Podcast
The Whitespark Local Update
The Whitespark Local Update is the go-to podcast for Local SEOs and Marketers who want to stay ahead of the curve in local search and the local visibility space.
Join industry experts Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw for a lively, insightful roundup of their carefully curated selection of top “must-read” and “must-watch” links, including news, trends, and can't-miss resources.
- Marketing chart
- #139
- Episodes
- 54
- Releases
- Weekly
- Typical length
- 22 min
- On air since
- 2025
- Latest episode
- 21 hours ago
Episodes
54 episodes, newest first
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23 min
The RIGHT Way to Track Your AI Visibility | E54 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 54
Show notes
Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are back with another roundup of the biggest updates, insights, and conversations shaping local SEO and AI search, including:
📝 Google Business Profiles Asking Businesses For EIN (Barry Schwartz)
📝 A masterclass on how to set up AI prompt tracking the RIGHT way (Elizabeth Linder)
📝 More control over the ordering links on Google (Lisa Landsman)
📝 How to build topic clusters for SEO and AI search (Adam Tanguay)
📝 Google Business Home - New Google Business Profiles Home (Barry Schwartz)
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23 min
Is AI Visibility Worth the Hype or Just a Scam? | E53 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 53
Show notes
Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are back to break down the latest news, trends, and developments in local SEO and AI search, including:
📝 Can You Change The Order of Google Business Profile Photos? (Miriam Ellis)
📝AI Picks the Shortlist: Are You Even Showing Up Locally? (Krystal Taing)
📝 Google Business Profiles Verification With Government ID (Barry Schwartz)
📝 Is AI visibility a scam? (Rand Fishkin)
📝 Google Business Profiles Review Appeals Are Delayed Again (Barry Schwartz)
Additional Resources:
📝 Report Inappropriate Reviews on Your Business Profile
Follow us ❤️
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19 min
Google Maps in Gemini, New Restaurant Attributes & AI Search KPIs | E52 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 52
Show notes
Claire Carlile and Elizabeth Linder break down the biggest news and developments from the past week in local SEO, Google, and AI search, including:
📝 How to Coordinate AI Search Optimization Across Marketing Teams (Crawling Mondays by Aleyda)
📝 How to Coordinate AI Search Optimization Efforts Across Areas (Aleyda Solís)
📝Google Business Profile Now Has Expanded Dietary Attributes (Lisa Landsman)
📝 You can search in Google Maps directly from Gemini (Andy Simpson)
📝 This Gemini Map feature solved my biggest search frustration in seconds (Haroun Adamu)
📝 How to segment SEO data for multi-location brands (Dayna Lucio)
📝SparkToro Audience Quiz Tool (Rand Fishkin)
📝 Re-imagining AI Visibility KPIs in a Query Fan Out world (Wil Reynolds): https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/ai-visibility-kpis
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23 min
AI Mode Tip, Negative Review Goldmine, Google’s New Rules | E51 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 51
Show notes
Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are back with another roundup of the news and updates shaping local SEO and AI search, including:
📝 Google Maps 2026 Fan-Favorite Dining List
📝 How to Use AI Mode’s Follow-Up Questions to Create Non-Commodity Local Service Content(Claudia Tomina)
📝 Your competitors’ negative reviews could improve your PPC ads (Laura I. Abreu)
📝 Re-imagining AI Visibility KPIs in a Query Fan Out world (Wil Reynolds)
📝 Google’s Policy Update (Hiroko Imai)
📝 AI and SPAM team up in Alabama and beyond… (Conrad Saam)---
Follow us ❤️
📑 LinkedIn:
Darren Shaw: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenshawwhitespark/
Claire Carlile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairecarlile/ -
22 min
The #1 Cause of Bad Reviews, New GBP Policy & How AI Sees Your Site | E50 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 50
Show notes
Claire Carlile is joined by Elizabeth Linder to cover the biggest stories and updates from the past week in local SEO, Google, and AI search, including:
📝 Google Business Profiles Policies Adds Misuse Of Support Channels (Barry Schwartz)
Google Business Profile third-party policies
📝Why Customers Leave Good and Bad Google Reviews (Miriam Ellis)
📝 Earlier today I attended the GEO KNOW HOW conference. Here is everything I learned (Malte Landwehr)
📝GEO Is CRO: Ross Hudgens on Chasing Influence, Not Citations, in AI Search (Near Media)
📝How to Check What Google & LLMs See in Website HTML (Daniel Foley Carter)
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47 min
Edward Sturm's Ranking Trick, Hacking AI Overviews, Parasite SEO | E49 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 49
Show notes
Darren Shaw is joined by special guest Edward Sturm to break down the biggest local SEO, Google, and AI search news and updates from the past week, including:
📝 Hacking AI Overviews with LinkedIn Hashtags (Steve Toth)
📝 NotebookLM Parasite SEO (Gagan Ghotra)
📝 5 reasons why I'm skeptical of the entire AI tracking industry (Rand Fishkin)
📝 I Tracked 70K+ ChatGPT and AI Overview Responses to Measure Their Volatility (Glen Allsopp)
📝 King of AEO: The Exact Tactics Ranking Pages and Changing AI Overviews in Hours (Edward Sturm)
📝 How to check if AI has your content in its index (Myriam Jessier)
📝 Rank Faster With the Topical Authority You Already Have (Edward Sturm)
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20 min
Stop the AI Slop, Claude Research Assistant & New GBP Verification | E48 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 48
