic local SEO or AI search?
Below, we’ll walk through an evaluation of each key facet of your local search presence and uncover your best opportunities to improve your visibility in traditional organic and AI search.
These tasks are listed in typical order of completion during a full audit, but some can be accomplished concurrently.
1. Keyword Topic/AI Prompt Audit
Although the introduction of AI in search has changed the keyword-first strategy, the natural place to start a local SEO audit is in organic and AI search results. Start with the topical keywords, phrases, and AI prompts you are hoping your business will be found for, in order to identify where you are positioned relative to your competitors and other websites/content.
This research can help you quickly identify where you have established some level of authority/momentum to build on, as well as topics upon which you should not waste your time and effort.
SEO is a long-term strategy, so no keyword or prompt should be summarily dismissed. Even so, it’s generally best to focus on keyword topics you realistically have a chance to gain visibility and drive traffic for. Pay close attention to the intent behind the keywords you choose and ideally focus on those with commercial or transactional intent, as informational content search results are largely being dominated by AI summaries.
You will also need to consider optimizing for conversational search queries or prompts and voice search, as AI Mode will increasingly rely on natural language processing.
Further, some younger users have developed different searching behaviors altogether and are using social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok for local searches. Search optimization for these platforms is a different conversation, but having an eye on how your business and its products/services are found when searching here can provide insight into how searches are conducted in more traditional and emerging AI formats.
Different people search in different ways, and it’s important not to limit your research to single keywords, but rather account for the various ways and phrases your audience may use to try to find you or your offerings; hence, taking a topical approach. This only becomes amplified in AI search, where every prompt is the beginning of a potentially long, drawn-out chat.
2. Website Audit
You can now conduct full content and technical website audits to ensure your site is optimized for maximum crawlability, indexability, and visibility by search engine and LLM crawlers. A typical audit is designed to analyze the underlying structure, content, and overall site experience.
Here again, there are many site auditing tools to crawl a website and then identify issues and prioritize actions to be taken based on SEO best practices.
A website audit and optimization can be broken down into a few buckets:
Page Optimization
Webpage optimization is all about ensuring pages are well structured, focused around targeted topical keywords, and provide a positive user experience.
As a search engine crawls a webpage, it looks for signals to determine what the page is about and what questions it can answer. These crawlers analyze the entire page to determine its focus, but specifically focus on page titles and headings as primary descriptors. A well-structured page with a hierarchical heading structure is key to helping site visitors, search engine and LLM bots easily scan and consume your content.
Ideally, each webpage is keyword topic-focused and unique. As such, keyword variations should be used consistently in titles, URLs, headings, and body content.
Another important potential issue raised in an audit, depending on the nature of your local business, is image optimization. As a best practice, all images should include relevant descriptive filenames and alt text, which may include pertinent keywords. This becomes particularly important when images (e.g., product or service photos) are central to your business, as image carousels can and will show up in web search results. In every case, attention should be paid to the images appearing on your primary ranking pages.
Lastly, an over-reliance on JavaScript can be particularly detrimental for LLM visibility, as some LLMs currently do not execute JavaScript. If your site is powered by JavaScript, you’ll want to address this with your developer to see how the most important content can be presented in raw HTML or via server-side scripting to enable crawling and indexing.
Internal Link Audit
A link audit will help you quickly identify any potential misdirected or broken links, which can create a less-than-optimal experience for your site visitors and may confuse search engine and LLM bots.
Links are likewise signals the search engines use to determine the structure of a website and its ability to direct searchers to appropriate, authoritative answers to their questions.
Part of this audit should include the identification of opportunities to crosslink prominent pages. If a page within your site has keywords (anchor text) referencing relevant content on another page, a link should be created, provided the link logically guides users to more relevant content or an appropriate conversion point.
External links should also be considered, especially when there is an opportunity to link to an authoritative source of information. From a local business perspective, this may include linking to relevant local organizations, partners, or events.
Schema Review
Schema or structured data can help search engines and LLMs better understand your business and its offerings and offer enhanced visibility. An effective local SEO audit should include the identification of content within a website to which schema can be applied.
Local businesses have an opportunity to have their content highlighted if they:
Publish highly authoritative and relevant content.
As most consumers search via their mobile devices – especially for local services – it’s essential for local businesses to provide a positive mobile web experience. Websites need to load quickly, be easily navigated, and enable seamless user interaction.
Google offers a range of free mobile testing and mobile-specific monitoring tools, such as Page Experience and Core Web Vitals, in Google Search Console.
More in-depth user experience and SEO analysis can be done via Google Lighthouse, though a local business owner will likely want to enlist the help of a web developer to action any of the recommendations this tool provides.
As such, it’s important to let Google know if your website contains any content/pages you did not create by adding a canonical tag to the HTML header of the page. Most pages, which are unique unto themselves, will have a self-referencing canonical.
Not doing so can have a detrimental effect on your authority and, by extension, your ability to rank. Most site auditing tools will flag content missing or having malformed canonical tags.
