This article is from our Agency Playbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter two of ‘Part One: Pitching and Onboarding’.

You can find chapter one on defining your services here.

Believe it or not, you’re not the sole agency providing local marketing, SEO, or digital marketing services. Surprising, right?

The reality is that you aren’t just competing against a couple of other agencies; you could be competing against hundreds. According to IBISWorld, in 2023, there were 187,705 SEO and Internet Marketing Consultants in the USA. That makes for a very busy space.

It also means that setting your agency apart is imperative. You can’t just set up shop, offer the exact same services as others around you, and hope that’s enough.

We touched on this briefly in the first part of the Agency Playbook, where we helped you define your positioning. In some cases, it could be as simple as being the only agency specializing in local SEO in your town. In others, it could be the niche you choose to target. Sometimes it isn’t that simple, though.

So today, we will hear from agency experts on how they help their agencies stand out from the crowd. We asked each of these experts the same three questions, and here’s what they had to say about getting noticed, creating a unique selling point (USP), and hindsight.

Amanda Jordan

Director of Digital Strategy at RicketyRoo

Amanda states that the key for RicketyRoo has been being a positive part of the local SEO community, offering true transparency to its clients, and looking ahead.

1. Getting Noticed

Honestly, what we do to get noticed is what we tell our clients to do to rank and grow their businesses. We just work on being a positive and impactful part of our community.

2. Developing a USP

Blake Denman is the man behind our USP. We are refreshingly transparent and upfront. This isn’t just with our clients but also applies to how we work within our team and present to the industry.

3. Hindsight

Focus on the horizon, not the rearview mirror; hindsight is not a guide. We’re focusing on seeing where this road takes us.

Joy Hawkins

Owner/President at Sterling Sky

For Joy, the key has been tapping into their in-house expertise and properly showcasing it to the world. It’s about being knowledgeable in a noisy way to help bring a strong inbound funnel for their sales.

1. Getting Noticed

I think the best sales approach is to have a strong inbound funnel so that you have people contacting you who have already researched you.

At Sterling Sky, we don’t do any outbound sales. When leads reach out to us, we usually don’t have to “brag” too much about our accomplishments because the businesses have already seen it on our website.

We have a very strong social media presence and newsletter and are well-represented at conferences, podcasts, and webinars.

2. Developing a USP

Our USP is that we are trend leaders in the local SEO space and understand the local algorithms very well. We are often the first to put out case studies about new concepts and ranking factors. We have also discovered and named almost every local algorithm update Google has done in the last decade. The most recent one was the Openness algorithm update, which we shared and got Google to confirm shortly afterward.

Our other advantage is that we have a team of well-known experts in the local SEO space. There are nine employees at Sterling Sky that contribute to the Local Search Ranking Factors Study every year.

Study: Business Opening Hours and Local Rankings

Get the Insights

3. Hindsight

I’d probably change nothing. We share a ton of information about SEO tactics we have succeeded with. Some people think this idea of “giving away your secrets” is nuts, but I would argue that it helps identify us as experts and is also the main reason why businesses want to work with us.

Emily Wassell

Head of SEO at tmwi

Emily says that tmwi focuses a lot on educating its clients. In addition to sharing their knowledge with the wider community, they double down on keeping their clients up-to-date and in the know. For tmwi, it’s all about using this education to help uncover things that many other agencies simply don’t look at and make new processes around it.

1. Getting Noticed

SEO still has a reputation as a ‘dark art,’ meaning many brands and marketers have limited trust in SEO services. We do everything agencies should be doing – smart work for clients, entering awards, SEO training and workshops, and creating insights and content to share with the industry.

But our most effective strategy is focusing on referrals from happy clients – SEO is a channel where having someone to vouch for your work can be a game-changer. Our team is focused on building really strong client relationships and quantifying the results of our work to make sure our clients always think of us with friends and colleagues and if they move to new roles.

2. Developing a USP

We didn’t want to get boxed in by having a USP for specific sectors, projects, websites, etc. But we do have a unique process for content–our audience-led content strategy offering, Audience and Search Intent Modelling.

It developed from frustration that so many SEO strategies just targeted the same high-volume keywords–it’s obvious and increasingly ineffective. The ASIM strategy takes a step back from the keywords to start with the audience interests and affinities, then overlay the keywords back over the top. In short, it helps brands dominate their category with content across multiple pillars. This means the content is built around the audience first and with SEO at the heart, so it works better across all channels.

3. Hindsight

We’re definitely more focused on connecting search optimizations to paid activity now–how can we improve the website and UX, using SEO insights, to get more conversions from the traffic we’re driving? It means we can demonstrate the value of SEO outside of just organic metrics and encourage clients to consider SEO alongside paid media rather than an either/or debate on budgets.

Greg Gifford

Chief Operating Officer at SearchLab

Greg wrote about people being more important than money in a BrightLocal Spotlight in 2023. A few of the tidbits from that piece on how SearchLab sets itself apart highlight how mindset is key:

“He [Mark Bealin] talked about true work-life balance.

About how money wasn’t as important as having happy employees who truly enjoyed their jobs.

About how he wanted to be the one to change people’s lives, help them get houses, and help send their kids to school.

Managers and team leads can talk about culture and inclusion all day long, but if it’s not part of the lifeblood of your agency, it doesn’t make much difference. Everyone from the top down has to be a part of making that change.

At SearchLab, we have several core values that we live by daily:

Continuous drive for learning and self-improvement

• Have integrity in all that we do
• Relentless pursuit of exceptional results
• Demonstrate accountability and responsibility
• Contribute to a positive, supportive, and collaborative environment.”

For more on this, you can read Greg’s Spotlight: ‘People are More Important Than Money’

Be Loud and Plan for the Future

It may not feel like rocket science, but a common theme from these agency experts is transparency and expertise. You don’t have to be reinventing the wheel or doing anything completely earth-shattering.

It can go a long way if your clients and prospective clients can see you by openly sharing your knowledge and expertise. Whether through social media, on a one-on-one basis with clients, at conferences, or simply on your own website, it can go a long way to help set you apart.

Look hard at how you can use the experts you have in-house to help tell your unique stories on SEO. Do this, and you’ll not only show you know what you’re doing, but your happy clients will tell others, too. Being true subject-area experts can even stop you from having to work so hard at outbound sales.

That being said, looking ahead is important. Put together a robust plan, look at investing in the right people, and then nurture them to be the best they can be.

This article is from our Agency Playbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter one of ‘Part One: Pitching and Onboarding’.

The guide takes inspiration from Claire Carlile’s Academy course ‘How to Win Your First Local SEO Client’.

Setting up a new local SEO agency is exciting. Being your own boss, working on your terms, and doing things your way is a hard gig to beat. It’s professionally and personally rewarding. One thing it isn’t, though, is easy.

Whether you already run an agency but feel it’s time for a reset, want to add local SEO to your other digital offerings, or are a consultant ready to scale up to agency owner, getting started requires considerable upfront planning.

The sheer volume of tasks you’ll need to complete before launch day can feel daunting. Many of the decisions you need to make come with a huge side order of pressure. That’s because each decision directly impacts the direction of your new business and its chances of success (or failure).

That’s where we come in. Our Agency Playbook is your blueprint to get your new local SEO agency off the ground.

Defining Your Services

Before you can successfully launch your business, you need a clear idea of what you’re going to sell. You might think that’s the easy bit. After all, it’s a local SEO agency, so the clue will be in the name, right? Not exactly.

In today’s search landscape, local SEO is a broad umbrella term for a rapidly growing range of tactics and specialisms. That means you could opt to focus on just one or two niche areas of expertise, such as:

• Google Business Profile Optimization
• Reputation Management
• Local Link Building
• Copywriting
• Citation Building
• Data and Analytics
• Social Marketing 
• Technical Optimization 

If you read that list and answer, “Check. Check. Check,” you may feel you’re sufficiently experienced and knowledgeable to offer a full-service local SEO solution. When you’re building a new business, it can be tempting to try and do it all. However, it’s essential to consider your strengths and weaknesses and whether you have the budget to fill any skills gaps with freelancers, subcontractors, or full-term hires.

That means your options are:

Whether you’re more inclined to be a niche expert or launch a full-service local search marketing agency, there’s another critical question that you’ll need to consider. Do you want to fly solo, or are you interested in building a bigger business with a team of experts working for your agency? 

Determining what scale you want to achieve is a very personal decision. There’s no right or wrong answer; it comes down to what you want from life.  

Some people are drawn to the solopreneur lifestyle because they can stay in complete control. Being a solopreneur means you’re only responsible for yourself. You don’t have the pressure of making payroll each month, nor do you have to take on a manager role. It can be the more flexible path, at least initially, and affords a greater amount of personal freedom. 

That said, if you’re serious about building an agency, bringing in other local SEO experts can help you develop your service portfolio and offer a more comprehensive solution to clients. It also gives you more man-hours and resources, which means you can take on more clients, generate more turnover, deliver better results, and not have to do everything yourself.  

What kind of local businesses will you target? 

With your business’s organizational structure decided, you can now start to think about who you will sell your services to. This is your client niche, and it can be a whole lot trickier to settle on than it may first appear. Your client niche could be determined by a specific industry, a certain size of business, or a local area. 

There are a couple of clear advantages to saying that you’re only going to work with this kind of client.

Advantage 1: You have the chance to become a big fish in a small pond

If 100% of your efforts and results come from a single sector, you can expect to become an established authority within that vertical. That depth of expertise means your services should become highly prized within that target niche.

Let’s say you decide to work only with dentists. With a few happy clients and excellent results, word should soon spread through the dental community. Any dentist looking to grow their local search visibility will know that you can get the job done. There could even be an increased desire to work with you to gain the upper hand over local rivals.

Local SEO for Dentists

by Ian de Jongh from Pain-Free Dental Marketing

Find out more

Advantage 2: You’ll have a unique insight into search trends

Choosing to work with just one type of client allows you to immerse yourself fully in that sector’s search landscape. You’ll instinctively learn what works and what doesn’t because you’ll work with the same kinds of businesses and keywords daily.

Essentially, you’re developing your own substantial back catalog of search algorithm intelligence. 

This unique insight cuts down on the guesswork associated with running new local SEO campaigns. It allows you to deploy tactics you’ve tried and tested and feel confident they will move the needle in the right direction from day one. And it means you’ll deliver consistently strong results for your clients.

Advantage 3: As a specialist, you can focus on what you do well

Having a particular niche—whether that’s an industry you have a particular affinity for or a certain size of client business you prefer to work with—can help you avoid a common trap associated with running a business: spreading yourself too thin. You can focus on what you enjoy and know you do well because you aren’t trying to be all things to all clients.  

Advantage 4: Day-to-day operations can be streamlined

There are plenty of practical advantages to having a well-defined niche. Many service providers define their client niche by geographical area. Service businesses like plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians define their niche by radius.

Staying within your geographical area can also make day-to-day operations smoother. It makes it much easier to host client meetings, travel to networking events, and pitch to new businesses.

Advantage 5: Your marketing and messaging can be tightly focused

Knowing your audience is one of the golden rules of successful marketing. For your sales and marketing efforts to resonate, you need to understand who you’re talking to and what their challenges are. You should be able to clearly articulate how you can help them specifically.

If you don’t have a niche:

• Your sales messaging could be too generic to generate a connection.
• Your pitch decks could leave your prospects cold.
• Your advertising could fall flat.

A real estate agent, for example, will have different priorities than a mom-and-pop convenience store. A veterinarian won’t be looking to solve the same search problems as a locksmith. A restaurant will expect different results from a lawyer. Only by having a clear idea of your audience will your marketing and sales messaging hit their mark. 

Despite these clear advantages, there are some pitfalls to deciding on a client niche. 

Pitfall 1: Your niche is too narrow 

While there are genuine benefits to having an area of expertise, your niche must be able to sustain your new agency. There must be enough of those kinds of businesses to keep your business in business. You could quickly run out of clients if your focus is too specific. 

Opting to only work with surf shops in Nevada, for instance.

Pitfall 2: Industry downturns will impact your business too

If your agency focuses on a particular industry or a specific type of business, any downturn in that vertical will also hit your business hard. A change in that market could render your services no longer required, jeopardizing your entire agency business. While that may seem like an extreme scenario, you only have to cast your mind back to the industries entirely shut down by the pandemic or made obsolete by the surge in online services to understand how quickly things can change. 

Pitfall 3: Too many clients request non-competition clauses 

Being super successful in your niche is a beautiful thing—your clients know they can trust you to deliver results. But what happens when they don’t want you delivering those same results for their main rival across town? Having a client with a non-competition clause could put dozens of other businesses out of bounds in one fell swoop.

You can’t afford for your niche to be too narrow that you run out of new clients you’re permitted to work with.

Taking on the Pricing Conundrum 

If there’s one thing guaranteed to keep any business owner awake at night, it’s cash. Setting your agency pricing model is no small feat, and it’s also far from straightforward. 

As a new business, you may be tempted to price your services lower to attract clients. That could mean you need to charge more to cover your overheads and make a profit. You could be toying with charging more to value your skillset. But set the bar too high, and you could price yourself out of the game before you begin.

