Local SEO Weekly

Local SEO Weekly

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Local SEO Weekly episodes

  • Google Business Profile Categories + Restaurant Ordering Controls

    Your Google Business Profile category is the quiet lever behind local rankings. It decides which searches you're eligible for, not just how well you rank. This week we walk through how categories work, how to check yours against the businesses beating you on Google Maps, and what changed for restaurants.

    In this episode:

    • Why your profile gets exactly one primary category, why it carries the most weight, and how secondary categories add a quieter signal
    • How your category controls which features, attributes and suggested services your profile gets (wrong category, wrong toolbox)
    • The specificity trap: "Lawyer" vs. "personal injury attorney," "Restaurant" vs. "Thai restaurant," and why adding every nearby category waters down the signal
    • Google's Lisa Landsman announced on LinkedIn on Oct 28 that restaurants can now switch off specific third-party ordering providers, with separate pickup and delivery toggles under "Show provider to customers"
    • Before this, restaurants could only ask for a link to be removed, and Google's help page says providers have 5 business days to take it down. Partner links are on by default, so check every location you manage
    • Google's help docs now give owners 4 days to accept or reject a suggested edit before Google may publish it automatically
    • BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026: the share of consumers who say they use ChatGPT or other AI tools for local recommendations rose from 6% to 45% (self-reported survey from a local SEO software company)
    • A five-step phone check: search your money keyword on public Google Maps, write down the top three primary categories, then compare them with yours

      • Sources:

      • Search Engine Journal: restaurant ordering provider controls
      • Google Business Profile Help: third-party ordering links
      • Search Engine Roundtable: 4 days to accept or reject suggested edits
      • BrightLocal: Local Consumer Review Survey 2026

        • Subscribe / follow along: https://quietcoyotemn.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=transistor&utm_campaign=local-seo-weekly

        Full transcript

        Mara Quist: Your phone used to ring on Tuesday mornings. Now it doesn't. And the shop two miles away is newer, has fewer reviews and, honestly, worse photos... but it sits above you on the map every single time. You've asked for reviews. You've posted updates. So what is it? Pretty often it's one dropdown menu you filled in years ago and never opened again.

        Mara Quist: Today's one thing is categories. Your Google Business Profile gets one primary category. Exactly one. Then you can add a few secondary ones if you want. That's it, no secret sauce. A category is you telling Google, in Google's own words, what kind of business you are. And here's the part people miss... Google doesn't read your sign, and it can't read your mind. It reads the category.
        Mara Quist: So why do I call it the quiet lever? Because nobody notices it. Customers see your reviews. They see your photos. Your category? Almost nobody thinks about it. But Google uses it to decide which searches you can show up for at all. Not whether you rank well. Whether you're ELIGIBLE. If you're in the wrong bucket, you're not even in the race.
        Mara Quist: Okay, under the hood. Three things are happening at once.
        Mara Quist: One is relevance. Someone types "emergency plumber" and Google tries to match that to businesses whose categories fit. Your primary category carries the most weight. It's the loudest thing you tell Google. Secondary categories help too, they're just quieter.
        Mara Quist: Two, your category decides which features you get. Pick a restaurant category and you get menus and food ordering. Pick something else and you get different fields. The attributes you can add, the services Google suggests, even some of the buttons customers see... a lot of that comes from your category. Wrong category, wrong toolbox.
        Mara Quist: Quick aside for restaurant owners, because this one's new. At the end of October, Google's Lisa Landsman announced on LinkedIn that restaurants can now switch off specific third-party ordering providers right in the Business Profile dashboard. Pickup and delivery have separate toggles, under "Show provider to customers." A Google product manager said it's live in all countries. Until now you could only ask for a link to be removed, and Google's help page still says providers have five business days to take it down once you ask. Those partner links are on by default. So if you run a restaurant, check the ordering list on every location you manage. Every one.
        Mara Quist: Back to the mechanic. Three is specificity, and this is where most people lose. Google's category list is long, and there's usually something more specific than what you picked. "Lawyer" versus "personal injury attorney." "Restaurant" versus "Thai restaurant." The broad one feels safer, right? Covers more ground? It doesn't. The broad one puts you in a crowded room shouting a vague word.
        Mara Quist: And the opposite mistake is just as common. Your categories should say what you ARE, not list everything you happen to do. A bakery that sells coffee isn't a coffee shop. If you add every category that's sort of nearby, you water down the signal. You also make your profile look off to anyone suggesting edits, and that matters more now. Google's help docs now say owners have four days to accept or reject a suggested edit. After that, Google "may automatically publish the update if it is supported by other publicly available information." Four days. If you only log in twice a year, someone else is effectively editing your listing.
        Mara Quist: Now, why does being clear matter more right now? BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey asked about a thousand US adults how they find local businesses. The share who said they use ChatGPT or other AI tools for local recommendations went from 6 percent to 45 percent. Keep in mind that's what people say they do, and BrightLocal sells local SEO software, so read it with that in mind. Still, the direction's hard to ignore. More people are getting a machine to describe a business to them. If your profile describes you vaguely, there's no reason to expect the summary will be sharper.
        Mara Quist: Okay. The check. Phone out. You can do this right now.
        Mara Quist: Step one. Open Google Maps, the public map, not your owner dashboard. Search the thing your best customer would actually type. Not your business name. The service. "Roof repair." "Dog groomer." Whatever really pays your bills.
        Mara Quist: Step two. Look at the top three results. Right under each business name there's a small grey label. That's their primary category. Write all three down. Seriously, write them down, you'll forget.
        Mara Quist: Step three. Find yourself in that same search. If you're there, read your label. If you're not, search your own name and read it there.
        Mara Quist: Step four. Compare. If all three businesses beating you say "Emergency locksmith" and yours just says "Locksmith"... there you go. That's a big part of your answer. They aren't doing anything magic. They just filled in the profile more completely.
        Mara Quist: Ste...