3. Google Business Profile Audit
A Google Business Profile (GBP) effectively represents a “secondary” website and highly visible point of presence for most local businesses. Increasingly, this “secondary” website is becoming the consumers’ first point of contact.
A recent behavioral study of travel booking in AI Mode conducted by Propellic found GBP to be among the most highly displayed and engaged content for searchers booking local accommodations and experiences.
A Google Business Profile audit should focus on the accuracy and completeness of the various components within the profile, including:
Business information and location details.
Correct primary business category.
Hours of operation.
Correct pin location in Google Maps.
Proper categorization as a physical location or service area business.
Products.
Services.
Appointment link(s), if applicable.
Photos or Videos.
Social Profiles.
Offers.
Regular updates.
Events.
Informational content.
Screenshot from Google Business Profile, September 2025
The more complete the profile is, the more likely it will be viewed as a reliable local resource and be given appropriate billing in the search results.
Assuming you have claimed and are authorized to manage your GBP, you can access and edit your info directly within the search results.
4. Review Monitoring And Management
Another very important aspect of a GBP is reviews.
Local business customers have an opportunity to write reviews, which appear on the GBP for other customers to reference and play a significant role in determining visibility in the local map pack. They are most certainly a determining factor with regard to appearing in Google AI Overviews.
Google will notify business owners as soon as reviews are submitted, and they should be responded to as soon as possible. This goes for negative reviews just as much as positive ones. Include an analysis of your reviews to ensure none have fallen through the cracks. This will also help determine whether there are recurring customer service and satisfaction issues or themes to be addressed. A detailed analysis of reviews can be a great source of content ideas aimed at answering customers’ most pressing questions or concerns.
Of course, there are also several other places for consumers to submit reviews, including Facebook, local review sites like Yelp, and industry-specific sites such as TripAdvisor and Houzz. A full audit should take inventory of reviews left on any of these services, as they can show up in search results.
Pro tip: Request positive reviews from all customers and politely suggest they reference the product or service they are reviewing, as keywords contained in reviews can have a positive effect from ranking perspective.
It is important to have a presence in reputable local directories, review sites, business directories (e.g., Chambers of Commerce), or local partner sites to prove your “localness.”
Depending on the size and scope of your local business, an audit of your listings and citations can be done in an automated or manual fashion.
Business listings and citation management tools can be used to find, monitor, and update all primary citations with your proper Name, Address, Phone Number (aka NAP), and other pertinent business details found in broader listings (e.g., website address, business description).
If you manage a limited number of locations and have the time, one quick method of identifying where your current listings can be found is to simply conduct a search on your business name. The first three to four pages of search results should reveal the same.
It’s also important to find and resolve any duplicate listings to prevent confusing customers and search engines alike with outdated, inaccurate information.
Local business owners and managers should also monitor Reddit for their brand and local product/service offerings to gauge activity and sentiment. Reddit is a unique platform where “karma” and trust are tantamount, but there is an opportunity for brands and local businesses to engage with their customers if they do it in a transparent, authentic, and non-promotional way.
6. Backlink Audit
Backlinks or inbound links are similar to citations, but are effectively any links to your website pages from other third-party websites.
Links remain an important factor in determining the authority of a website, as they lend validity if they come from relevant, reputable sources.
As with other components of an audit, there are several good free and paid backlink tools available, including a link monitoring service in Google Search Console, which is a great place to start.
An effective backlink audit has the dual purpose of identifying and building links via potentially valuable backlink sources, which can positively affect your ranking and visibility.
For local businesses, reputable local sources of links are naturally beneficial in validating location, as noted with citations above.
Potential backlink sources can be researched in a variety of locations:
Free and paid backlink research tools, such as Ahrefs or Semrush identify any domains where your primary competition has acquired backlinks, but you have not.
Any non-competitive sites appearing in the organic search results for your primary keywords are, by definition, good potential backlink sources. Look for directories you can be listed in, blogs or articles you can comment on, or publications you can submit articles to.
Referral sources in Google Analytics may reveal relevant external websites where you already have links and may be able to acquire more.
You want to be found throughout your customer’s search experience. A content audit can be used to make sure you have helpful content for each of the journey buckets your audience members may find themselves in.
Informational content may be distributed via social or other external channels or published on your website to help educate your consumers on the products, services, and differentiators you offer at the beginning of their path to purchase.
As AI is consuming and repurposing much of this informational content, it’s important to ensure your informational content includes your unique perspective based on your experience and expertise. This content ideally answers your prospects’ why, how, and what types of questions.
Transactional content is designed to address those consumers who already know what they want, but are in the process of deciding where or who to purchase from. This type of content may include reviews, testimonials, or competitive comparisons.
Navigational content ensures when people click through from Google after having searched your brand name or a variation thereof, they land on a page or information validating your position as a leader in your space. This page should also include a clear call-to-action with the assumption they have arrived with a specific goal in mind.