The key to creating a sustainable pricing model that reflects the value you bring to your clients, keeps the lights on, and doesn’t send prospects running for the hills is to work systematically and impartially through the process. 

Step 1: Decide on Your Pricing Model 

There are many different pricing models for SEO and digital marketing agencies. You need to decide what yours will be. Will you charge per hour or go for a fixed monthly or quarterly retainer? An hourly rate can initially seem more affordable for clients, but it’s also less transparent and makes budgeting much harder. You may also find it harder to make financial forecasts and plan as the hours you bill (and therefore how much you make) will likely fluctuate monthly. 

A fixed fee can initially be off-putting for some businesses, especially smaller enterprises. It may feel like a big commitment, but it should be a much more precise cost to manage each month. A monthly or quarterly retainer also gives you some security and certainty, so you can accurately forecast turnover or confidently take on a new staff member. 

Some service providers operate a pay-on-results model. This is perhaps the most difficult model to understand as a client and local SEO agency. It requires a lot of forward planning because you’ll need to have an ironclad agreement in place that clearly defines the result being targeted, what that success looks like in practice, and how long it will take. You’ll also need to clearly understand how long the desired outcome will likely take and ensure that the input costs don’t outweigh the reward. 

Step 2: Work Backwards From There 

Once you know how you will charge, you can start to think about what you will charge. 

• Do your research: You don’t want to under or overprice your services. As a first port of call, try to understand what other local SEO providers are charging in your area. Some agencies may have pricing guidelines on their site to give you a ballpark figure. Friends, family members, and acquaintances may have their own experiences working with other agencies. Ask them how much they paid. If you’re a member of a local Chamber of Commerce or attend networking events, feel free to ask local business representatives what they have or would expect to pay for local SEO support. 
• Be creative: If those avenues leave you drawing a blank, go online. Many smaller agencies and solo service providers use freelance and on-demand platforms to find work. Many of those platforms allow providers to post fixed-price jobs. Review standard costs to build up an idea of average pricing. Some sites will also show you past reviews and the number of clients worked with, helping you understand if that service provider has got it right and is winning new business. 
• Calculate your outgoings: One of the most important defining factors in your pricing model is the amount of cash you need to cover your outgoings. Create a list and tally it up. Include any business expenses such as rent, Wi-Fi, staff costs, equipment costs, and software subscriptions. Remember things like taxes and healthcare insurance. Next, think about your personal circumstances and how much money you need to make each month to live comfortably. 

What Should My Agency Be Charging for Local SEO?

Find out more

Carving out Your Place in the Market 

Local SEO is a competitive space. You must be clear on your market position to ensure you stand out. This goes beyond your niche. It isn’t just about what you do and who you serve. It’s more nuanced. It’s about storytelling and weaving a compelling narrative that helps your target market understand your value and what makes you different.  

Your Positioning Statement 

Writing a positioning statement is an excellent way to focus your thinking and clarify your mission. It is a very short piece of text (around three sentences or so), but don’t be fooled. Less can be surprisingly more difficult. 

To create yours: 

• State who you’re targeting and what their problems or opportunities are.
• Outline what your service is and the main benefit you bring to the table. 
• Identify your competitive differentiator. 

Once you have formulated this statement, you’ll be able to clearly convey what you bring to the table, how you can help your clients succeed, and how your solution differs from competitors. 

You can refer to this document anytime you need to center yourself and check whether you’re continuing on the right path. 

Generating Leads 

Lead generation is one of those jobs that you can never tick off your to-do list as an agency owner. But, as a local SEO practitioner, the good news is that you’ll already be well-qualified to market your agency’s offerings. 

It should go without saying that many of the tactics and methods you use to boost your client’s search visibility should be applied to your own business: 

• Create, optimize, and manage your Google Business Profile.
• Build a website and regularly add helpful, original, optimized content.
• Start local link building.
• Build citations.
• Be proactive about asking clients for reviews.
• Be active on social media. 
• Participate in local and industry events.
• Share valuable tips with your network.
• Seek media coverage and other forms of local exposure, such as volunteering to speak at a Chamber of Commerce event or participating in a podcast. 

Generating leads is often about sharing your expertise and offering your insight. There’s an educational aspect that not only provides useful information to your prospects but also allows you to showcase your expertise. This doesn’t just build trust in your agency; it can also build goodwill. 

Aside from the local SEO tactics you already know and are proficient in, there are many other ways to generate leads. Raising your local visibility can make a huge impact. Why not host a free seminar for local businesses within your client niche? You could also donate your time to a local non-profit in return for a testimonial or reference on their website. If you’re confident in front of the camera or happy to appear online, another great tactic is to approach local media about guest author spots.  

You could also consider creating a presence on one of the many on-demand platforms. These platforms already have a volume of traffic you can benefit from, and you can instantly connect with local businesses actively looking for local SEO solutions. This is also a great way to quickly build up a store of reviews, which you can then use as social proof to generate additional leads for your new local SEO agency business.

But, you did, and here at BrightLocal we certainly all did. As we’re winding down for the end-of-year festivities, we’ve found it’s a good time to reflect on 2023 as a whole… maybe even take the time to wrap it all up neatly, into a box with a bow.

So that’s what we’re going to do. It’s time to grab some paper, scissors, tape, and ribbon and see what comes out on top in BrightLocal’s 2023 Wrapped.

The Biggest Google Updates for Local

Did you blink? Because Google probably rolled out another update. For a few months, it felt like when everyone was just calming down from one, they’d announce another. Oh, and then another.

It appears that Google execs were booby-trapping their house, making sure it got harder and harder for people to game their system, which you have to respect… to an extent. We can almost see them rolling another update out and saying, (in the words of Kevin McCallister): “Do you guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?”

While the dust is still settling on these, it feels like some of the biggest changes for local were:

1. A new ranking factor… well, maybe. Opening hours or, in Google’s words ‘openness’.

Since the news broke, the situation has evolved. It’s been confirmed by Google that openness has been a factor for a while, but that the strength of the signal has dialed up considerably recently. However, they also say that may change.

The team tells me we've long used "openness" as part of our local ranking systems, and it recently became a stronger signal for non-navigational queries. This might change in various ways, as we continue to evaluate the usefulness of it, however.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 15, 2023

We’ve done a study to see how it’s currently affecting rankings. You can find that here.

Study: Business Opening Hours and Local Rankings

Using Local Search Grid to conduct a measured study and analyze the relationship between "openness" and local rankings for 50 business locations.

Read more

2. They’re introducing an updated reinstatement process for suspended profiles.

There’s a whole new process! Both for getting suspended and being reinstated. This has been a long time coming—and you can hear all about it in our webinar with Ben Fisher and Sherry Bonelli.

3. GA4 finally arrived, and it made everything really, really hard for everyone.

It’s been a difficult year for many a marketer, with the switch from universal analytics echoing the famous plot of It’s a Wonderful Life; imagine if the dependable person you knew, just never existed at all.

Fortunately, we have a guardian angel here to help you get your GA4 sorted.

Getting Started with Google Analytics 4 for Local SEO

Read more

4. SGE was teased and, for some people, rolled out.

Generative AI was the buzzphrase of the year. Google, ever the trend leader, launched its search generative experience (SGE) and released it for testing in the USA. They’ve been running various tests and, honestly, the situation keeps changing… there goes Google keeping us on our toes again.

Currently, there’s no confirmed date for it rolling out for everyone, but when it does, it could shake up search (including local search) forever.

5. They (finally) added social media link management to GBP! It pretty much made our own social media manager’s year…

It may not feel huge, but it’s been a pain for years and is a real game-changer for GBP managers.

Bloopers from our Local Search Expert, Claire Carlile

Our hostess-with-the-mostest, Claire Carlile, is nothing but professional… that being said, she does spend quite a few hours in front of a camera, and that leads to some absolute gold.

So here are our favorite Claire Carlile bloopers of 2023:

1. The time Claire got so distracted by Biscuit’s cuteness “behind the scenes” of a webinar that she had to apologize to the viewers when she went live.

WOAH that was awesome @ownyourserp – thanks for the KNOWLEDGE NUGGETS you just gave us all – what a fab @brightlocal webinar. If you joined us sorry about the funny start, this is why we were only thinking about CUTE DOGS! Watch the recording on Youtube https://t.co/UmLkccuyHC pic.twitter.com/G0nFfHKyZv

— Claire Carlile (@clairecarlile) March 30, 2023

I mean… can you blame her? 

2. The time when Claire’s daughter Betsi bought about her professional downfall live on air.

Thanks for joining me on an AWESOME Local Search Clinic @StefanSomborac – so many excellent questions and so many excellent answers!
Watch again here, and at the end enjoy my professional downfall as my child decides to make an entrance…
https://t.co/mhfq5tqufS pic.twitter.com/7ahUZ9q1jA

— Claire Carlile (@clairecarlile) June 22, 2023

3. The time Claire’s internet completely dropped out immediately before she was supposed to host Local SEO for Good. Which caused just a little bit of panic.

4. The time Claire and Crystal Carter had so much fun during a podcast recording that their laughs messed with the sound levels and made it nearly impossible to edit.

5. Finally, this last one is a curveball. Our wonderful Sammy, the expert behind our fantastic research (and mother to the aforementioned Biscuit), managed to get herself locked in her bedroom while the team was busy putting the finishing touches on this piece.

So, we’re awarding her an honorary place in this list. From eyewitness reports, the door just closed behind her and the handle refused to turn, leaving her stuck with none other than Biscuit himself. 

Worry not, she managed to escape through a window and get someone to come over with a spare pair of keys for her front door.

BrightLocal Product Releases and Updates

We’ve had quite the year here at BrightLocal, and we’re incredibly proud of the advances we’ve made to our local SEO tools and services. Not only have we gone beyond the Horizon with the launch of our new multi-location command center, but we’ve also created our own GBP post scheduler and changed the listings game with Active Sync.

1. BrightLocal Horizon
Just this month we launched our brand new multi-location command center. This powerful tool uses Local Search Grid to give you a country-wide view of the rankings for all your locations. 

2. Active Sync
We changed the listings game with Active Sync, an API solution for listings management, offered at a fraction of the cost of other services.

3. GBP Post Scheduler
With this useful tool, you can now you can publish to all your Google Business Profiles from one convenient location.

4. Local Rank Tracker 2.0
We upgraded our already fantastic Local Rank Tracker to add a host of new features and insights.

5. Local Search Grid Flexible Grid Points

Now, you can place your Local Search Grid grid points where you want, making our tracking even more accurate.

And that’s just scratching the surface of what we’ve managed to achieve at BrightLocal this year. We’ve also added all kinds of sites to our local citation builder service’s network, grown the team behind the product across the globe, and so much more!

The Content We Loved, by You

There’s a lot of content on local SEO published every single day. With AI flooding an already cluttered space, we wanted to highlight the hard work of people across the internet who are creating excellent content on SEO and local marketing—no AI-Grinch stealing everyone’s hard work on our watch.

1. Miriam Ellis, Moz: The Local Business Content Marketing Guide

It’s a wondrous collection of guides, and just another example of Miriam’s excellent work. We’re always a fan of Miriam’s content here, like this guide on GBP photos and this piece for Wix on being COVID-conscious.

2. Greg Sterling, Near Media: Google SGE: Meet the New Pack

Near Media’s content is always excellent and their newsletter is essential for anyone working in local. Go subscribe. Seriously.

3. Kick Point Playbook: Grow Your Agency with Google Analytics Training & Templates

The whole Playbook is well worth your time to help you with your analytics—plus it comes with a ringing endorsement from Claire Carlile (and Biscuit!).

4. Marie Haynes, Marie Haynes Consulting: Search News You Can Use Newsletter

A wonderful resource for anyone looking for SEO news or insights, with a real focus on AI… all in one helpful feed.

5. Ann Smarty, Smarty Marketing: The State of the Link Building Industry 2023

Ann surveyed 300 SEO professionals from across the industry (all with years of experience) to find out what they’re doing to build links in 2023, and whether it’s working. It’s an incredibly thorough study and worth checking if you’re planning on doing link-building in 2024.

Our Favourite Insights

At BrightLocal, our mission is to help every business be successful at local SEO—whether that’s through our tools or our content. We’ve performed insightful research, given people a platform to talk about the industry, and helped thousands navigate local SEO with BrightLocal Academy. Plus, we re-launched our podcast, and our webinars have gone up a level too.

Here are a few that we’re particularly proud of:

1. Local business discovery and trust report

Our research speaks for itself, from the Generative AI Study to the first-ever Big Brand Review Showdown, but we’re particularly proud of this year’s trust report, which highlights the discovery platforms local consumers trust the most and least.

2. How to Do Insightful Competitor Analysis for Local SEO on BrightLocal Academy

A question we get asked all the time! Well now you can do an excellent course in BrightLocal Academy… and it’s completely free! Plus, it’s with Greg Gifford, so you know it’ll be a blast.

3. Adventures in Local Marketing with Crystal Carter: Powerful Applications of Schema Markup

Our podcast came back with a bang this year, and Claire’s chat with Crystal on schema is well worth your time.