        9 min
      • Google Map Pack Explained, GBP Post Views Return & Apple Maps Ads

        This week on Local SEO Weekly, Mara Quist explains how Google's map pack works and why a smaller competitor can outrank you. She also walks through a five-step check you can run on your phone, and covers the latest Google Business Profile and Apple Maps news.

        In this episode:

        • No confirmed local algorithm update: Google's Search Status Dashboard shows no ranking incidents in October or so far in November. The last one was the September 2026 spam update, which ran from Sept 24 to about Oct 7.
        • How Google picks the map pack: relevance, distance and prominence. Your primary Business Profile category is the biggest relevance signal.
        • Google Business Home beta: one place for Business Profile, Merchant Center, YouTube and Ads accounts. It's a closed beta in the US and UK for verified businesses with fewer than 10 locations.
        • AI messaging pilot expands: an AI agent answers routine messages sent from Search and Maps, but only for customers with RCS support.
        • Google Posts reporting is back: views for all post types with 18 months of history, after Google removed post insights in January 2023.
        • Review appeals are slow: Google says processing times are "currently extended" and asks owners not to file duplicate appeals.
        • Google's 2025 Maps safety report: over 292 million policy-violating reviews blocked or removed (up about 21% from 240 million) and over 13 million fake Business Profiles removed.
        • Apple Maps ads arrive in the US and Canada: labeled ads at the top of search results and Suggested Places. You claim your location in Apple Business first, and eligible new advertisers get a $150 credit.

          • Sources:

          • Google Search Status Dashboard: ranking incident history
          • Search Engine Roundtable: Google Business Home
          • Google Business Home help page
          • Search Engine Roundtable: AI-powered messaging in Google Business Profiles
          • Search Engine Roundtable: Google Posts insights views return
          • Google Business Profile help forum: Posts reporting announcement
          • Google Business Profile help forum: review appeal delays
          • Search Engine Roundtable: review appeal delays
          • Search Engine Roundtable: new performance reports test
          • Google Blog: new ways we're protecting businesses on Maps
          • Search Engine Roundtable: Google Maps spam fighting numbers
          • Apple Newsroom: introducing Apple Business
          • Apple Ads: Ads on Apple Maps

            • Subscribe / follow along: https://quietcoyotemn.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=transistor&utm_campaign=local-seo-weekly

            Full transcript

            Mara Quist: Okay so here's the call I get every week. Someone runs a perfectly good business. Great reviews, been open for years. And they search their own service on their phone... and there's a competitor sitting in the top three on the map. Newer. Smaller. Honestly kind of worse. And their own phone? Quiet on a Tuesday.

            Mara Quist: And the first thing they ask me is, what's the trick? There's no trick. Your competitor isn't magic. They're just complete.
            Mara Quist: I'm Mara Quist, this is Local SEO Weekly, and today we're doing one thing. The map pack. Mechanically. What it is, how it decides, how you check it on your phone, and what you fix first.
            Mara Quist: Quick news first, because a lot of you have messaged me about it. Was there a local algorithm update last month? No. Google's Search Status Dashboard shows no ranking incidents in October, and nothing so far in November. The last one was the September 2026 spam update. It started September 24th, ran about thirteen days, and wrapped up around October 7th. And it was a general spam update, not a local one. So if your rankings moved in October? Don't blame an update. Look at your own listing, and look at the business beating you.
            Mara Quist: Okay. The mechanic. The map pack is that box of three businesses with a little map, usually sitting above the regular search results when someone searches for something local. Plumber. Tacos. Dentist near me. Three spots. That's it. And most people looking for a service never scroll past it.
            Mara Quist: So how does Google pick those three? Google says it out loud, and it isn't a secret. There are three buckets. Relevance, distance, prominence. That's the whole framework. Every guru course you've ever seen is just those three words with a nicer font.
            Mara Quist: Let me take them one at a time, because this is where it gets useful.
            Mara Quist: Relevance first. Does your listing actually match what the person typed? And the biggest single signal Google has for that is your PRIMARY category. The one category you picked when you set up your Business Profile. If you're a family dentist and your primary category says "dental clinic" when people search "dentist," or you're an emergency plumber and you picked something vague? You're telling Google you're a slightly different business than the one people are looking for. After that come your secondary categories, your services list, your business description, and what your website says. But the primary category does the most work. I see it wrong constantly. Like, constantly.
            Mara Quist: Second, distance. How far is the business from the person searching, or from the place they named in the search? This is the one you can't really fake, and it explains a LOT of the frustration. Your rival might show up first because the person searching is three blocks from them, not because they're better. Move the phone a mile and the pack can reshuffle completely. So when the owner says "they're always above me," my first question is... always from where?
            Mara Quist: Third, prominence. Basically, how well known and trusted Google thinks you are. That comes from things like how many reviews you have and how recent they are, your rating, whether other websites mention and link to you, and how established your site is overall. It's the slow bucket. You build it up over months, not over a weekend.
            Mara Quist: And here's the part people miss. These three buckets work together. A business that's a little farther away can still beat you if it's clearly more relevant and more prominent. A business right next door can lose if its listing is half empty. So when a smaller competitor beats you, it's almost always this... they filled in everything, picked the right category, and kept the reviews coming. Complete. That's the whole secret.
            Mara Quist: One more thing on prominence, since it's in th...

            9 min

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          Local search made plain: the map pack, reviews, and the rankings that decide which local business gets the call — hosted by Mara Quist. New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.