Commercial content addresses those consumers who have signaled a strong intent to buy. Effective local business sites and social pages must include offers, coupons, discounts, and clear paths to purchase.
Optimizing Content For AI
From an AI search and visibility perspective, keep in mind the vast majority of AI results are responses to long-form questions/prompts from consumers. As such, it is crucial for some of your content to be in a direct question/answer format.
One quick and effective tactic is the creation of an FAQ section within product or service pages. However, avoid overseeding FAQs by including generic questions and answers. FAQs should be specific to the pages they reside on.
We’ve previously touched upon the importance of structured content for improved crawling, scanning, and comprehension. When reviewing your content, look for opportunities to incorporate defined heading structures, tables of contents for long-form content, and ordered lists.
Content Variety And Distribution
Quality content is content your audience wants to consume, like, and share. For many businesses, this means considering and experimenting with content beyond simple text and images.
Video content shared via platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and others is easier to consume and generally more engaging.
8. Google Search Console Review
Google Search Console is an invaluable free resource for data related to keyword and content performance, indexing, schema/rich results validation, mobile/desktop experience monitoring, and security/manual actions.
A complete local SEO audit must include a review and analysis of this data to identify and react to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats outlined in each section.
Google Search Console screenshot, September 2025
Website owners and managers will want to pay particular attention to any issues related to pages not being crawled/indexed or manual actions having been taken based on questionable practices, as both can have a detrimental effect on search engine visibility.
Google Search Console does send notifications for these types of issues as well as regular performance updates, but an audit will ensure nothing has been overlooked.
9. Analytics Review
Whether you are using Google Analytics or another site/visitor tracking solution, the data available here is useful during an audit to validate top and lesser-performing content, traffic sources, audience profiles, and paths to purchase.
Findings in analytics will be key to your content audit.
As you review your site analytics, you may ask the following questions:
Are my top-visited pages also my top-ranking pages in search engines?
Which are my top entry pages from organic and AI search?
Which LLMs are sending traffic to my site?
Which pages/content are not receiving the level of traffic or engagement desired?
What is the typical path to purchase on my site, and can it be condensed or otherwise optimized?
Which domains are my top referrers, and are there opportunities to further leverage these sites for backlinks? (see Backlink Audit above).
Use Google Analytics (or another tool of your choice) to find the answers to these questions, so you can focus and prioritize your content and keyword optimization efforts.
You may already have a good sense of who your competition is, but to begin, it’s always a good idea to confirm who specifically shows up in the organic search and AI results when you enter your target keywords. You may find different competitors in these two formats, which represent both a threat and an opportunity.
These businesses/domains are your true online competitors and the sites you can learn the most from. If any of your online competitors’ sites and/or pages are ranking ahead of yours, you’ll want to review what they may be doing to gain this advantage.
You can follow the same checklist of steps you would conduct for your own audit to identify how they may be optimizing their keywords, content, Google Business Profile, reviews, local business listings, or backlinks.
In general, the best way to outperform your competition is to provide a better overall experience online and off, which includes generating more relevant, unique, high-quality content to more fully address the questions your mutual customers have.
11. AI Search For Local Businesses
AI Overviews and AI Mode are increasingly superseding traditional organic search results in Google, as the search engine aims to provide the answers to questions directly within its SERPs. Further, Google has signalled its commitment to AI Mode by recently integrating it into the Chrome address bar.
While AI search optimization has some new considerations, a strong foundation in traditional SEO will go a long way to building visibility in AI search results; chief among these at a local level is a fully optimized Google Business Profile, which appears prominently for local searches with commercial intent as outlined above.
Screenshot of Google AI Mode displaying Google Business Profile Cards, September 2025
AI Mode Strategy Checklist Should Consider:
Enhanced GBP Features: Stay updated on new features within Google Business Profile, allowing for direct interactions or transactions, as these will be favored by AI Mode.
Focus on User Intent: Understand the transactional and informational intent behind local searches. AI Mode aims to provide immediate solutions, so businesses facilitating this will gain an advantage.
Voice Search Optimization: As AI Mode becomes more conversational, optimizing for natural language queries and voice search will be crucial. Ensure your content answers questions directly and uses conversational language.
Direct Action Integrations: This may still be a ways away, but review and explore opportunities to integrate with Google’s booking or reservation features, if applicable to your business. This could become a direct pathway to conversions within AI Mode.
Prioritizing Your Action Items
A complete local SEO audit is going to produce a fairly significant list of action items.
Many of the keyword, site, content, and backlink auditing tools do a good job of prioritizing tasks; however, the list can still be daunting.
One of the best places to start with an audit action plan is around the keywords, AI prompts, and content you have already established some, but not enough, authority for.
Determine how to best address deficiencies or opportunities to optimize this content first before moving on to more competitive keywords or those you have less or no visibility for. Establishing authority and trust is a long-term game.
These audit items should be reviewed every six to 12 months, depending on the size and scale of your web presence, to enable the best chance of being found by your local target audience.