4. Live GBP Audit with Colan Nielson

In the first of our new live audits, Colan looked at auditing and optimizing the GBP for a dental practice. It’s not to be missed.

5. George Nguyen, Wix: Diversifying Your Publication

We launched BrightLocal Spotlight this year, a column where industry professionals were given a platform to talk about issues important to them. George’s encapsulated everything Spotlight stands for and is an important, insightful read.

The Most Essential Guides

We’ve published some absolutely essential guides this year, continuing our mission to help educate local marketers, whatever level they may be. A lot of our guides come directly from questions we get asked in The Local Pack or our webinars, so never hesitate to ask!

1. Abigail Leow, BrightLocal: How to Rank Outside Your Area.

A question we seem to get asked more than any other. Abigail busts myths and collates all the advice you may need on the subject of ranking beyond your physical location.

2. Andy Simpson, Digital Law Marketing: How to Choose the Next Location for Your Business Using Local SEO

Local SEO may not be the first thing you consider when deciding where to open your next branch, but Andy Simpson makes a very convincing argument on why you should.

3. Emily Brady, Podium: How to Craft Unique and Helpful Location Pages

Location pages are a key part of local SEO for multi-location brands, and this guide goes into everything you need to know.

4. Dani Owens, Pigzilla: Local SEO Schema: Types and Templates

Schema doesn’t need to be as mystifying as it appears. Dani’s templates are simple to understand and easy to implement.

5. Gyi Tsakalakis, AttorneySync: Local SEO for Lawyers

Gyi does a deep dive into everything a law marketer could ever need to know about local SEO. 

The Times Barry Schwartz Told People it’s “Not New”!

It happens to the best of us. It feels like not a day goes by without an expert being absolutely certain they’ve spotted something new and game-changing in the SERPs. They tweet it to Barry Schwartz, only for the one-man-search-encyclopdia to reply with two withering words; “not new”.

Here are some of our favorites from just the last 12 months.

1. The time he trademarked it.

Hey @okaylizzi "not new" has a https://t.co/QAZRV9WF1r pic.twitter.com/ZdW8IjKw7W

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) August 2, 2023

2. Google charging for phone support.

Not new https://t.co/RmAEF8KzSQ

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) December 14, 2023

3. Places of interest.

yea, rare to see but not new

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) December 1, 2023

4. Special SERPs for cities.

that is not new, it is pretty old, i need to find when i covered it

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) April 26, 2023

5. The time he got not newed himself, by Mike Blumenthal.

Image of notifications from Sept of last year pic.twitter.com/2SZra8ZiFi

— Mike Blumenthal (@mblumenthal) June 22, 2023

The Best Conference Talks of 2023

2023 was another huge year for the conference circuit. While we helped make brightonSEO special with our Pin It to Win It game, we also enjoyed a number of talks here and elsewhere. Plus, we hosted a virtual conference of our own to raise money for charity.

Here are our favorite talks from around the SEO world:

1. Claire Carlile, BrightLocal at brightonSEO: Google’s Local Knowledge Panel—The CMS You Never Knew You Had

2. Harmony Huskinson, Victorious at Local SEO for Good: Developing Your E-E-A-T Strategy for Local SEO

3. Syphaïwong Bay, Assonance Agency at Women in Tech SEO: Creating Meaningful Content

4. Dana DiTomaso, Kick Point at LocalU: Customizing GA4 for Local Business Reporting

5. Amanda Jordan, RicketyRoo at MozCon: Build Better Backlinks for Local Brands

Oh wow, it’s been a big year for every part of the business. Whether that’s the Philippines team’s annual basketball tournament, the hackathons with our Ukraine and Poland teams, or the big refresh of our brand, there’s something for each team to celebrate.

A few big moments from across the year include:

1. BrightLocal at brightonSEO

Not once, but twice our stand stole the show, surprising and delighting visitors with the absolute best swag and the most engaging game: Pin It To Win It. We hope you enjoyed coming to see us, and we can’t wait to see you next year.

2. The Phillippines Christmas Party

It was hard to pick just one moment from this team, who consistently show up the rest of the business when it comes to having fun! Their Christmas party really stood out this year, though.

3. Local SEO for Good

We put on a two-day virtual conference of our very own and raised $78,401.47 for a host of charities, all while connecting marketers with experts to help them learn something new.

4. The Big Rebrand

You may have noticed, but the website looks just a little different than it did at the start of the year. Our design team did an amazing job completely revamping the site and our illustrative style.

5. Our Hackathon in Poland

Our product and development teams got together to come up with a host of new ideas. In fact, this is where BrightLocal Horizon was cooked up. It was a great few days of fun and, evidently, awesome ideas.

This just scratches the surface! There was so much going on at BrightLocal this year that it was hard to really narrow it down.

See You in 2024

We can’t wait for what 2024 will hold for BrightLocal and local search marketing. We’re sure there’ll be a whole host of surprises from Google, at the very least. In the meantime, happy holidays from the entire BrightLocal team, and we’ll see you in January.

At last count, more than 80 million people head to the site each month in search of somewhere to eat, someone to fix an issue at home, or someone to get them on the road. With dozens of categories and a vast directory of local business information, it’s an indispensable tool for local consumers.

It’s also a great way to grow your online presence, generate leads, and boost your sales figures. From takeout joints to locksmiths and home cleaners to body shops, Yelp is a great way to put your business in front of local consumers.

While you may not see it as such, Yelp is kind of like a search engine. As with any other search engine, the more time and effort you pour into search engine optimization (SEO), the better your results will be. So we’re going to talk to you about Yelp SEO.

The good news is that there are plenty of steps you can take to increase the prominence of your Yelp listing, no matter how competitive or overcrowded your particular category may be.

Why does Yelp SEO matter?  

Yelp isn’t just a key review platform or a place to claim a free business listing. It’s also a business discovery tool in its own right. It ties these three elements together, and that makes it particularly useful for local business owners.

What makes SEO for Yelp especially important is the proactive nature of the directory’s user base. According to its own figures, 83% of Yelp users hire or buy from a business they find on the platform.

What’s more, 57% of users contact the business directly within 24 hours. Those are powerful incentives to make your business as visible as possible. Get that right and you can realistically expect your foot traffic, reservations, and bookings to increase by a notable margin.

Claiming your Yelp listing is also free. As with any other business directory, it’s a useful way to boost your local citation count. Plus it provides a wealth of useful information to consumers. Information such as opening hours, street address, and services offered along with reviews and images are all contained within your Yelp listing. This information makes it that much easier for consumers to match your local business with their immediate needs.

How to Claim a Yelp Business Listing

Learn More

You also won’t be charged for any user interaction with your business. That means calls, emails, and website visitors are all free. You just have to make sure your listing is visible and receiving traffic. That’s where knowing how to optimize Yelp business listing information comes in.

Not only this, but users themselves go to Yelp to perform searches. And, as with other platforms, Yelp has its own algorithm for ranking the businesses it returns.

7 Ways to Optimize Your Yelp Listing

The internet is full of information and tips, but much of it is outdated, confusing, and time-consuming to wade through. Yelp doesn’t tend to share as much insight or best practice advice as Google or Bing, which can make it even harder to know where to start.

The tips below will guide you through optimizing your Yelp business listing. These essentials include category selection, review responses, and the importance of regular updates.

Ready to tap into the enormous potential that Yelp offers? Read on.  

1. Choose a Relevant Business Category

If you’ve been responsible for your business’s local listing management for a while now, you may be familiar with the importance of business categories. It’s a vital part of Google Business Profile optimization and similarly important when it comes to acing SEO for Yelp.

Yelp allows you to select up to three categories when claiming or updating your business listing (more on that later). But that’s not to say you should select three if only one or two are actually a good fit.

How to Choose the Right Google Business Profile Categories

Read more

One of the easiest ways to optimize a Yelp listing is to only select the most relevant business category or categories. There are 1500 categories available in total, so you’ll need to be as specific as possible to ensure you’re getting seen by the right kinds of consumers. 

If you’re a home automation expert, for example, you may be tempted to also select electrician as a secondary category. But, unless you’re also an electrical contractor offering services such as appliance repair or rewiring, you could be undermining your listing’s effectiveness. 

2. Add Relevant Services 

While a category is a broad definition of your business offerings, services allow you to be much more specific. Here, you can select as many services as you offer. And, you can do so for each category you select.

This gives both Yelp and local consumers a much clearer idea of what you can offer. It provides both Yelp and local consumers with a much clearer idea of what your business does, helping to boost your listing’s relevance within search results. 

Make sure you select every service that your business offers. Again, don’t add irrelevant services in the hope of attracting more traffic. Focus instead on what you do offer so that your efforts to optimize Yelp listing information deliver meaningful traffic which could boost your sales figures. 

3. Carefully Craft Your ‘From This Business’ Text

Yelp research suggests that as many as 90% of Yelp users use the platform to compare local businesses. Your ‘From This Business’ text is your opportunity to connect with Yelp users and introduce some keyword-rich content to your listing at the same time.

The ‘From This Business’ area of your listing is split into three sections:

• An introduction
• Business history
• Specialties

Each of these components provides a space to connect with local consumers, highlight how your business can meet their needs, and feed the Yelp algorithm with more intel about your local business.

Try and include keywords, such as products or service names, within the text. The specialties section in particular will naturally be keyword-rich, but you can also add other useful information in the intro and history sections.

4. Ensure Your Opening Hours Are Correct

Getting your opening hours right is a basic but necessary Yelp optimization task to tick off. Having incorrect hours can be frustrating at best and at worst, could actively cost you custom. BrightLocal’s Local Business Discovery & Trust Report found that 53% of consumers saw opening hours as the most important information for a business to get right on their listings.

A consumer who sees that you’re open on Yelp and travels to your location isn’t likely to have a great impression of your business if they arrive to find you closed. Chances are, they won’t risk it a second time and will go to a competitor instead.

One of the nice things about Yelp—and key to managing your Yelp business listing effectively—is the option to add special hours. If you’re closed on Thanksgiving for example but open 24 hours on Black Friday, you can add special hours to your listing. You can add as many special hours or extended closure details as needed, so be sure to keep this area updated.

How to Get Your Google Business Profile Holiday-ready

Read more

To add special hours, just navigate to the business information section of your listing and hit edit.

5. Take a Proactive Approach to Photos and Videos

Visual content is a very powerful asset for any local business. Images and videos allow consumers to build a detailed picture of your business without ever having visited or tried your services.

They help in decision-making and allow you to showcase the quality of your offering, the ambiance of your venue, and the professionalism of your staff. What’s more, when you head to the Yelp home page, it’s impossible not to notice that the top spots are invariably occupied by listings that have plentiful visual assets.

Images and videos are also an easy way to build trust. This is especially true if your Yelp SEO activity leads to more consumers uploading images alongside their reviews.

Yelp’s official advice states ‘Upload multiple photos to look your best’. That’s frustratingly ambiguous, so as a good rule of thumb, we’d suggest mirroring Google Business Profile photos best practice and uploading a well-rounded selection of images.

How to Upload and Manage Google Business Profile Photos

Read more

Aim to include shots of the interior and exterior of any location open to consumers, team photos, and product and service offerings. For bars, restaurants, and other hospitality venues, you’ll also want to include shots of your best dishes and most striking spaces.

It’s very simple to upload images.

1. Log into your Yelp business listing.
2. Select ‘Photos and videos’ from the left-hand menu.
3. Then upload from your device.

6. Respond to Reviews (Good and Bad)

Review management is a critical part of any local SEO activity. Yelp users are known to be very engaged, are prolific reviewers, and often call, message, and visit local businesses. We already know that reviews are a primary Google Business Profile ranking factor. They’re also vitally important to consumers, with 88% citing business owner responses as a top influencing factor when deciding which local business to choose.

Responding to reviews doesn’t only show Yelp users that your business is active, engaged, and values customer feedback; it also sends those same messages to Yelp, which could help you stand out from less responsive, less active competitors. 

It’s worth noting that how you respond to reviews matters too. We’ve shared lots of tips here to help you navigate responses to feedback both good and bad.

Responding to Online Reviews

Read more

7. Encourage a Regular Influx of New Reviews

A regular influx of good reviews is also important. Many consumers will only browse the most recent reviews. New reviews also help Yelp to understand more about your business, its popularity, and its relevance for consumers searching for specific products and services.

Yelp discourages local businesses from soliciting reviews. Suspected requested reviews are tagged as ‘not recommended’, with Yelp saying they can be more biased. However, there are ways that you can nurture a steady stream of incoming reviews to keep your business listing current.

One easy way is to link to your Yelp listing on your site. The platform also suggests using a ‘Find us on Yelp’ sticker at your physical location. You can take this a stage further by adding a link to your Yelp listing within your email signature, adding a Yelp logo to your business card, or including it within your physical marketing material.

Remember, you’ll need a plan to respond to your incoming reviews as quickly as possible. 

It’s Time to Work on Your Yelp Listing

Knowing how to optimize a Yelp business listing is easier than you may think. With many similarities to Google Business Profile optimization, it shouldn’t take too long to get to grips with.

