SEO & Web
Local SEO has changed dramatically over the past three years. The strategies that worked in 2021 either don’t work at all or work half as well. This is what’s actually moving the needle right now.
Google Business Profile Is a Product, Not a Listing
The single highest-leverage thing a local business can do for its SEO is treat its Google Business Profile like a product — not a one-time setup task. GBP now drives a significant portion of local discovery, and businesses that update it regularly consistently outrank those that don’t.
What “regularly” means: new photos every week, Q&A section populated and maintained, posts published at least twice a month, and every service category correctly mapped to your actual offerings. The businesses at the top of local results are not there by accident. They’re there because someone is actively managing their GBP.
The Review Velocity Problem
Quantity of reviews matters less than velocity. Ten new reviews this month beats a total of 200 reviews where the most recent is from eight months ago. Google interprets review velocity as a signal of business health and relevance.
Build a review request system into your customer workflow. The best time to ask is immediately after a positive interaction — not in a bulk email campaign three months later. Automated SMS review requests sent within 24 hours of a completed job consistently outperform every other approach we’ve tested.