Google Business Profile appears to be testing a feature that lets managers share the same update across multiple locations from a single dialog.
Tim Capper reported seeing the option. After publishing an update, a “Copy post” dialog appears with the prompt: “Copy the update to other profiles you manage.”
You can now post an update across multiple Google Business Profiles
After posting this pop up appears if you want to add to other profiles, nice ! pic.twitter.com/tlXHlrxYie
The interface displays a list of business locations with checkboxes so you can choose which profiles receive the same update.
We’ve asked Google for comment on availability and eligibility requirements and will update this article if we receive a response.
What’s New
From what’s visible in the screenshots, the workflow streamlines cross-posting for multi-location accounts.
You publish an update to one profile, then immediately see a pop-up listing other profiles you manage.
You can select one or many locations and post the same update without repeating the process.
Why It Matters
If you manage multiple locations, this could save time by reducing repetitive posting. It may also help keep messaging consistent across locations.
Make sure updates remain locally relevant before copying them everywhere.
How To Check If You Have Access
If you manage more than one profile in the same account, publish a standard update to one location.
If your account is in the test, you should see a “Copy post” dialog immediately after posting, with a list of other profiles you manage.
If You Don’t See It
Not all accounts will have access during tests. Keep posting as usual and check again periodically. If you manage many locations, confirm that all profiles are grouped under the same account with the correct permissions.
Looking Ahead
If Google proceeds with a wider launch, expect details on supported post types, scheduling, and limits. We’ll update this story if Google confirms the feature or publishes documentation.
Microsoft has rolled out a redesigned Bing Places for Business platform, moving business listing management to bing.com/forbusiness and introducing a new recommendation tool with streamlined import workflows.
The platform lets businesses create and manage listings across Bing Search and Bing Maps at no cost. Consolidating the experience under the Bing.com domain is meant to make the product easier to find and use.
Why Did Microsoft Rebuild It?
Microsoft says the redesign follows months of research with business owners who reported difficulty discovering the product, navigating the interface, and importing locations at scale.
“Before we wrote a single line of code, we spent months listening to business owners about their challenges and goals.”
Here’s what Microsoft added after those discussions.
What’s New?
Improved Google Business Profile Import
For multi-location brands and agencies, Microsoft has overhauled the Google import flow.
The update aims to preserve key attributes, such as names, hours, and contact details, while also introducing more efficient management features, including dashboards, bulk editing, and real-time status updates.
Recommendation Tool
A new Recommendation Tool evaluates listing health and suggests specific additions, such as photos, website and social links, hours, and category-specific items. For restaurants, that can include menu links or online ordering.
The feature is designed to help owners who may be newer to local SEO prioritize high-impact fields.
Automatic Migration
Current Bing Places users and their listings are being migrated automatically. Logging in with existing credentials redirects to the new experience.
What’s Next
Microsoft says more updates will roll out in the coming months, including deeper integrations with Bing Maps and Copilot and expanded support for agencies and partners.
Why This Matters
A Bing Places profile can appear in Bing search results and on Bing Maps. That includes the map results and the place page people see when they click through for directions, call, or website info.
Claiming and keeping your listing up to date helps Microsoft show accurate location, hours, and contact details across Bing’s local results and Maps. In short, you control what customers see when they find you on Bing.
The improved Google import process simplifies keeping your Bing listing in step with your Google Business Profile.
Availability
The new Bing Places for Business is live at bing.com/forbusiness.
A new analysis from Search Atlas quantifies the interaction between proximity and reviews in local rankings.
Proximity drives visibility overall, while review signals become stronger differentiators in the highest positions.
This study examines 3,269 businesses across the food, health, law, and beauty sectors.
It shows that for positions 1–21, proximity influences 55% of decisions, while review count accounts for 19%. In the top ten, proximity’s influence decreases to 36%, but review count increases to 26%, with review keyword relevance reaching 22%.
Search Atlas writes:
Proximity is the top driver of local visibility.
The study also notes:
Proximity does not always dominate in elite positions.
What It Means
You’ll have a better chance of achieving top results by focusing on earning more reviews and naturally incorporating service-specific terms into reviews, rather than relying on your pin’s location on the map.
The report suggests that Google understands review text semantically. Using service-specific language in reviews can help your rankings for high-value queries.
How To Apply This
Think of proximity as your default setting. It’s fixed, so focus your attention on the inputs you can control.
When crafting your review requests, aim for natural, service-specific language. For instance, “best dentist for whitening” tends to work better than “great service.”
Also, ensure that your GBP name and profile details are aligned. The research shows that matching your business name to the search intent, such as “Downtown Dental Clinic” for someone searching “dentist near me,” can make a positive difference.
Sector Behavior
While the overall pattern remains consistent, shoppers can exhibit different behaviors across categories.
Per the report:
For Law, proximity tends to be the most important factor, with reviews playing a secondary role.
In Beauty, reputation signals are more influential. While proximity is still key, review volume and keywords are also important.