Even better, growing your visibility on Yelp can directly impact the success of your business. With an engaged user base and the ability to share useful business information, it’s well worth adding Yelp SEO to your local SEO to-do list.

Not only will it help you be easier to find within Yelp itself, but optimizing your business listings is beneficial for your local SEO too. Making sure that each of your listings is accurate and working harder for you, rather than just building and forgetting, is a good move for any business.

Not only are they still important, but they’re still misunderstood, whether that’s by the businesses that need them or the agencies that are trying to sell them. Many big SEO agencies still don’t understand the real difference between local SEO and traditional SEO, for starters, let alone why local citations and business listings are still more important for some businesses than they are for others.

But, here’s the thing, there’s an art to selling these services to stakeholders or clients. You need to sell the value, without overselling it. As experts in selling citation-building services and listing management, with years of experience, we know a thing or two about the mistakes people make.

So here’s how to do it properly.

6 Tips for Selling Local Citations Services and Listings Management

1. Educate, Educate, Educate

So let’s start with the truth here: many people simply don’t know what local citations are, or why they form part of a strategy.

We often find this to be true of both the businesses themselves and those that are doing the selling. A few people understand the concept, but then don’t understand the importance, or why they’re still useful in 2023.

The simplest thing to do is to educate. People talk about listings, citations, links, and Google Business Profiles… but they don’t understand the differences between them.

2. Don’t Sell Listings and Citations as Link Building

The truth of it is, many businesses are completely mislead when it comes to local citations.

A lot of people still talk about business directories like they’re link building. Sure, back in the day if you added your site to a hundred directories it was part of your link building campaign. But citation building isn’t quite the same thing. Yeah, links are involved, but there’s more to it than that.

Tell your clients what listings are and what citation building actually is and cover how it differs from link building. If you don’t know yourself, then read about local link building here.

Remember, they’re not links in the traditional sense, so they shouldn’t necessarily be used as link building. This means that when you build citations, if you’re buying a batch from a service like BrightLocal, they’ll all come through across a short period of time.

Agencies in particular have a habit of asking to buy batches so they can report on supplying clients with a certain number a month.

So, if you’d hoped to pay a one-off fee and then trickle out links to clients over a number of months, you’re looking at the wrong thing. Get out there and build actual links.

3. Don’t Oversell Them, and Be Honest

Citations aren’t going to take your client to the moon, so stop telling them they will.

We regularly get asked the classic SEO question “How quickly will this make me rank number 1?”, which further highlights both a misunderstanding and a complete misrepresentation of listings to businesses.

Citations and listings won’t propel your business to the top of the local rankings. But they will provide you with a solid base to build from. Google generally prefers businesses to have a solid listings profile so it can verify information about your business. It’s simply the first rung on the ladder.

Being dishonest with your clients is just going to lead to anger or disappointment when the work you deliver doesn’t fire them to the top of the SERPs as you promised. But it doesn’t mean you can’t show them real value.

4. But Really Show the Value

This makes it sound like there’s no point in building citations and listings in 2023. But the reality is they offer so much more value than just a link.

We have a lot of experience at selling in the true value, to help agencies and their clients really understand what it is they’re buying.

For local citations, we find that the true value comes in highlighting the brand perception. You need to make sure your external listings are all accurate—if you have name, address, and phone number (NAP) inconsistencies, it’s going to look bad to prospective buyers. Actively building your own citations and managing them will help your information stay accurate.

Sure, that takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s where services like Citation Builder and Active Sync come into play.

If you’re selling in more advanced listings management services, outside of just a one-off citation-building campaign, then things can get a little more complex. The value is still a great place to start, though.

5. Consider Angling Citations and Listings Differently

When we’re talking to potential clients we often find it easier to make these two things different.

For building citations, the conversations we have usually focus on the following:

• Getting to the bottom of the problem. Is there missing or inaccurate information? Is it causing poor brand perception?
• Is there a knowledge and time gap? Often one feeds into the other, a lack of understanding makes the job seem either pointless or like too big a task.
• It’s rarely about SEO. People usually come to us saying “Oh $#!+, something’s wrong and it’s affecting the business”.

For listings management, we center conversations around the following:

• We use the engagement and authority layer that ActiveSync targets.
• We highlight that these layers build a really solid foundation and are the first step everyone has to take.
• With our own system, we can highlight that businesses get access to their listings permanently, which is a real bonus to be able to sell to prospective clients. This is something to consider as a real bonus when you’re selling them yourself.
• Once these important listings are built, there’s always an option to bolt on the maintenance layer when it’s applicable. Interestingly, despite being a bolt-on, clients tend to want it.
• We know people don’t go to page 6 to find a MerchantCircle listing, for instance, and we’re open and honest about that.

6. Audit Your Potential Client’s Current Standing

Before you even start selling though, you need to get prepared. The most critical thing to do is audit your potential client’s current standing in terms of local citations and listings.

It’s no use approaching someone if they’ve already got a flawless listings profile. But the truth is that many local businesses don’t.

Highlight the issue and you’re on to a winner. Do something like this:

• Understand where they are performing in terms of share of voice. Are they getting the catchment on the keywords they are interested in?
• Look at their existing citation profile – use this using a tool like Citation Tracker or other citation scanning tools.
• Then go to them and show them the inconsistencies. Highlight it and ask them whether they know, then emphasize the negative impact these inconsistencies could have.
• A frequent response here is “Arrrgh what happened here???” followed by a bit of a panic.
• If they don’t rank, ask them when they ever last looked at this
• After you’ve looked at their citation profile, do a deeper audit based on industry and geography. This will help them see the opportunities against their competitors.

What else is important?

Outside of these tips, before you start selling citations we’d recommend getting to know the whole process yourself.

Understand:

• How long it will take if you do it yourself, and how long it will take if you use a service like Citation Builder.
• The platforms available for your client to get listed on. Find the best business directories.
• Pay attention to which directories are actually important for your client or business. Find the best citation sites by location and the best by industry.
• How you can monitor the listings once they’re live and keep them updated.
• That some services will only allow you to rent your listings (not us!).

It’s also worth pointing out that a lot of the bigger, more successful agencies don’t actually know much about local SEO. A shocker, I know. If you’re one of those agencies, and you’re doing local work for clients, then spend some time getting educated. There’s plenty of resources out there, like BrightLocal Academy and local SEO learning hub.

If you really don’t have the time though, and you’re not sure you can sell in a service you know is needed but aren’t as confident about, don’t be afraid to hand over the communications to people that do. We often work directly with agency’s clients to do this, helping clients sell the service that’s needed.

Your “Too Long, Didn’t Read” Tips for Selling Listings

Basically, what it all really boils down to is three simple things:

• Educate yourself and your clients.
• Be upfront and honest. Set expectations.
• Audit their presence.

If you do that, you should be on to a winner. If you need support with any of the steps, whether it’s a citation-building service or listings management, BrightLocal is here to help. We’re experts in both selling the value and actually doing the work so that we can help agencies at every step of the process.

Unsurprisingly, these announcements centered around AI. Yup, it’s the bots again.

It’s worth noting, though, that there were a couple of other things announced that weren’t specifically AI, but could be important to local marketers across the planet (starting in the USA, as is often the case).

In this piece, we’ll cover everything you need to have on your radar.

There’s a New Google Generative Search Experience

Undoubtedly the biggest change for businesses and marketers is the integration of generative AI into the search experience. It’s powered by PaLM2, the Large Language Model underpinning Google’s AI efforts. While they’d been toying with Google Bard’s generative qualities, they were also developing this search experience.

Crucially, it’s a generative AI that’s been specifically designed for search. It’s not just “Google Bard but in the SERPs”. Bard was designed as a showcase of logic learning machine (LLM) technology. What was announced yesterday is an entirely new approach to search.

This new integration has been called Search Generative Experience, or SGE (yup, that’s another acronym you’ll need to learn; I’m sorry). It’s their direct rival to BingGPT, and it’s going to shake up how people can use search. Or at least, that’s what Google is saying.

The goal appears to be to allow people to make granular searches, right off the bat, which could change the traditional search journey. A couple of key examples of what this means were highlighted in the talk.

Google AI Search for E-Commerce and Beyond

The first was a more traditional e-commerce search, for dresses. It showed that, rather than doing a series of broad searches to answer a complex question, you could just do all of it at once. It then showed a slightly more local example, which we’ll come to shortly.

Basically, rather than searching for each of these individually… e.g.

• Family activities Bryce Canyon
• Family activities Arches National Park
• Is [activity] dog friendly

…they’re saying you’ll be able to do all of that in one giant, long-tail search and receive granular answers.

i.e. “what’s better for a family with kids under 3 and a dog, bryce canyon or arches national park”

Then you can then make it more granular with the click of a button. Whether that’s a ‘ask a follow-up question’ or selecting one of the suggested questions they offer up.

As you can see, this is displayed front-and-center at the top of the SERPs. Although for anyone worrying that Google won’t want to take your money anymore, Google has confirmed that ads will still be displayed up there, too.

Currently, there’s a waitlist in the US for the SGE that will eventually be rolled out to everyone.

Google AI Search and Local Business Discovery

As ever with a lot of these announcements, Google used a couple of local search examples to highlight how it can look in those instances.

Hospitality is always an example they jump to, as it has such broad appeal, and this time it really highlights how it could affect more local searches when consumers have a strong idea of what they are after.

Here’s an example of them asking SGE to ‘compare two lunch spots near me that are good for big groups’

As you can see from what we’ve highlighted on that SERP, it surfaces key information from a business’s Google Business Profile, like reviews and particular dishes, as well as overall cost.

Not only that, it’s letting people directly compare a couple of institutions. This is something that the traditional Local Pack did ambiguously. It showed you all that information but it wasn’t saying “Here’s how they compare, side by side”.

With the generative aspect of the search, it also lets you dig even deeper. So if you wanted to add a specific business to this comparison, you can do that, as shown in the follow-up question above.

And, if you wanted to search by a specific dish, somewhere that was good for groups or, by the looks of it, somewhere that just matches your vibe, you’ll probably be able to do that. Basically, the context is carried over each time you ask a question within this conversation.

Google Has Learned, and Added Citations and Links to Publishers

One of the big annoyances (and concerns) that many people had about Google Bard was the lack of citations for their informational source. (For once, we aren’t talking about local citations, either.)

For those that weren’t aware, Google Bard didn’t provide sources or links for any of the information it surfaced. The good news is that SGE absolutely does.

Not only does it provide sources in the immediate SERP, as highlighted above, but there’s an option to ‘Toggle Deeper’ in the top right of the screen.

This should help reassure people that a zero-click apocalypse is slightly further off than people feared. And it highlights that creating content will still be useful, as Google will be highlighting where they got the information, even if it then merges it in the SERP.

It does still mean that zero-click searches will likely increase though, and even if you rank first you could still be a long way down the organic page due to all the non-traditional content.

I’m not freaking out about this – Google will continue answering questions and trying to meet users’ needs right there in the SERP. As search marketers we’ll need to assess how this will affect the search experience for our potential customers and we can do this when we get to test SGE and actually see how our potential customers will be experiencing search results based on the queries that we know are important to us as businesses. Then – as always – we’ll need to get our heads around the new opportunities to gain visibility in the SERP. And – of course, we need to make sure we don’t have all of our eggs in Google’s basket!

Claire Carlile, Local SEO Expert, BrightLocal

Google Is Being Careful

Unsurprisingly, as the international mood around generative AI is yet to settle, Google is perhaps wary of a backlash, or of people making potentially risky decisions based on an answer generated by its own AI. This means there are certain types of questions that you can’t ask in SGE.

Google has discussed responsibility at length in their documentation on SGE (which you can find here). But a quick snapshot of the kinds of things they aren’t allowing currently includes anything they deem as “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) content such as financial and health advice, which they touch on in the previously linked document.

At the very least, if they are unsure about the safety or accuracy of something, they will include a disclaimer.

Things you currently can’t ask SGE include explicit or dangerous topics, i.e. self-harm (where they’ll surface helplines instead) and medical advice queries, where a disclaimer will be displayed.

The SGE Includes Vertical Search

While not specific to all local businesses, the inclusion of vertical search is an interesting one for anyone that offers e-commerce capabilities. Essentially, SGE will be able to include Vertical searches like Google Shopping and pull large lists of information that could help users find the right products for them that are available in real-time.

When you click on one of the bikes in Google's AI-generated answers (including products), it brings up a sidebar with multiple options for where to buy.

Good for merchants, not so great for product review sites.

*But* at least Google does show 3 links to publisher/review sites pic.twitter.com/TskcC6NNet

— Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc) May 10, 2023

Reminder: SGE and Bard Are Two Different Tools

Essentially, SGE is Google’s attempt at catching up with Microsoft and OpenAI’s BingGPT, in order to offer generative AI within search.

Bard, on the other hand, will be a completely separate thing, and be used more for content creation than search, in the same way that ChatGPT, which can do anything from writing scripts (and causing Hollywood writers to, quite rightly, strike) to website code.

To summarise, then:

• Bard, ChatGPT: Generative AI tools designed to create content
• Google SGE, BingGPT: Generative AI tools designed to answer questions in search

The above isn’t exclusive, but it should help us define their uses a little better, especially as we’re still in the relatively early days of generative AI being a popular thing and things are likely to get a lot more complicated still.