Show notes
Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile break down the biggest local SEO, Google, and AI search updates from the past week, including:
📝 Google Business Profile Verification: Submit a Business Photo (Ben Fisher)
📝 Claude Project for Improving Information Gain for SEO (Steve Toth)
📝 The new rules of AI search (Crystal Carter)
📝 We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’ (Jason Koebler)
📝 Side of slop? Bizarre AI food images jump from online to IRL menus (NBC News)
📝 Google is now asking about edits BEFORE they go live (Claudia Tomina)
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16 min
13K AI Citations, E-E-A-T Tips & 2026 Local Discovery Index | E47 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 47
Show notes
Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are here to unpack the latest local SEO news, updates, and takeaways, including:
📝 The 2026 Local Discovery Index (SOCi)
📝 How to Grow Your Brand Authority for AI Search (GEO, AEO) (Crawling Mondays by Aleyda Solis)
📝 Practical guide to improving EEAT in your content (Steve Toth)
📝 We tracked 13,184 AI citations across 4 LLMs. Here’s what we learned… (Andy Crestodina, Bill Widmer)
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20 min
NEW Google Maps Feature, 1.8M GBP Study & Marketing Personas Guide | E46 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 46
Show notes
Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are back with the latest local SEO news, updates, and takeaways from the past week, including:
📝 “Tell Maps” is live! (Claudia Tomina)
📝 Google Business Profile Alert for Local SEOs & Agency Owners (Amy Toman)
📝 What 1.8 million Google Business Profiles tell us about local SEO success (Darren Shaw)
📝 The Best Persona Tool On the Web Is Now Live (Rand Fishkin)
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26 min
AI Watermarking, Google LSA Changes & AI Search Ranking Problems | E45 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 45
Show notes
In this episode, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile share the latest local SEO news, updates, and insights from the past two weeks:
📝 Breaking news: View Counts on Google Posts (Muhammad Hussain)
📝Hack to Get Activities on Your Google Business Profile (Claudia Tomina)
📝 Tactics for Building a Local Brand in the Age of AI Search — An Agency Panel (Near Media)
📝 How AI text watermarking works (James Padolsey)
📝 Why AI Search Won’t Rank This Website (Live Audit) (SterlingSky)
📝 Google Local Service Ads Now Pull Content Straight From Your Website (Ishan Gupta)
📝 Direct Traffic in GA4: What It Really Measures (and 10 Ways to Increase It) (Andy Crestodina)
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21 min
Report Owner Responses on GBP, ChatGPT Gets Yelp Review/Photo Data | E44 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 44
Show notes
In this episode, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile share the most exciting local SEO news and insights from the past two weeks:
📝 Links back in GBP products populated via product editor (Claire Carlile)
📝 Whitespark Analyzed GBP Review Questions for 765 Businesses (Miriam Ellis)
📝 Yelp Licenses Its Review, Photo, and Request-a-Quote Data to ChatGPT ((Krystal Taing)
📝 You Need to Nail Your “Brand Facts” (Cyrus Shepard)
📝 New GBP Feature: Report Owner Response (Vinay Toshniwal, Jacek N. Kozio)
📝 15 Tips for Winning in LLMs (Suganthan Mohanadasan)
Follow us on LinkedIn ❤️
Darren Shaw: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenshawwhitespark/
Claire Carlile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairecarlile/ -
21 min
TikTok-ify Your Google Ads, Win AI SEO & Teach Google Who You Are | E43 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 43
Show notes
This week, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile break down the biggest local SEO stories, including:
📝 These SEO Strategies Drive 90% of Your AI Visibility (Cyrus Shepard)
📝Low-Effort Leap in Local SEO: Target a 2nd Language on Your Site with a Plugin (Phil Rozek)
📝 How to Generate High Quality Leads Through Your Website (Exposure Ninja)
📝 Google’s LLM patent suggests a new goal for SEO: Teaching AI who you are (Rich Sanger)
📝 Why you need to "TikTokify" your Google Ads (Talia Wolf and Jyll Saskin Gales)
📝 I made my nail lady open her Google Ads account before I left the chair (Ameet Khabra)
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19 min
Google’s New AI Local 6-Pack & Reddit Research with Claude | E42 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 42
Show notes
This week, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are unpacking the local SEO stories you need to know, including:
📝 Claiming a Service Area Business (SAB) has changed (Vinay Toshniwal)
Request ownership of a Business Profile
📝AI Overview 6-pack (Joy Hawkins)
📝 AI Is Killing Content: The Only Way to Win (Ross Simmonds, SterlingSky)
📝Reddit Keyword Research with Claude: 3 Levels From Beginner to Pro (Usman Akram)
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23 min
AI Ranking Factors, SAB Pin Hack & Google Review Problems | E41 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 41
Show notes
🔥Whitespark Local Ranking Grids
This week, Darren Shaw is joined by special guest Amy Toman to break down the local SEO stories you need to know, including:📝 Hack to Move the Map Pin for an SAB (Mika Lepisto)
📝 Warning About GBP Review Management (Amy Toman)
📝 AI Search Visibility & Ranking Factors - For 1,100 Market Segments
📝 Massive Correlation Study of LLM Ranking Factors (Ben Wills)
📝 Google Review Not Posted (Amy Toman)
📝 What Local Brand Actually Means to Google and AI (Near Media Podcast with Cyrus Shepard)
📝 Two Types of GBP Blocks (Amy Toman): article not yet published.