When it comes to Food, review content and profile relevance become especially valuable, particularly in crowded markets.
Health balances proximity with strong reviews and service alignment in reviews.
Looking Ahead
This study quantifies something practitioners have long suspected: proximity earns you a look, but review content helps you secure the top spot in the close contest.
If you can’t change your location, shape the language around it.
For more data on GBP ranking factors, see the full report.
Methods & Limits
The authors applied XGBoost to grid visibility, GBP metadata, website content, and reviews, achieving a global model that explains approximately 92–93% of the variance.
They emphasize that feature importance indicates correlation, not causation. Additionally, they warn that proximity might be overstated due to fixed grid collection and note that their results represent a snapshot in time.
Use these insights as guidance, not a strict rulebook.
Traditional keyword-driven search engine results pages (SERPs) are being disrupted by AI-driven experiences that anticipate, summarize, and even act on users’ needs.
As generative AI tools like Google’s AI Overviews and platforms such as Perplexity become more prominent in the Search journey, the marketer’s task expands: It’s no longer just about ranking well on Google but being visible wherever decisions begin.
For multilocation businesses, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. AI is flattening the competitive playing field, restructuring what influences purchasing decisions, and automating formerly human-led interactions.
Here are four key takeaways to help local marketers understand what’s changing, what strategies are needed right now, and what the future holds.
Strategy 1. You Must Navigate Google’s AI-First Search Experience To Stay Visible
Google’s inclusion of AI Overviews has introduced an entirely new kind of SERP.
These AI-generated summaries often sit atop the page, pushing traditional blue links down. Unlike the 10-blue-link layout of old, AI Overviews synthesize answers across sources, citing a few but effectively removing the need to click.
What To Look For, Learn About & Incorporate
Google’s AI Mode, now available as a Labs experiment, prioritizes user intent by stitching together information to answer nuanced queries (e.g., “best affordable Thai near me for a date”) into a conversational response.
Structured data or map pack signals alone do not supply enough context to be recognized in a modern AI-first search experience.
Strategy 2. Adopt An Enterprise-To-Local Strategy To Capture Both Informational & Local Intent
DAC’s study of over 700 real SERPs across four major verticals (Apparel, Auto Services, Financial Services & Insurance, and Home Services) revealed a clear divergence between the kinds of queries that trigger AI Overviews (AIOs) and those that surface the traditional Maps Pack.
Only 1% of queries triggered both features in the same SERP. When both appeared, the AIO came first, pushing the Maps Pack below the fold.
What To Look For, Learn About & Incorporate
AIOs dominate informational queries, while Maps Packs dominate transactional or locational ones:
Queries beginning with question words (“how,” “why,” “what”) triggered AIOs 28% of the time, but Maps Packs <1%>
“Near me” queries triggered Maps Packs 100% of the time and never triggered an AIO.
Pluralized terms (e.g., “jackets”) were more likely to trigger AIOs than singular or specific terms.
Marketers, especially those managing multilocation brands, need a bifurcated strategy:
Create localized landing pages with clear CTAs and schema markup.
Use local backlinks and citations to build trust.
Strategy 3. Gain Visibility In Alternate Search Experiences With A Distributed Content Footprint
Many users, especially younger generations, are increasingly bypassing traditional search engines altogether.
Inject your brand into new channels and open your windows and doors to complete visibility.
Perplexity AI has seen a remarkable rise in adoption, with around 22 million monthly active users in 2025, positioning it as a major alternative search platform.
Perplexity can geolocate the user and surface locally-relevant searches through its own web crawling, but also offers specific Local Search functionality that is enriched by a Yelp integration, and a restaurant booking capability that integrates with OpenTable – highlighting the importance of strong business listing data partnerships for any AI-based search that wishes to challenge Google’s dominance.
Reddit has become a trusted resource for recommendations, given the importance consumers are placing on social proof. Reddit commands strong loyalty among younger users, with over 70% of its user base being Millennials or Gen Z.
Its long-lasting content delivers value over time; 34% of Reddit posts continue to be viewed more than a year after posting. While Reddit does not offer an explicitly local search function, local business discovery is discussion-based.
Local content can be prioritized in the interface through the user’s geolocation, and explicitly local subreddits (e.g., r/Vancouver) can become forums for brands to build authentic connections with local customers.
TikTok is also a strong contender. A 2024 Adobe study revealed that 64% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennials have used TikTok as a search engine. While TikTok does not provide a maps-based search, its “Nearby” feed supports the discovery of content posted by local creators.
TikTok is currently testing an experimental feature that will place user-generated reviews into the Comments section when a place or local business has been tagged in the content.
In this way, TikTok can support local brand discovery through a blend of metadata, location tagging, and algorithmic signals. TikTok’s rapidly evolving paid search capabilities also support geotargeting as granularly as the zip code level.
The generational differences in Search behavior are clear. Gen Z often turns to TikTok and Reddit for inspiration and discovery rather than Google.