If there’s a lot of goodwill behind Google on this, there’s a chance that SGE could nip that sudden increased market share Bing saw for a couple of months in the bud.

I think Google is definitely re-establishing it's street-cred on all thing related to AI and the future today. Pretty cool stuff!! I love it. It does make it exciting to be an SEO – at least for me!! #GoogleIO2023

— Cindy Krum (@Suzzicks) May 10, 2023

Google Maps Got in on the Action

“What about Google Maps??” I hear you cry. Well, that got a little love, too. Not quite at the same level, with a lot of these updates being a bit smaller, but there are a few things to be aware of.

There’s Now an Integration for Maps in Google Bard

While SGE and Google Bard are different things, people will still undoubtedly use Bard to perform some searches. The good news for local SEOs and businesses is that they’ve announced an integration to display Google Maps within the conversation on Bard.

Here’s a screenshot of this captured by the good folks at Search Engine Land (excuse the low res image):

As you can see, though, we’re not having quite so much luck over in BrightLocal HQ yet…

Ah, well. As the (other) bard once wrote, “To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.“

Aerial View Offers an Immersive Experience

While this won’t change the game right away, they’re something that some businesses may want to keep an eye on when it comes to their presence on Google Maps. They include:

• An ‘Aerial View’ API for developers. This will let devs include a birds-eye view video of a specific area on their website or apps. This could be a great way for businesses to showcase what they have to offer. An example, from an early partnership with Rent.com, shows how they can help renters see the surroundings of a property.

• Immersive Brand Experience. Google now offers the chance for businesses to provide 3D video and a whole new experience for businesses directly in Google Maps.

These updates offer businesses new opportunities to try and stand out from the crowd in Google Maps.

Everything Else Announced, From ‘About This Image’ to ‘Perspectives’

Okay, deep breath, you’ve already taken in a lot of information, but there’s more to come. These ones may not require you to put so much thought into them at this stage, but are things you should keep an eye on.

About This Image

In its quest for accuracy and fight against misinformation, Google has introduced a new tool to add context to images. It will give you information on the following:

• When it first got indexed by Google and when they indexed any similar images
• The site it originally appeared on
• Any other platforms it may have appeared on. i.e. news, fact-checking sites, or social media

It’s also worth noting that they added a markup for AI-generated images that will appear in the original file when they are created through their platform.

Perspectives

This is something Google actually started testing a little while ago and was live in some places from March. However, it’s only now that they’ve officially announced it. It will highlight long-form written posts, videos, images, and even social media posts to help give people a diverse range of perspectives.

It’s been added as part of Google’s desire to offer users better ways to understand a specific topic.

The Helpful Content System is Getting an(other) Update

Since the initial rollout of the Helpful Content Update last year, Google has made some updates. This next one is apparently to help surface content that Google sees as ‘hidden gems’ by focusing on individual contributors’ experience and expertise.

This sounds like a boosting of the much-discussed E-E-A-T ranking signals, but it will be nonetheless interesting to see what that actually means.

What do you need to do now?

Right now, there’s not a lot you can do. For starters, this is all rolling out in the US first. Some of it, like the aerial views and Perspectives, is live and available to play around with. However, for the SGE you’ll need to wait a little longer to truly see it live and in action, regardless of where you are.

If you’re in the US you can request to join the waiting list for Google Search Labs, which will give you access to play around with the new SGE before it goes live.

A good search marketer who specializes in local SEO won’t simply put all their eggs in one basket. It’s called ‘Search Engine’ Optimization rather than Google Search Optimization for a reason.

What Do We Mean by an Alternative Search Engine?

Quite simply, an alternative search engine is one that isn’t Google. There are around 160 search engines in existence today. Of course, you probably won’t be developing a local SEO strategy for every search engine in the world, but several alternative engines are well worth a second look.

The most obvious example of an alternative search engine to Google, is Bing. Out of all of the other search engines, it should be the next in line for your attention. And it’s become even more important with recent developments.

Since the launch of ChatGPT, Bing has surged in popularity and now welcomes more than 100 million daily active users. Although that may be small compared to Google’s market share, consider what an enormous difference even a tiny percentage of that traffic would make to your local business.

Other mainstream examples include Yahoo! (yup, it’s coming back), Baidu, Yandex, and DuckDuckGo. Alternatives you may not be familiar with include You, Naver, Yep, Startpage, and Brave.

Why These Google Alternatives Matter

There are several reasons why it’s advisable to incorporate alternative search engines into your marketing strategy. 

They Have Unique User Types

Different search engines have different types of users. Understanding those user types and aligning your local SEO activity to their needs is essential. Understanding where your users are searching, and how, offers you the chance to grow your presence in the right places. 

As an example, Bing is becoming more popular with users who want a cutting-edge search experience thanks to its AI innovations. As a result, if you provide tech-led products or services, you’ll naturally want to boost your Bing search visibility so you appear more prominently to those users.

Similarly, SwissCows is a G-rated search engine. It omits results that may cause offense or be unsuitable for some audiences, including adult content. If you’re a family-friendly local business, targeting enhanced search visibility on SwissCows could result in more high-quality traffic to your website.

Trust and Privacy Considerations

A growing number of Internet users are jumping ship from Google to other engines because of trust issues and privacy considerations. For those who don’t want their search history to be tracked or stored, several engines are built specifically to offer users anonymity.

Geographical and Demographic Preferences 

Google isn’t the number one search engine for all countries and demographics. In China, for example, Baidu is the most popular engine. So if your local business is targeting a Chinese demographic in your local area or wishes to sell to Chinese consumers in China, you’ll need to have a strong search presence on Baidu to be in the running. 

Likewise, Yandex is the most visited search engine in Russia, with Google second and Ya.Ru third. If reaching Russian consumers is a priority, you must ensure a solid organic presence on those two engines.

Too Many Eggs in One Basket 

Relying too heavily on only one search engine for website traffic makes little sense when other engines also handle billions of monthly search queries. If you only focus on Google, you could be placing all your eggs in one risky basket.

Should your site suddenly fall foul of a new Google algorithm, your rankings would plummet. This could mean a total loss of search traffic if you focused only on Google rather than building organic visibility on other engines such as Bing.

The same can be said of almost any marketing tactic. Over-reliance on one tactic makes for weak foundations.

Do I Need to Invest Lots of Time in These Search Engines?

If you’re concerned that optimizing your search presence for alternatives to Google could be too time-consuming, don’t be. You don’t need to invest lots of time to achieve results, as there will be a lot of overlap in the tactics and algorithms between options such as Bing, Yahoo!, and others. 

That said, be mindful that specific engines will have their particular quirks. Especially for local.

For example, you’ll need to claim your Bing Places for Business listing, even if you already have your Google Business Profile optimized. Likewise, understanding how to claim your Apple Maps listing will ensure you can compete for Apple search traffic. On Baidu, you’ll need to obtain verification. 

The good news is that many of the best practice tactics you’re already using to rank well on Google will aid your rankings elsewhere. Things like unique page titles, good quality content, reviews, and a non-spammy link profile are pretty much universal, regardless of which search alternative you’re focusing on.

Alternative Search Engines to Google You Should Consider, and Tips for Local Businesses

Bing

Local search on Bing looks and operates similarly to the Google local pack but there are a few notable differences in ranking factors. Results are displayed on a map, with features such as images, star ratings, and opening times.

Local Search Tips for Bing 

• Learning how to claim your Bing Places listing is one of the most impactful things you can do to maximize your Bing local visibility. Be sure to choose the category that best describes your business and add as much information as possible, including multiple images. 

• As on Google, reviews are a crucial component of better local visibility on Bing. Tripadvisor and Yelp reviews feature prominently on search results pages, so it’s a good bet they heavily influence rankings, too. You can apply your existing Google review management practices to Bing, such as responding promptly to all new reviews via your Bing Places listing. 

• Backlinks from other local websites help to reinforce your local standing. Target your local link-building efforts in your neighborhood and the immediate local area. 

• Be sure to check in regularly with Bing Webmaster Tools. This will tell you if there are any issues with Bing accessing your site. It also provides useful keyword data and suggested keywords.

• Create locally focused content to upload to your site. Bing advises, “Develop rich content based on keyword research that shows what search users the information they are looking for.” 

• A key way that local optimization differs for Bing is its use of social media as a ranking signal. While Google denies social is factored into its algorithms, Bing explicitly says an active social presence can boost search visibility. It says, “Social media plays a role in today’s effort to rank well in search results. The most obvious part it plays is via influence. If you are influential socially, this leads to your followers sharing your information widely, which in turn results in Bing seeing these positive signals. These positive signals can have an impact on how you rank organically in the long run.” 

With Bing starting to implement ChatGPT for AI-powered search, you need to be aware of how that works too. We’re still in the early days of AI search, however, with changes coming almost weekly. This means that, right now, trying to make a deliberate play for something in Bing’s AI search is difficult. As it stands you currently have to use Microsoft Edge to access their AI features.

Yahoo!

Yahoo! exited the search landscape a few years ago and has been powered by Bing since 2018. That all looks set to change as it has been teasing a big return in recent months. A reactivated Yahoo Twitter account hints that the engine is working on a new search product behind the scenes. It’s also been actively recruiting so stay tuned for a new Yahoo engine in the future.  

Local Search Tips for Yahoo!

Yahoo! search is currently powered by Bing so just follow the tips above for now. If and when Yahoo! brings back its own search engine, we’ll let you know.

Yandex

Russian search engine Yandex has the fourth largest market share globally, behind Google, Bing, and Yahoo. However, a large chunk of those users is based in Russia. While it’s also very popular in Eastern Europe, it’s not an engine to necessarily dedicate huge amounts of time to if you’re a local business in somewhere like the United States.

Its local search function is also map-based. One of the major differences with local optimization for Yandex is that you can tell the search engine which geographic region you’re targeting via its webmaster tools interface.

Yandex strongly emphasizes geotargeting, and its search results are split between geo-independent (location doesn’t matter) and geo-dependent (location is important).

What’s more, a ‘leak’ in January 2023 revealed a full 1922 ranking factors, which gave SEOs an unprecedented look beneath the hood of one of the major search engines.

Local Search Tips for Yandex

• If you’re targeting a particular region, you can log in to your Yandex Webmaster account and set it as such.
  
• The emphasis placed on geotargeting means that it is harder to rank for multiple locations in Yandex than on Google. 

• It’s essential to submit your business information to the Yandex Business Directory. From here, you can specify up to seven regions.

• If you have a presence in Russia, your website should include the complete address along with your telephone number. 

• Yandex is much slower at indexing than Google, so you’ll need to manually submit your local business website’s sitemap via Yandex.Webmaster.

• Yandex algorithms do factor in meta tags, so make sure that your site has unique, descriptive meta tags in place for each page you want to see ranking. 

• The Yandex algorithm factors in user behavior metrics to determine if your site is useful to visitors. Focus on sharing helpful, good quality, and relevant content to answer search queries. Consider how your page performs too, and look for ways to improve navigation and page speed. Finding ways to keep visitors on site longer can boost your engagement rating, which can lead to higher search positions.

• Use Yandex Metrica (the Yandex equivalent of Google Analytics) to understand how users interact with your site. It provides heat maps, form analytics, and session replays so you can examine user behavior and refine your site accordingly – this will assist with the user behavior point above so you’re eligible for higher rankings.  

• Back in 2011, Yandex revealed that it had additional requirements for commercial websites. These include credibility, interface, product range, prices, payment methods, and delivery. These criteria boil to trust. Ensure contact information is easy to find, maintain a strong social media presence, and offer clear product descriptions and clear shipping information.

Baidu

Baidu is unequivocally the number one search engine in China. It handles more than three billion searches daily but differs significantly from Google on local ranking factors. You’ll need to pay a fee to improve your domain ranking. You’ll also need to avoid sharing any content on your site that could be considered to be anti-government sentiment or adult themed, as that would result in your domain being blocked from search results. 

Local Search Tips for Baidu

• To unlock higher rankings, you’ll need to have your site verified by Baidu. You’ll need to pay a fee for this and provide business information. Once achieved, your site will have one of three labels; V1, V2, or V3. V1 is the most basic, V2 is more expensive, and V3 is earned. Verification is obtained via Baidu PPC and applies to paid and organic results. The basic V1 label costs around $100 per year. 

• Baidu censors search results, so you’ll need to be very mindful of your web content to avoid being blocked. You’ll need to avoid anti-government sentiment as a matter of course (including in any outbound links on your site) along with other sensitive material such as adult content or gambling-related information. 

• Some words can also trigger blocklisting and make your site ineligible for local search rankings due to their political connotations. To ensure you stay on the right side of the censors and don’t hamper your chances of local rankings, it’s recommended that all content is created or checked by native speakers. 

• Content localization (rather than a standard translation) can also help you build higher local visibility. This ensures your content sounds natural and authentic to a native Chinese visitor. This can lower bounce rates – high bounce rates can be taken as a sign of mistrust which can hamper rankings.