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23 min
Local SEO in 2026, AI Visibility Tracking & Google Review Bugs | E40 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 40
Show notes
This week, Claire Carlile and special guest Julian Hooks cover the latest local SEO news, including:
📝 The State of Local SEO in 2026 (Joy Hawkins, Sterling Sky)
📝 Why Your Google Reviews Disappear (Ex-Googlers Explain) (SterlingSky, Brad Wetherall)
📝 Where AI agents get stuck on your site (Kevin Indig)
📝 New Google Reviews Bug: You Have No Reviews Yet (Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Roundtable)
📝 Build your own AI search visibility tracker for under $100/month (Julian Hooks)
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22 min
Social Data in GSC, TikTok SEO, AI Review Fails & AI SEO Workflows | E39 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 39
Show notes
This week, Claire Carlile is joined by special guest Dayna Lucio to discuss the latest local SEO news and updates, including:
📝 See how content from social and video platforms performs on Google Search
📝 Why TikTok deserves a place in your SEO strategy (Celeste Gonzalez)
📝 Building a brand worth finding: Signals that fuel discovery (Beth Nunnington)
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26 min
New Bing AI Search Data, AIO Click Quality Study & Gemini + GBP | E38 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 38
Show notes
This week, Claire Carlile is joined by special guest Krystal Taing to break down the local SEO stories you need to know, including:
📝 June 2026 AI Search News (Caroline Green, Carolyn Wilborn)
📝 New Gemini Features for Small Businesses | Grow with Google
📝 AI's brain is getting bloated with AI content (Megan Morrone)
📝 How to safely implement high-impact technical SEO changes (Dayna Lucio)
📝 Google AI Overviews Study Finds Lost Clicks Weren’t Lower Quality (Matt G. Southern)
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22 min
GBP+Gemini Deep Dive, GBP Messaging, Mining Competitor Reviews | E37 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 37
Show notes
🔥 Whitespark Local Ranking Grids 🔥
This week, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile are unpacking the local SEO stories you need to know, including:
📝 Connect your Google Business Profile to Gemini
📝 The Review Gap: Finding Client Opportunities In Competitor Feedback (Celeste Gonzalez on the Search Engine Journal Blog)
📝 GBP Help pages have been revised (Hiroko Imai)
📝 Google is bringing back GBP Messaging - with an AI chatbot for your business (Darren Shaw) -
24 min
AI Remembers Bad Reviews, Zero-Click Search & Apple’s New Siri AI | E36 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 36
Show notes
This week on The Whitespark Local Update, Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile break down the latest local SEO news, including:
📝 Study: How Review Profiles Impact Brand AI Visibility (Trustpilot and Seer Interactive)📝 This is the AI prompt you need to track and aren't (Wil Reynolds)
📝 The Click Is Now Optional. Here’s What Isn’t. (Amanda Natividad)
📝 Colorado Banning Lead Gen Companies from Selling Legal Leads to Law Firms (Jason Hennessey)
📝 Apple introduces Siri AI (Apple Newsroom)
📝 Internal Data Mining and Strategic Review Acquisition (Krystal Taing, Near Media)
📝 Social Signals as a Ranking Factor (Michael B. Snow, SOCi)
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22 min
Gemini Can Now Manage Your GBP, Why Review Replies Go Missing | E35 The Whitespark Local Update
Episode 35
Show notes
Local SEO keeps changing with the speed of light, but Claire Carlile and Darren Shaw are here to help you keep up. This week, they cover:
📝 AI Search, Speak Your Customer's Language or Be Left Out of the Conversation (Michelle Ali)
📝 Connect Google Business Profile to Google Analytics (Google)
📝 How to Rank in Surrounding Cities or Towns (Miriam Ellis)
📝 Google’s Review Reply Rejection Filter (Michel van Luijtelaar)
📝 Chunking Your Content for AI? 1956 Called. They Want Their Method Back (Dorron Shapow)
📝 Connect your Google Business Profile to Gemini (Mike G. and Google)
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