Millennials blend traditional, AI-assisted, and visual search, while Gen X and Boomers still lean toward Google, though they’re increasingly open to AI-generated summaries.
What To Look For, Learn About & Incorporate
To reach these diverse platforms and audiences requires tailored content. Video-first assets optimized for TikTok, Reels, and YouTube cater well to short-form, visual-first consumption.
On forums such as Reddit and Quora, building textual credibility through authentic, conversational answers is key.
Pinterest thrives on visuals and moodboards, while FAQs, how-to guides, and structured content (with schema markup) are crucial for AI engines that reward clear, structured information.
In this evolving landscape, marketers must build a distributed content footprint to ensure a presence wherever people are searching, and where AI tools may source it.
As AI platforms increasingly summarize content from various social and community channels, your brand’s participation in those discussions becomes essential, not just for visibility, but to be cited accurately.
Strategy 4. Prepare For The Future Of Agentic Local Search
We are entering the agentic era, where users don’t just search, they delegate.
Google’s experimental “Call with AI” feature allows users to let an AI assistant call local businesses on their behalf. This transforms search from a real-time human task into an asynchronous agentic process.
What To Look For, Learn About & Incorporate
Key Impacts:
Proximity matters less: If AI finds a better deal 20 minutes away, you may be willing to make the trip
Price pressure increases: Transparent price comparisons and AI-led negotiations could initiate a race to the bottom
“Vibes” matter less: Warm greetings won’t influence the AI. Decision-making shifts from emotional to transactional.
Big brands lose leverage: Without human biases for logos or familiarity, small businesses can compete if they meet the decision criteria
Operational Challenges
Call volume may spike, but call value drops; your business could receive 100 AI-generated inquiries while winning only a few sales.
Unanswered calls = lost sale. AI agents will move on quickly if a call goes unanswered.
Scalability issues: AI can contact 100 businesses in seconds. Human-staffed phones can’t scale similarly.
Long-Term Adjustments
Structured pricing data must be public and machine-readable.
Agent-to-agent negotiation will require new infrastructure, with bots communicating with each other to confirm inventory and schedule appointments.
Local search becomes asynchronous: Agents might initiate requests at midnight and complete transactions during business hours, with no human involved.
Evolving Local Search, Enduring Foundations
There has been a seismic shift in how users discover brands and make decisions.
Businesses, especially multilocation enterprises, must adapt to a new hybrid model where visibility is dictated by both informational depth and local precision.
What’s Changing:
AI reshapes SERPs: Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode prioritize synthesized answers and intent-matching over clickable links, reducing organic link visibility.
Query types split visibility paths: Informational queries are now more likely to trigger AI Overviews, while transactional/local queries still favor Maps Packs; rarely do both appear together.
New platforms drive discovery: Reddit, TikTok, Perplexity, and Pinterest are no longer fringe sources – they are now primary discovery tools for younger generations.
Agentic search emerges: Users increasingly delegate tasks to AI (e.g., “Call with AI”), reshaping search from human-led interactions into asynchronous, bot-to-bot transactions.
Operational pressure increases: Businesses must prepare for surges in AI-driven interactions, increased price competition, and reduced influence of brand familiarity or emotional cues.
What’s Staying The Same:
Relevance and trust still rule: Google’s EEAT ranking principles remain crucial for AI visibility.
Local optimization is still vital: For transactional/local intent, the Maps Pack remains dominant. Accurate business listings, reviews, and structured local content continue to impact discoverability.
Content matters: Informational, structured, and platform-tailored content remains the cornerstone of any successful visibility strategy, only now must it live across multiple channels and formats.
Brand credibility drives citations: AI systems rely on trustworthy sources, so being the “answer” in AIOs or Perplexity depends on being referenced as a reputable, visible voice across the web.
To thrive in this transformed landscape, marketers must double down on creating a distributed content footprint, intent-driven optimization, andtechnical readiness for AI delegation, while still leaning on the fundamentals of trust, relevance, and local authority.
At DAC, we help brands thrive in this complexity with strategies that balanceinformational depth, local precision, and future-ready adaptability. Our recent analysis of700+ SERPs across four major industriesreveals how AI Overviews and Maps Packs divide visibility and what multilocation brands must do to capture both.
If you’re ready to turn today’s search disruption into tomorrow’s growth, get the full insights in our new whitepaper.
A new Yext analysis of 8.7 million Google search results suggests many common local SEO tactics don’t perform the same across industries and regions.
The dataset, drawn from the company’s Scout Index, focuses on what correlates with visibility in Google’s Local Pack, not just overall map presence.
What Yext Found
Review Management Emerges As The Strongest Signal
The clearest pattern is around reviews. Yext states “Review engagement dominates,” calling it “the most consistent driver of Local Pack visibility across all industries and regions.”
Within the study’s feature rankings, review signals top the list, including review count, new reviews per month, and owner responses.
Businesses with many positive reviews and prompt owner responses tend to outperform competitors.
Industry Differences Vs. One-Size-Fits-All Playbooks
While profile completeness and timely replies generally help, their impact varies by vertical.