• Place your most important local keywords at the top of the page. It’s thought Baidu will only index the first 100KB so having local keywords at the beginning of your content is essential for improved local rankings.

• Chinese search users heavily favor mobile search, and the ranking algorithm considers mobile friendliness. Ensure your site is optimized for mobile devices, not just to unlock better rankings but to ensure you can convert search users after they arrive on the site. 

Other Search Engines to Consider

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo was one of the original pioneers of private search. It promises no tracking and is popular with more tech-inclined search users. It crawls over 500 sources to return search results that closely match the search intent, so the standard rules of optimization apply. 

One important thing to note: because DuckDuckGo doesn’t collect data about its users, it doesn’t know where a search user is searching from. You’ll therefore need to add clear location markers to your website. This includes having your full business address and contact information present, plus using locally related keywords in your page titles, meta descriptions, and website content. 

Swisscows

Swisscows is another search engine allowing users to search anonymously. It doesn’t use cookies or tracking technology or record search history. One thing that sets Swisscows apart is its position as a family-friendly engine. It won’t return any offensive or potentially objectionable content, such as pornography or gambling, in search results, so it’s safe for the whole family to use.

Swisscows uses Bing to serve search results, so you’ll need to rank well in Bing local search for Swisscows visibility.

Startpage

Startpage is another privacy-forward search engine that doesn’t track search users. Instead, consumers looking for local businesses and services must specify a location with their search term, for example, “coffee shop near Bourbon Street, New Orleans”. The standard local SEO rules for Google local search optimization apply. 

Gibiru

Launched in 2009, Gibiru doesn’t use cookies, log IP addresses, or record searches. As a privacy-first engine, it doesn’t share its ranking factors. But, having a similar mind for visitor security will likely help. It’s advisable to activate HTTPS, use secure encryption for form processing and payment process, and follow Google best practices.

Naver

Naver is South Korea’s search engine of choice and that’s because it’s highly focused on South Korea. Its search results are localized because Naver spiders don’t crawl the whole of the Internet.

If South Korea is a key market for your local business, you’ll need to create a strong pool of unique content, written in Korean. Your site should also be very mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, and load quickly.

Ask

Previously known as Ask Jeeves, the Ask algorithm works a little differently from other search engines. Intended to be the engine users visit when they need a question answered, Ask prioritizes expertise in its search results. Local listings aren’t presented on a map, they’re simply included in the main search results.

In addition to the standard SEO tactics of using localized keywords on the site and growing your link profile, sharing knowledgeable, useful content can help to boost search visibility.

Dogpile

Growing your local business presence on Dogpile depends on your rankings elsewhere. Dogpile pulls the top results from other search engines to create its own search results. That means you’ll naturally gain good visibility on Dogpile if you rank well on alternative search engines such as Bing and Yahoo.

Diversify Your Options

As you can see from this list, there are plenty of other search engines for potential clients to discover your business through. The good news is that you don’t need to worry too much about lots of fiddly optimization that’s unique to each one. We’d definitely recommend spending some time making yourself familiar with other search engines to Google though, because you could be missing out on customers you were previously ignoring.

A customer satisfaction survey is the easiest way to gauge how your customers are feeling about your business. That could mean rating the customer support they have received, describing how they feel about your products and services, or sharing their experiences of your brand.  

If you already know how to ask for reviews and get reviews on a regular basis – perhaps as a result of using a review management software – you’re in a great position to begin sending out customer satisfaction surveys. Don’t worry if you are new to this type of feedback though as we’ll be sharing plenty of good customer survey examples and useful tips throughout this article.

What is a customer satisfaction survey?

To put it simply, a customer satisfaction survey is a questionnaire that you ask your customers (both past and present) to complete. Sometimes also known as a customer feedback form, the survey guides customers through a series of questions about their experiences with your business. These questions give your customers an opportunity to tell you more about their overall experience.

As well as sharing how they feel about your business, it’s also a chance for customers to express what they particularly appreciate, what they would like to see more or less of, and what causes frustration or disappointment.

How does a customer survey differ from a review?

It should be noted that a customer satisfaction survey is different from a consumer review. Although some review platforms may ask a consumer to rate a few specific aspects of your service (such as the cleanliness of the hotel room or overall value for money), a consumer review is a broader, freeform comment.

The consumer won’t be prompted to reply to carefully considered questions about a range of business aspects when writing an online review. They’ll simply leave a short comment, often with a star rating, which sums up their experience publicly for others to see.

By contrast, a customer satisfaction survey guides the consumer through a set of very specific questions. Often you’ll have a specific goal in mind with a customer survey, where you want to address a particular issue or get feedback around a service or product. 

Customer service survey question examples could include things like ‘how likely are you to shop with us again?’, ‘Did we resolve your complaint within an acceptable timeframe?’ and ‘What can we do better’?. These are questions that you wouldn’t expect to be addressed by a consumer asked to leave an online review. 

What’s more, this type of feedback is intended to be used internally, rather than shared publicly on review sites. Rather than helping other consumers decide whether or not to use your business, survey responses help drive decision-making and improvements within the business itself. 

Why Customer Surveys Are Useful For Local Businesses

There are no two ways about it: customer feedback is vital for local businesses. But, why?

If you’re already meeting your sales goals and have good client retention rates, you might think you have your niche cornered. You may think that as you’re already doing well, you don’t need customer survey questions to tell you what your customers are thinking.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Regularly gathering targeted feedback via satisfaction questionnaires gives you the data you need to make data-driven decision-making. The client input you receive through this process can guide your decisions so that they’re perfectly aligned with what your customers specifically want and need.

This feedback could be useful in product and service development – asking real customers what else you can do to support them, or what other features would be helpful to them means you’re better placed to deliver on that need. In doing so, you can set yourself apart from the competition and become the go-to in your local area.

Source: BrightLocal Academy Customer Survey

Being able to tap into authentic experiences across your business can also help pinpoint areas where change must be made. If feedback commonly cites frustration with slow customer service responses, for example, that’s an indicator that you need to revisit current processes or consider expanding the customer service team. While this may feel like criticism, in practice it gives you the opportunity to address pain points. In turn, that can help to reduce customer churn, increase retention, and deliver an even better experience to every customer. 

Tips for Creating Customer Satisfaction Surveys

When approached correctly, satisfaction surveys can bring you closer to your customers, enhance product and service delivery, and fuel company growth. 

You may be wondering what questions to ask in a customer survey so you can get started immediately. But before you do, read our following tips to get your strategy right before you hit that send button. 

Have a Clear Objective

The best customer survey examples all have one thing in common: they are focused on a specific objective. Therefore, a clear idea of what you want to discover will help you ask the right questions. This means that the insight you gather will be useful and help you achieve your objective.  

For example, if you would like to reduce customer churn, you could ask questions about what you could have done better. This will help you to pinpoint stumbling blocks for customers that you can address to boost retention rates. 

Don’t Gather Unnecessary Data

Gathering unnecessary personal data can inhibit respondents. For example, they may feel they don’t want to share specific details due to privacy concerns. You also risk recipients being reluctant to share genuine opinions if the survey isn’t anonymous. 

Certain questions may also overstep personal boundaries, such as asking about gender, salary, contact information, religious beliefs, etc. Audit your questionnaire and remove any request for identifying data or personal information that isn’t strictly necessary. 

Source: BrightLocal Academy Customer Survey

Write an Introduction 

Begin your questionnaire with a short introduction. Explaining the purpose of your survey upfront increases the likelihood of useful responses. If you do need to gather personal information, use the introduction to explain why you’re asking those questions and how you will handle that data. 

Ask Specific Questions

Questions that are too vague or too open-ended will likely generate non-specific answers. To ensure feedback is valuable and gives you the insight you can work with, ask precise, specific questions. 

‘What did you think of our service?’ might seem quite specific, but if we consider it a little further, it becomes clear that this question can be interpreted in several different ways. One person reading the question could understand that you’re asking for an overall opinion of their experience buying from you, including things such as shipping speed, quality of product, and value for money. Another may understand the question to be asking only about the customer service they received. 

A better option would be to ask, ‘How would you rate the quality of this specific product?’ or ‘Did our customer services team resolve your query?’. 

Ask Different Types of Questions

Having different types of questions will give you a much richer pool of feedback to learn from. The best customer survey examples use a mix of open-ended questions and those that can be answered with a yes/no response or a rating out of five.

The yes/no or star rating questions make it easy for you to see, based on an average of all responses, whether your customers are happy, what they enjoy, and what they don’t like. 

If you were to ask your customers, ‘Would you recommend our dry cleaning service to a friend?’ simply counting up the number of yes versus no responses will allow you to conclude that ‘9 in 10 customers would recommend our service to a friend’. 

Questions that allow the customer to provide more detailed responses give you deeper insight. For example, asking something like, ‘What did you most enjoy about our service?’ or, ‘is there anything we could do differently in the future?’ can prove useful. Here, you’re giving the recipient space to share their opinion. This is a good way to draw out suggestions and extra details that you may not have access to otherwise. 

Allow Respondents to Skip Irrelevant Questions 

Despite your best efforts, it could be that some questions aren’t relevant to every recipient. Allowing respondents to skip irrelevant questions can remove friction and reduce frustration. It also means you aren’t in danger of gathering inaccurate or untruthful responses simply because the recipient had to answer to move on to the next question.  

Be Consistent 

A consistent rating scale system will make it easier for your recipients to share their opinions correctly. Giving satisfaction scales to grade responses is common in customer survey questions. A commonly used satisfaction scale is: 

• Very satisfied
• Somewhat satisfied
• Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
• Somewhat dissatisfied
• Very dissatisfied

If you adopt this scale for your survey, ensure that the scale follows the same order each time and is presented in the same way. Changing the order of satisfaction levels could lead to the recipient choosing an incorrect scale by mistake. 

Source: BrightLocal Academy Customer Survey

Don’t Make Your Questionnaire Too Long 

It’s important to strike the right balance when writing your questionnaire. Too many questions, and your recipients are less likely to complete it. But conversely, asking too few questions won’t generate much helpful insight. 

There’s no hard and fast rule when deciding how long your survey should be, but 60% of people say they won’t complete a questionnaire that requires more than 10 minutes of their time. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if a question is truly necessary. Don’t include it if it isn’t vital to achieving your primary objective. 

There’s one more thing to keep in mind. Research suggests that respondents spend less time per question when the survey is long. This indicates that longer questionnaires generate lower quality and less considered responses. 

Conclude With an Open-ended Question 

Having an open-ended question such as ‘is there anything else you’d like us to know?’ gives the respondent a space to share information not covered by your questions. 

Source: BrightLocal Academy Customer Survey

Choose an Appropriate Medium 

To maximize the number of valuable responses you receive, you’ll need to consider the medium you use for distribution. The option you choose should ensure maximum convenience for your recipients.

Email: Email is one of the most popular survey channels. You can embed questions within an email or use the email as an invitation. In that case, you’ll provide a link within the message body to the survey. 

Text: A text message-based survey could be appropriate if your customers routinely deal with your local business via SMS messaging. 

In-app: Does your local business have an app to manage bookings and reservations? You could embed your survey within the app, allowing users to give feedback after a certain period. 

Website: Another option is to host your survey on your website and invite your customers to share their opinions after they check out their cart. 

In-store: Tablets at the point of sale can provide a convenient way for customers to share their feedback with you immediately. 

Don’t feel that you must limit your survey distribution to one channel. Combining channels can boost participation rates. For example, an SMS prompt after an email invite has gone unanswered may improve survey response rates. 

Segment Your Recipients

Creating customer segments can improve satisfaction survey results. You may already have those customer segments set up because of other marketing activities you’ve carried out. Email lists, for example, are commonly segmented to allow more targeted messages to be sent to customers. 

Segmenting your lists means you can be very specific about the questions asked. Targeting questions to smaller pools of customers also enhances the quality of the data you receive back. 

Think About Your Survey Invitation Wording 

How you ask your recipients to complete your survey is almost as important as what you ask. That’s because the wording of your invitation will determine whether that customer then continues to complete your feedback form.  

Begin by personalizing your message so the email addresses the customer by name. Next, it’s important to outline how the survey will benefit the recipient. This could be as simple as stating that responses will be used to improve the products and services you deliver to them. 

If your survey is being sent to only a small segment of customers, highlighting that within your message creates a sense of importance. Note how the recipient has been selected and is one of a select few invited to share their opinions and experiences. 

Giving an estimate of the time required to complete the questionnaire is a trick often used in the most successful survey examples. Finally, remember the importance of a compelling subject line, so your invitation is read.  

Source: BrightLocal Academy Customer Survey Email

Consider Offering an Incentive

Unlike reviews, you can offer incentives to customers to encourage them to share feedback via your satisfaction survey. This could be an entrance into a prize draw or a discount code for money off their next purchase with you. 

14 Customer Survey Example Questions

When it comes to what questions to ask in a customer survey, there’s an almost unlimited number of options. The specific questions you include will depend on your objective and who the survey is going to. These customer survey example questions can be used to form the basis of your own satisfaction form.

1. On a scale of 1-5, how happy were you with [name of product/service]?

This question gives you a clear idea of satisfaction levels for a particular product or service. A low score indicates that something isn’t quite right and that further work needs to be done.

