Search Engine Land reverse-engineered Google's Geostore system to expose 72 Oyster Rank signals, 793 data sources, and a multi-stage ranking pipeline that goes far beyond proximity.

A study of 6 million local search results found review volume and recency drive Google Local Pack rankings more than star ratings, though consumers still heavily weight ratings in conversion decisions.

Google is converting local knowledge panels from Google Business Profiles into AI Overview format with expandable chat-style interfaces.

Scammers are uploading AI-generated photos to Google Maps business listings with fake phone numbers to divert customer calls, and Google's reporting process appears ineffective.

Google is now notifying business owners when its systems detect and remove a sudden spike in spam reviews from their Business Profile.

Search Engine Journal analyzed 120K mentions to identify four key signals that drive multi-location business visibility across five AI models including ChatGPT and Gemini.

SOCi's analysis of expanding versus contracting restaurant chains reveals expanding brands earn 6–7x more ChatGPT recommendations and maintain consistently higher scores across search, reviews, and social signals.

GatherUp analyzed nearly 9,000 businesses to benchmark review volumes, NPS, and star ratings across healthcare, insurance, restaurant, legal, storage & transportation, and construction sectors for 2025.

Local SEO expert Joy Hawkins outlined how reviews factor into Google rankings alongside proximity, category, and website authority—emphasizing recency, engagement, and responsiveness over perfect ratings or keyword-stuffed text.

Google Business Profiles insights are showing no data for September, eight days into the month, despite typical delays of only a few days.

Google Business Profiles is testing an AI feature that automatically converts text descriptions of business hours into structured format for local search results.

Google updated its EEA search result units to include local business queries alongside directories and direct providers.

Google redesigned Search results in the EEA, restored view counts to Business Profile posts, and ChatGPT Shopping expanded its reliance on product feeds.

Google Maps now requires users to sign in with a Google account to view all reviews, sort results, and leave feedback on business listings.

SERoundtable reports Google is testing a redesigned Local Service Ads format with larger images and highlight boxes to increase prominence in search results.

Google is rolling out view counts for Business Profile posts globally, showing combined views from Search and Maps for posts from the past 18 months.

Google is working to fix a bug in Local Service Ads causing them to unlink from associated Google Business Profiles, amid reports of platform instability.

Google Local Services Ads have switched to displaying Google Business Profile phone numbers for call tracking instead of advertiser-specified Google Ads numbers, and the change appears to be permanent.

Google is experimenting with a two-row button layout for local search panel actions on mobile devices.

Google Maps is placing some service area business pins in the ocean instead of at correct locations.

Google clarified that business owners have a four-day window to reject user-suggested edits to their Google Business Profiles before the changes auto-apply.

The permanently closed status option has disappeared from Google Business Profiles, along with temporarily closed and some other closure-related options.

Google expanded its aggregator and supplier search units to now support local business queries.

Google announced delays in processing applications for Google Business Profile API access.

GatherUp partnered with The Transparency Company to integrate fraud detection and review authentication into its reputation management platform, helping businesses comply with FTC rules against fake reviews.

GatherUp released Auto Reply Templates, an AI-powered feature that automatically matches pre-written review responses to incoming reviews based on sentiment.

Google Business Profiles is testing a fifth verification method that accepts submitted photos of a business location alongside existing phone, email, video, and postcard options.

Google and Uberall are hosting a webinar on September 24 to discuss upcoming Google Search changes and local marketing fixes.