Food & Dining: Recent, highly rated reviews correlate more with visibility than total volume or profile completeness. A steady flow of new, high-quality reviews appears more influential than maximizing every profile field.
Hospitality: Photo quantity shows a weaker or even negative correlation with higher rankings. Yext notes that “a smaller set of curated, high-quality photos has more impact than a large, unfocused collection” for hotels and similar businesses.
At the same time, hospitality still benefits from strong ratings, clear descriptions, and curated visuals. Quality and focus matter more than volume.
Other sectors: The report highlights universal positives such as profile completeness, but stops short of advising identical tactics everywhere.
Regional Patterns
Geography also changes the picture. The Northeast appears less sensitive to many traditional SEO factors, while the South and West are more affected by slow review responses.
Yext calls out weekend response gaps: waiting until Monday can cost visibility, especially in the Midwest.
The practical takeaway is to maintain timely review engagement every day, not just during weekday office hours.
Methodology
Yext’s Scout Index compiles more than 200 structured data points per business, including review patterns, hours, contact details, media assets, social activity, and Google Business Profile completeness.
The analysis covers six industries across 2,500 populous ZIP codes and compares Local Pack placements against baseline Google Maps results.
Study caveats: This research involves vendor analysis using a proprietary dataset. It reports correlations rather than causal effects. Please consider these findings as directional and validate them in your own markets.
Looking Ahead
Yext’s conclusion is: “The one-size-fits-all approach seems to be a relic of the past.”
For marketers, this means testing industry-specific and region-specific strategies. Local search performance appears to reflect differences in both what people search and where they search.
Review management is the baseline to get right. Prioritize the cadence and quality of reviews, and respond quickly. Consider ways to cover weekends where delays correlate with lost visibility.
And reviews? They’re no longer just trust signals. They’re ranking signals.
This article breaks down what’s changing, what’s working, and how agencies can keep their clients visible across both traditional local search and Google’s evolving AI layer.
Reviews Are Now A Gateway To Search Inclusion
Reviews have long been seen as conversion tools, helping users decide between businesses they’ve already discovered. But that role is evolving.
In the era of Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs), reviews are increasingly acting as discovery signals, helping determine which businesses get included in the first place.
GatherUp’s 2024 Online Reputation Benchmark Report shows that businesses with consistent, multi-channel review strategies, especially those generating both first- and third-party reviews, saw stronger reputation signals across volume, recency, and engagement. These are the exact kinds of signals that Google’s systems now appear to prioritize in AI-generated results.
That observation is reinforced by recent industry research and leaked Google documentation, which suggest that review characteristics like click-throughs, content depth, and freshness contribute to both local pack visibility and AIO inclusion.
In other words, the businesses getting summarized at the top of the SERP aren’t just highly rated. They’re actively reviewed, broadly cited, and seen as credible across sources Google trusts.
Recency Is A Signal. “Relevance” Is Google’s Shortcut.
More than two-thirds of consumers say they prioritize recent reviews when evaluating a business. But Google doesn’t necessarily show them first.
Instead, Google’s “Most Relevant” filter may prioritize older reviews that match query terms, even if they no longer reflect the current customer experience.
That’s why it’s critical for businesses to maintain steady review velocity. A flood of reviews in January followed by silence for six months won’t cut it. The AI layer, and the human reader, needs signals that say “this business is active and trustworthy right now.”
For agencies, this presents an opportunity to shift client mindset from static review goals to ongoing review strategies.
Star Ratings Still Matter, But Mostly As A Decision Shortcut
During our recent webinar with Search Engine Journal, we explored how consumers are using star ratings to disqualify options, not differentiate them.
Research shows:
73% of consumers won’t consider businesses with fewer than 4 stars
But 69% are still open to doing business with brands that fall short of a perfect 5.0, so long as the reviews are recent and authentic
In other words, people are looking for a “safe” choice, not a flawless one.
A few solid 4-star reviews with real detail from the past week often carry more weight than a dozen perfect ratings from 2021.
Agencies should help clients understand this nuance, especially those who are hesitant to request reviews out of fear of imperfection.
First-Party & Third-Party Reviews: Both Are Necessary
AI Overviews aggregate information from across the web, including structured data from your own website and unstructured commentary from others.
First-party reviews: These are collected and hosted directly on the business’s website. They can be marked up with schema, giving Google structured, machine-readable content to use in summaries and answer boxes.
Third-party reviews: These appear on platforms like Google, Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor, and Reddit. They’re often seen as more objective and are more frequently cited in AI Overviews.
Businesses that show up consistently across both types are more likely to be included in AIOs, and appear trustworthy to users.
GatherUp supports multi-source review generation, schema markup for first-party feedback, and rotating requests across platforms. This makes it easier for agencies to build a review presence that supports both local SEO and AIO visibility.
AIOs Pull From More Than Just Google Reviews
According to recent data from Whitespark, over 60% of citations in AI Overviews come from non-Google sources. This includes platforms like:
Reddit.