2. Which three features of [name of product/service] are most helpful to you?

This is a great question to ask before product development or updates take place as it allows you to hone in on what your customers consider most valuable.

3. Does our [name of product/service] represent you good value for money?

Budget is a significant consideration for many local consumers. Tracking whether your business continues to be considered a good value for money option can improve client retention rates and reduce churn.

4. If you had to choose an alternative local [name of product/service], who would it be and why?

This question can be a useful source of competitor intel. You’re asking your customers which of your local rivals they are also aware of and what’s most compelling about those alternative options. Information gleaned here can help you address gaps and maintain your competitive advantage.

5. Why did you choose our [name of product/service] rather than a competitor’s?

Similar to the previous question, this is helpful for competitor benchmarking. The responses should tell you what customers most appreciate about your offering and what differentiates you from rivals. These are your differentiators. Once you know what they are, you’re better placed to leverage them in customer communications. To widen the gap, you may also want to build on these differentiators in future product and service development.

6. Which other [name of products/services] did you consider before choosing ours?

While you will have an idea of your competitors, this may be different from what your customers consider being alternative options. Asking this question could reveal alternatives that you weren’t aware of, such as new entrants to the local market, that warrant further investigation.

7. If you could change one thing about our [name of product/service] what would it be?

This question can play a direct role in your product or service development. It highlights unresolved needs and opportunities to serve your customers better. The most common responses should be implemented as quickly as possible.

8. How can we improve your experiences with us?

This is an open-ended question that could throw up lots of interesting responses. These answers should give you an idea of what customers want and expect from you. With that knowledge, you can work on delivering those desired changes.

9. How likely are you to return to our [website/physical location]?

This is a good barometer of how you’re performing overall, as it speaks to customer intent.

10. Did you find it easy to locate what you were looking for [in-store/app/online]?

Offering a superior customer experience is critical to securing repeat business. Customers who find your website difficult to navigate, or find it hard to locate items in-store, are likely to want to avoid repeating that experience. The responses you generate here could highlight customer friction and help you make a plan to make the path to purchase more straightforward and streamlined.

11. Was our customer service team able to resolve your problem?

When it comes to customer service matters, you’ll want to know that your team is delivering. Asking if queries were resolved speaks to the effectiveness of your service.

12. Did we respond to your query promptly?

Today’s consumers expect increasingly fast responses from customer service teams– a study found that nearly half expect a response in fewer than four hours, while 12% expect a response in less than 15 minutes. This question helps you to judge how well you’re meeting those expectations and whether additional team members or a more streamlined process is required.

13. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

This question gives the respondent space to provide additional feedback they’d like to convey. This is a great question to include as it could reveal valuable information not covered by the questions you’ve asked.

14. We may contact you to discuss your responses. Is that ok?

Asking if you can reach out for a further conversation allows you to have a deeper conversation and discuss any interesting responses further. Or to clarify comments that you didn’t understand.

Consider Surveys for Direct, Actionable Feedback

While reviews are a compelling way for users to provide you with feedback, they don’t always offer actions you can use to improve your business. As we’ve highlighted, a properly planned customer survey can provide you with clear actions and insights that you can use.

Why not try adding customer surveys to your review management strategy? Get direct feedback on specific aspects of your business, to create visible change.

Google Business Profile (GBP) and Google Maps

GBP Removed Emojis and Special Characters From Business Names

While Emojis in business names aren’t something many would recommend in the first place, Google started removing them from GBP in February. Not only that, but they started removing special characters too, like ® and others.

Source: SEO Roundtable

Many received notifications from Google showing them what their current name was and detailing what the new name would be. While this would make the results more accessible for users, it likely caused issues for many businesses that actually have those characters in their names.

Google Maps Removed Policy-abiding Reviews from Local Guides…

According to its own Google Local Guides Connect blog, there was an issue with moderation. Their own attempts to avoid spam and policy violations went too far and they removed completely legitimate reviews, including those from Google Local Guides.

… Then Reinstated Them

They stated right away that they were working on a fix though, and not long after they reinstated all the Google Local Guide reviews.

Crisis averted!

Updates to the NMX dashboard

Since rolling out the new, and much-maligned, NMX dashboard Google has been tweaking it left constantly.

In February alone each of these was added:

• First up, Google added an ‘Edit rates’ option for hotels

New: Another new addition to the in-search experience, now manage hotel booking rates. pic.twitter.com/0e6HlmNtok

— Ben Fisher (@TheSocialDude) February 20, 2023

• Next, they added a ‘Get Started’ prompt for the Merchant Center in the NMX to encourage people to list their products on Google Shopping

Google is now prompting users to "Get Started" with the Merchant Center inside the NMX dashboard if you want to "show your online products across Google". pic.twitter.com/GEL7BS8yZL

— Colan Nielsen (@ColanNielsen) February 27, 2023

• Finally, they’ve started adding menu options for other tasks, such as ‘See photos’. We think this one is just a test at the moment.

NEW: Looks like Google Business Profiles have a menu item to go to your photos. (Test) pic.twitter.com/j6usANJTLM

— Ben Fisher (@TheSocialDude) February 18, 2023

The New “Profile Strength” Label

One of these updates to the dashboard was a new ‘profile strength’ meter, that appeared in the top corner. We’ve covered what this means, and why you shouldn’t panic if your score isn’t at 100, in a guide to the Profile Strength Label.

Business Tab added to Google Maps App

While you’ve been able to edit your GBP on the Google Maps app for a long time, they’ve added some functionality on Android to make it easier. Now you’ll find ‘Business’ added to the tab at the bottom of the screen. Now you just need to click here and it’ll take you to your GBP screen.

GBP Sunsetted the Old Insights API

Finally, and one that’s been on the cards for a while, Google has sunsetted the GMB Insights API for GBP.

This is specifically the Google My Business Insights reporting API. It went offline on February 20th, 2023. You should have already, but if you haven’t you need to update to the new Business Profile Performance API.

Local SEO

Yahoo search is coming back

Just popping in to remind everyone that we did search before it was cool.

BRB making it cool again.

— Yahoo Search (@YahooSearch) January 20, 2023

Ok, ok, this was actually announced right at the end of January, but it’s something you may want to keep an eye on. Yahoo announced they were relaunching their own search engine sometime soon. There’s a growing appetite for alternative search engines to Google, so it’s understandable that they’re considering the move.

John Mueller Says Local Businesses Don’t Need to Worry so Much about Core Web Vitals

Speaking on Mastodon, John said that local businesses, “in most cases” shouldn’t have Core Web Vitals at the top of their list of priorities. This mainly comes down to page experience. Google generally only shows data in Search Console on Web Vitals and Page Experience for “sufficiently popular sites”.

This means that small businesses with only a few pages on their websites shouldn’t worry too much. John isn’t saying to ignore it, but more that you shouldn’t focus as much on it as some people do.

New location snippets appearing in Bing

This is currently just a test, but Bing is trying out serving maps within search snippets. At the moment you can only trigger this map within a snippet with specific search queries.

An example of this can be seen with our own brand name below.

Google says embedding third-party local reviews won’t help search rankings

This was another case of John Mueller being asked about a specific ranking factor. On Twitter, he was asked whether embedding reviews from GBP, Bing, or Facebook on your site through an API would provide a benefit.

Not really, at least not for search. Also, if you do that for other reasons, make sure not to use structured data markup on reviews not collected on your site.

— johnmu likes staplers (@JohnMu) February 20, 2023

He said that they won’t improve your rankings, and re-iterated previous guidance that any review not collected on your site shouldn’t use structured data if you choose to showcase it.

At BrightLocal, we obviously have some thoughts on showcasing reviews. While Google may not use them as a local ranking factor, they provide important social proof and add trust for your potential customers, so don’t ignore them simply because they may not improve your rankings.

The Local Pack Disappeared, for 15 Minutes

It’s been reported that the Google Local Pack disappeared in its entirety. The good news is that it only happened for about 15-20 minutes. It’s unlikely that it’s anything to worry about beyond a bug, but as ever, it’s good to be aware of these things.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI seems to be moving at a face pace lately, so there are a few things you should know from the last month.

ChatGPT is going to cost $20

We’ve known that ChatGPT wasn’t going to stay free forever. The good news is that the paid version isn’t as wallet-busting as originally thought. For now, the premium tier, known as ChatGPT Plus, is $20 a month and gets you access to a couple of features the free tier won’t have, including priority access at peak times.

Google Announced Bard

After all the noise from Bing and Open AI, Google finally announced their own search AI; Bard. Bard itself is a chatbot a little like ChatGPT, but Google is aiming to combine it with their regular search engine, in the way that Microsoft intends to with Bing.

Currently, the main use for Bard appears to be to field informational queries, often without sourcing the answers it supplies. We’ll keep you updated if and when Google gives us any updates on how it could affect local.

Test driving Bing

If you want to see how ChatGPT integrates with Bing then Search Engine Land has done a detailed deep dive into how AI will look on the platform that specifically uses local examples.

Update March 2023. This article was written when ChatGPT was still in its early stages and Google was yet to unveil Bard. Both of these technologies have since been launched or, in the case of ChatGPT, updated and both are ever-evolving. Learn more about AI in local search.

The year is 2023. A robot skeleton is walking across an apocalyptic wasteland. It turns to you, and while you quake in fear, its eyes glow red and it points a finger in your direction. Its mouth opens and…

It drops a battle rap about local SEO, with some sick bars.

So, er, while the early forays into AI aren’t exactly what everyone imagined them to be in movies, AI is most certainly advancing at an astonishing pace. The above screenshot from OpenAI’s ChatGPT is solid evidence of this. The question is not really a ‘what if’ but more of a ‘how can I use this to improve my work?’, and a lot of marketers are already doing just that.

Now we’re in a position where AI is readily available in the marketing and SEO industry, we want to see how it can help or hinder, and how it’s already being used by thousands of people.

AI and SEO

There are a number of reasons why the conversation around AI has become so prevalent in SEO. First of all, ChatGPT is owned by OpenAI, who are in partnership with Microsoft thanks to heavy investment by the tech leader, and there’s already talk about what that means for Bing.

Secondly, there’s been conversation about what services like ChatGPT mean for search in general. For instance, if you can ask AI a question and it gives you the answer, then what does that mean for search engines themselves and informational queries? If someone can ask it a question and not have to click through several different links, then what does that mean for informational searches? Is this the return to the “answer engine” as many predicted back in the day?

And then, finally, there’s the automation aspect. In search, this takes on a few different faces. These automations can save marketers hundreds or even thousands of dollars, as well as plenty of time and the cost savings that come with that.

Where is AI already being used?

The truth is that search marketers have been using forms of AI for years, it’s just ramped up with recent updates. Sure, ChatGPT has brought the conversation to the forefront, but there’s a bunch of other software that already uses AI. A few examples of where it’s already been used, specifically in search, include:

• Autocomplete and writing support. Google has had an autocomplete functionality for years, whether that’s in the search bar, Gmail or Google Docs. This uses AI and machine learning to guess what you want to write next. Not only that but all sorts of tools from Grammarly to Hemingway support writers by improving their copy.
• Google Vision. This is a pre-trained machine-learning model that allows developers to assign labels to images. This helps improve Google image search by identifying things within images like text and objects.
• Search algorithms themselves. It’s pretty safe to say that Google, and other search engines, have been using AI and machine learning in their algorithms for several years now, for both text and voice search.
• Spammy content creation. There have been reports of major sites using AI to make content, and sometimes the reaction has not been good, especially when the AI has extensively plagiarised other work. In reality, content farms have been creating spammy content for a long time; AI simply allows anyone like this, for whom cost trumps quality, to make massive cost savings in the labor department.

There are a number of other ways AI has been used specifically by marketers, though, and we’re going to touch on that a little later in this article.

Pros and Cons of AI in Search

Potential Uses for AI in Local SEO

As we’ve already established, search marketers are already using AI, but what they do and how they do it is evolving.

Are you already using AI for your local SEO activity?

What are you using it for? Let us know in the replies.

(And no, we don't just mean using Chat GPT to write humorous poems)

— BrightLocal (@brightlocal) January 6, 2023

But how are local businesses and local marketers using AI? Sure, everyone’s had an infuriating conversation with a chatbot that goes round and round in circles, but how are people using them specifically to do the jobs that help their visibility?

Let’s dive into just a few potential uses for AI in your local marketing.

AI for Content

One of the biggest uses for AI that’s often talked about is content creation. Many people are divided on this, but it’s still being used for each of the following tasks every day.

Writing Blog Posts

You know it’s happening. Whether it’s right or not is another issue. There are a lot of ethical considerations to be made, and while you’re unlikely to get something truly unique, many people will be doing this to generate content quickly.

The simple truth is that people already outsource huge amounts of content to cheap content farms, so if they can speed up the creation of spammy content, they’re going to do it. If you choose to do this, just be very careful. Google is investing in spotting AI content, remember? And, as you’ll see below, industry experts advise a great deal of caution when using ChatGPT for content.