TripAdvisor.
Yelp.
Local blogs and industry-specific directories.
If your client’s reviews live only on Google, they risk being overlooked entirely.
Google’s AI is scanning for what it deems “experience-based” content, unfiltered, authentic commentary from real people. And it prefers to cross-reference multiple sources to confirm credibility.
Agencies should encourage clients to broaden their review footprint and seek mentions in trusted third-party spaces. Dynamic review flows, QR codes, and conditional links can help diversify requests without overburdening the customer.
Responses Influence Visibility & Build Trust
Review responses are no longer just a nice gesture. They’re part of the algorithmic picture.
GatherUp’s benchmark research shows:
92% of consumers say responding to reviews is now part of basic customer service.
73% will give a business a second chance if their complaint receives a thoughtful reply.
But there’s also a technical upside. When reviews are clicked, read, and expanded, they generate engagement signals that may impact local rankings. And if a business’s reply includes resolution details or helpful context, it increases the content depth of that listing.
For agencies juggling multiple clients, automation helps. GatherUp offers AI-powered suggested responses that retain brand tone and ensure timely replies, without sounding robotic.
How Agencies Can Make AIO Part Of Their Core Strategy
Google’s AI systems are designed to answer user questions directly, often without requiring a click. That means review content is increasingly shaping brand narratives within the SERP.
To adapt, agencies should align client visibility efforts across both search formats:
For Local Pack Optimization
Keep Google Business Profile listings fully updated (photos, categories, Q&A).
AI Overviews now appear in nearly two-thirds of local business search queries. That means your clients’ next customers may form an impression—or make a decision—before ever clicking through to a website or map pack listing.
Visibility is no longer guaranteed. It’s earned through content, coverage, and credibility.
And reviews sit at the center of all three.
For agencies, this is a moment of opportunity. You already have the tools to guide clients through the shift. You know how to structure content, build citations, and amplify voices that resonate with customers.
GatherUp is the only proactive reputation management platform purpose-built for digital agencies. We help you build, manage, and defend your clients’ online reputations.
GatherUp supports:
First- and third-party review generation across multiple platforms,
Schema-marked up feedback collection for AIO relevance,
Intelligent, AI-assisted response workflows,
Seamless white-labeling for full agency control,
Scalable review operations tools that can help you manage 10 or 10,000 locations and clients.
Agencies who use GatherUp don’t just react to algorithm changes. They shape client visibility, and defend it.
To learn more, watch the full webinar for actionable strategies, data-backed insights, and examples of AIO-influenced local search in the wild.
Google has introduced a new AI-powered calling feature in Search that contacts local businesses on a user’s behalf to gather pricing and availability details.
The feature, rolling out to all U.S. Search users this week, allows people to request information from multiple businesses with a single query.
When searching for services like pet grooming or dry cleaning, users may now see a new option to “Have AI check pricing.”
How It Works
After selecting the AI option, users are guided through a form to provide details about the service they need.
Google’s AI then calls relevant local businesses to gather information such as pricing, appointment availability, and service options. The responses are consolidated and presented to the user.
The experience starts with a typical local search, such as “pet groomers near me.” If the AI calling feature is available, users can specify details like:
Pet type, breed, and size
Requested services (e.g., bath, nail trim, haircut)
Time preferences (e.g., within 48 hours)
Preferred method of communication (SMS or email)
According to a Google spokesperson, the AI determines which businesses to contact based on traditional local search rankings. Only those that appear in results for the relevant query and match the user’s criteria will be contacted.
What It Looks Like
Examples show a multi-step process where users enter information and confirm their request.
Google displays responses from participating businesses, including prices and availability, all gathered through automated calls.
Before submitting a request, users must confirm that Google can call businesses and share the submitted details. The process is governed by Google’s privacy policy, and users are informed of how their data will be used.
Business Participation & Control
Businesses can manage whether they receive these AI-driven calls via their Business Profile settings.
Google describes the feature as creating “new opportunities” to connect with potential customers, while also giving businesses control over participation.
Available to All (With Premium Perks)
The AI calling feature is available to all users in the U.S., though Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers benefit from higher usage limits.
Google says more agentic AI features will debut for these subscribers before expanding globally.
What This Means
Because the AI selects businesses using standard local search rankings, maintaining strong local SEO becomes even more important.
Businesses with optimized listings and higher rankings are more likely to receive calls and capture leads.
This could also shift how businesses handle inbound requests. Those that rely on phone calls may want to prepare staff or systems to handle more frequent, possibly scripted, AI-initiated inquiries.
Looking Ahead
By automating time-consuming tasks like gathering service quotes, Google aims to make Search more actionable.
Adoption will depend on how well the AI handles real-world complexity, as well as how many businesses opt in.
For marketers and local service providers, it’s another sign that search visibility directly connects to lead generation. Keeping Business Profile data accurate and staying visible in local results could increasingly determine whether a business gets contacted at all.