Creating Scalable Content for Multiple Local Landing Pages

On the flip side of this, if you’re creating content for a huge number of location pages, AI like ChatGPT could be a quick way to make content for these without having to do extensive research.

You’d still need to take steps to differentiate your local landing pages, but automating a section could save you a whole lot of time when you’re creating large numbers of pages at scale. The below, with a few simple edits, could form the basis of one page. Then, with a few other prompts, it could let you create content at scale for multiple landing pages that only need a few additional things to make them truly unique.

Writing Simple ‘How To’ Content

Brands across the world spend many hours a year writing simple ‘how to’ content. Some of these brands will see something like AI as a real time-saver. As always, though, the question is whether the pieces will always be accurate, and how much time you’d need to spend tweaking them.

Creating Article Outlines

A more sensible approach that many are already using is consulting AI tools for article structures. This is better because you’re using the tool for inspiration rather than relying on its at-times-questionable ability to churn out accurate content.

Give the AI some keywords or prompts and it can spit out a proposed structure of headings and subheadings, much like Jasper’s Blog Post Outline feature, seen below.

Source: Medium

Ideas for Headlines or Email Subject Lines

Crafting the perfect headline or subject line is an art. AI, when given the right prompts, can spit out a bunch of different ideas for your piece that you may not have thought of yourself. At the very least they can be a kickoff point.

Ideas for Local Content

Inspiration is key here. If you have a subject or topic but aren’t sure what to write, you can simply ask. This is the kind of automation that could help busy content writers, or people without a team to bounce ideas off, to generate a variety of different things to write about.

FAQs

Along with metadata, creating FAQs is a least-favorite task for many a content writer. It’s something that feels like it saps the creativity out of you. Now, with a few simple prompts, you can get a list of FAQs for pretty much any page. Then, if you’re feeling brave, you could even get the AI to write the answers for you!

Metadata

Another task that can feel endless when you’re doing it at scale, writing metadata should be done with care to try and help your click-through rate, but when you’re doing it en masse, AI like ChatGPT could be a real help. You can even set parameters for length and tone in the prompts, too!

AI for Research and Insights

Quick Local Keyword Research

ChatGPT and other AI platforms open up all sorts of new handy ways to perform localized keyword research:

• Discovering ‘near me’ keywords
• Finding how people are searching for a particular service, in a particular area
• Refining the intent behind a particular search, with tools like KeywordInsights.ai

Strategy Development

It’s safe to say that this one should be taken with a pinch of salt. I wouldn’t base your entire strategy on something ChatGPT gives you in 5 seconds, but it could offer some inspiration if you’re struggling to get started.

Automation for Regular Local SEO tasks

Writing a Google Business Profile Description

Look, writing isn’t for everyone, and your Google Business Profile will need some copy. If you’re stuck for a way to describe your own business, or that of your client, then AI can help. A number of local SEOs have commented on their surprise at the quality of the GBP descriptions they’ve seen come from AI.

As ever, though, you’ll probably need to add a few things to make it properly personal, as you probably know more about your own business than the bots do (for now).

Generate Local Schema Markup

Yes, you read that right: you can even use AI to generate schema for your website. All the different kinds. While this may sound great, it’s also not necessarily any more powerful than a standard schema generator, and you’re probably more likely to have to triple-check it.

Much like generating website code with AI, this option is best used by people who already know what good, accurate schema looks like!

Responding to Reviews

Whether or not you respond to reviews can play a big part in how much consumers trust businesses. However, if you’re doing particularly well at review generation, you might have far too many to deal with.

As Steady Demand’s Ben Fisher explained in our State of Local Search 2023 webinar, you can prompt ChatGPT to write detailed review responses for you—as always, though, be careful to check and edit before posting.

Creating a Site Structure for Local Content

If you’re not sure of the best way to lay out a section of your site, AI can help here, too. With the right prompts and questions, you could ask it to help with your services or even local content.

AI for Art and Design

It’s a cliché that a picture paints a thousand words, but in the world of prompt-based AI image generators, the opposite is finally true.

With tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Lensa AI and DALL-E now mostly available to the public and more advanced than ever before, anyone and their dog can create professional-looking images quickly and (sometimes) completely free.

For example, we created the image of our in-house AI, Randall Bott, using the simple prompt “40-year old male SEO expert in plaid shirt, headshot, professional lighting” on the Midjourney Discord server (yes, we leant heavily into the SEO stereotype, there).

Beyond the dizzying array of AI artists creating fictional and creative worlds (some, artists embracing new technology, and some, less visually-artistic people creating images for the first time), there are many using AI image generators to create uncannily photorealistic images in order to illustrate their content.

There are plenty of potential uses for AI image generators in local SEO, including:

• Blog post headers
• Location page “photos”
• Website backgrounds
• Inspiration for logos

However… due to the nature of visual art, in that it is immediate (and therefore immediately recognizable), the conversation around the ethics of these image generators is a far more heated one. Firstly, there’s an inherent bias towards non-minoritized people, due to the AI’s source material being skewed by images of white people. Then there’s the issue of copyright: who owns the copyright of these images when they’re based on, well, everything?

While some argue that AI art always creates completely new variants and mutations, there are plenty of examples (like the one below) of platforms clearly leaning into well-known imagery in its datasets:

The images below aren’t @McCurryStudios “Afghan Girl”.

They are AI generated images via Midjourney’s latest V4 release. Yet another example that AI models can *heavily* plagiarize. pic.twitter.com/XeeKqwsyrs

— Karla Ortiz (@kortizart) November 5, 2022

The short and skinny of AI art for local marketers: You can go ahead and use it to generate images if you like, but be prepared to have tough conversations around ethics, copyright, and more. You’ll need to decide for yourself whether it’s worth the potential backlash, which is admittedly a greater risk when working with larger brands.

Other SEO Tasks That You Could Automate

• XML sitemaps
• Creating a robots.txt
• Generating breadcrumbs

What do local marketers think of AI?

With subjects like this, it’s always good to get another opinion. Local SEO is a wider world than you may think, so we asked a few industry experts for their thoughts.

Andrew Shotland

CEO at Local SEO Guide

When you are using AI to produce local content, there are a few considerations to make for your approach: 1) What data do you use to create prompts? 2) What’s your method for refinement and editing? 3) How do you test your AI content?

AI shines when it’s being used to speed up the scale of content production with templates that have a find-and-replace type of copy for different versions (e.g, location pages). Ideally, you would use AI to make these kinds of repetitive pages more unique, as this can have an impact on their indexation and ranking.

At Local SEO Guide, our process includes code for fact-checking, fine-tuning, and avoiding plagiarism. We start with content written by people and then fold that into data we have about the location, subject, and so on. Through some careful editing and having checks in place, we make sure our content is good and original, and simultaneously avoid repetitive work.

Like Terminator 2, amazing results can happen when humans and machines team up against SkyNet.

Melissa Popp

Content Strategy Director at RicketyRoo

I have a few thoughts on ChatGPT/OpenAI and how content marketers could (and should) be using it now.

If anyone doubts AI is part of the future of SEO and content marketing, I don’t know how to convince them otherwise. So many are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, worried about the impact of AI-written content on our jobs and work. However, low-quality content has always been in our space; it’s always ranked, and it’s always found its way to the top until Google catches up, and it’s not there anymore.

This is the nature of our work as SEOs and content marketers with search engines. Something new comes along and knocks us around—then we find a way to use it to our advantage, for better or worse. Search engines do the same.

Where ChatGPT and OpenAI-based content platforms are going to succeed is with the guidance of content marketers and SEOs like us to build on the foundation of AI-generated content starts as. Anybody publishing the first draft of what they’ve written on the internet is lying to you—or shouldn’t be writing in the first place.

This is work we should already be doing to help ourselves, and our clients, create the best possible content. We’re just now going to be using ChatGPT as our “first draft.” From there, the possibilities are endless: where we take that content, how we add to it, or even how we leverage AI to help us create more around a given topic. With feedback from subject matter experts and our clients, we can create something unique from something that starts out as a diamond in the rough.

Ben Fisher

VP Marketing, Founder at Steady Demand

We need to tread very carefully. We need to understand the impact on our workflows. … Google, historically, had a huge spam department. They’re … probably looking at this with a fine-tooth comb right now. They’re tweaking their algorithms, they’re feeding the machine and they’re basically coming back and saying ‘okay, what kind of heuristics can we create to test and filter’.

There’s been some conversations in the back rooms with Google … They’re going to get good at this. Be really careful, don’t be too overzealous.

Amanda Jordan

Director of Digital Strategy at RicketyRoo

I see ChatGPT as an unreliable intern. ChatGPT … is a stepping block to make tools or things to make your job easier, but it should not be what you depend upon and rely upon for your final answer. If you’re depending on ChatGPT to give you any output and you’re just copying and pasting that, you’re gonna have a bad time. Even when it does things like schema, it’s not exactly correct. It has issues with it and you have to fix it.

Joy Hawkins

Owner at Sterling Sky

It’s a tool to help you do your job better and faster and pick up where it might be difficult. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to put the words ‘near me’ into content naturally … and it’ll do that, and probably do that faster than I could do it. The one tip I saw … was asking the AI to make something NLP friendly. That was really fascinating. What came back was very different to how I would have worded it. So using “semantically friendly”, “NLP format”, those kinds of prompts can really give you insight into “oh, maybe I should reword it like this.”

I do not suggest using it to spin out 50 pages of content without editing. But keep in mind that that’s not new … SEOs have been doing that for decades.

Things to Consider

When it comes to AI there are a few things you need to consider before you dive in and start using it for absolutely everything like a crazy person.

The Database for ChatGPT Has a ‘Knowledge Cut-off’

This means it only knows things up to a certain point in time (2021, to be exact). Therefore new products, changes in laws, or other updates just won’t be something it answers. In some instances, it even suggests using traditional search engines for a query instead.

Double-or-triple-check Everything

It’s one thing if the out-of-date knowledge gives you bad information in content, but if you’re using it to generate code or create markup, you need to be very careful, especially as language models can do what is known as ‘hallucinate’ and spit out complete falsehoods when it doesn’t understand the prompt.

The time it takes you to check over it may not save you as much time as you think, and in some cases, you may only spot an issue if you happen to be well-versed in the topic already.

Miriam Ellis, of Moz, touched on a number of times ChatGPT was just flat-out wrong when she gave it a try recently.

Be Careful with Tone and Personality

If you ask a basic ‘please write me something on [subject]’ prompt, you’re going to get something that’s (probably) factually correct, but lacking any kind of personality.

There are ways around this, sure, like you can ask it to write in a particular style or voice. But it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get it to speak in your brand tone of voice without major edits. AI content is functional, but you’ll struggle to rely on it when you’re building a brand. Even the stuff with a bit more ‘personality’ isn’t always great:

Things Could Get Tricky, Legally

As you can probably tell from the tone of this piece, we’re not here to expressly endorse using AI for all your tasks. We believe AI has the power to make mundane jobs more fun and hard jobs easier, but we’re also keenly aware that, as with any emerging technology, the legal ramifications (particularly around copyright) will only be truly understood once the waters have been tested via landmark court cases.

As such, there have already been a number of concerns about plagiarism and even a lawsuit directed at AI ‘art’. Things are still in their early days, and as AI uses existing content from around the internet to develop its knowledge, there’s a chance things could get murky in the future. For example, there’s already talk of a digital watermark being created to help identify AI content.

If this is a particular concern for you, the tool Originality.ai comes recommended as a plagiarism checker.

Google Has… Opinions… About AI Content

It’s not even a new subject for them. Historically, they’ve said it goes against their guidelines. Obviously, they have to identify that content first, but based on the potential of a watermark, and the fact that a number of people are already working on software to identify AI content, I think we can probably trust that Google isn’t too far off it. These are the folks, remember, that built an AI that one developer genuinely believed was sentient.

Final Thoughts: There’s Opportunity, but Be Careful

AI offers some really exciting opportunities for local marketers. Whether it’s speeding up your boring tasks, offering inspiration, or simply just a new outlet for creativity, there’s something it can help you with.

While that’s the case, though, you need to be extremely careful how you’re using it. If you’re generating anything technical, like code or markup, you’ll need to create new processes for checking accuracy.

Meanwhile, if you’re using it to generate content, you need to make sure you’re properly reviewing it to make sure it’s unique. There have already been issues with some AI-generated content and plagiarism. Running it through a plagiarism checker like Grammarly is a start, but uniqueness isn’t simply about the order of words. You need to make sure that you’re bringing true personality and expertise to the table.

Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust) parameters are more crucial than ever, especially since the rollout of the Helpful Content Update. So if you are truly keen to use AI, make sure you’re ready to make changes to the content. You’ll also need to be wary of those digital watermarks mentioned above.

Finally, it’s worth noting that, thanks to the widespread access to the legitimate phenomenon that is ChatGPT, this conversation is just getting started. We had to revise, redraft and expand on this piece multiple times to react to the AI news pieces that flew into our inboxes at gatling-gun pace.

But because it’s new, and because it’s fast-moving, it’s naturally exciting. That doesn’t mean you should abandon your tried-and-tested local SEO strategy just to play with the shiny new thing. Baby and bathwater, and all that…