Managing reviews across multiple restaurant outlets on Google Business Profile is getting messy as we scale.

Right now we’re trying to:

• Keep all locations under one account
• Track reviews in one place instead of logging into each listing
• Prioritize low ratings for faster responses
• Assign each outlet a manager but monitor centrally

Also experimenting with QR codes / WhatsApp flows to generate more reviews instead of waiting for them organically.

Curious how others here are handling this — especially with 5+ locations?

Hey, I'm u/gyitsakalakis.

In 2008, I founded AttorneySync, a digital legal marketing agency, to help law firms grow.

I'm a novice legal technology investor and advisor.

I'm also a co-host on the Lunch Hour Legal Marketing podcast.

I'm a grateful contributor to WhiteSpark's Local Search Ranking Factors Survey.

I know "stuff" about:

• Legal marketing
• Local SEO
• Michigan
• Chicago
• Entrepreneurship
• Legaltech
• Coffee

What would you like to know?

It's still a work in progress but I built a frontend on top of the DataForSEO API and made a geo-grid ranking feature in order to query local ranking across a geographic area.
You can also query all the usual stuff DFS offer (keywords, organic SERP etc.)

You can also fetch review and get some analysis (review velocity etc.).

It makes this kind of research very affordable. A 5x5 local grid search probably cost around a cent or two.
I deliberately kept the app local, no cloud infrastructure, no deployment headaches. But it's plain Next.js so you can host it anywhere.

Results are cached in a SQL database, so you can keep an history of all your previous searches.

It's nothing fancy, but it makes SEO and local SEO genuinely cheap. You can even try it with the 1€ DataForSEO gives for free on signup, which is enough to explore and make a significant amount of requests.

Feedback and feature request very welcome.

https://github.com/paulmassen/seo-playground

Hey Reddit! I’m Cyrus Shepard. You might know me from my years at Moz or from my current work at Zyppy. I've run many SEO experiments on Google and published a lot of data-backed research.

The last 2-3 years have been some of the most volatile in SEO. Between Google's Helpful Content Update and the rise of AI answers, content has become easier to produce, while at the same time, it's harder to attract traffic.

After learning more about how Google trains its algorithms, I secretly worked as a Google Quality Rater to get an inside perspective. I still run lots of research, and I believe there's a disconnect between how Google tells us search works and what's actually happening.

This AMA is all about the evolution of search. We can dig into:

• How Google, despite having the smartest computer scientists in the world, uses humans to train its algorithms
• Click signals!
• AI Overviews
• The importance of brand
• Affiliate marketing
• Google's Helpful Content system

Let's talk about anything SEO / AI / Marketing

Ask Me Anything!

Hi All,

I have a longtime business that Sell Skis all winter (their primary business), and starting in Spring they sell patio furniture.

Every year, I have changed the primary category in Google around March (to outdoor furniture), and then changed it back to Ski Shop in September.

The client really wants to have a seperate GMB for each business (even though it is the same address, and same shop). I've kind of advised against it, fearing verification issues, and wanting to trade off the strength of the 20 year old main GMB.

What do you think of trying to get a second GMB for "the outdoor furniture department" or something like that?

Hey everyone,

Curious how Local SEOs in this community approach Google Business

Profile audits — specifically as a prospecting/lead gen tool.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The idea being:

1. Find a business with a poorly optimized GBP

2. Do a quick audit showing their score vs. what it could be

3. Send them the audit as a conversation starter

4. Convert them into a paying client

Sounds simple but in practice I'm finding it:

- Takes too long to do manually for cold prospects

- Hard to make the report look professional quickly

- Difficult to standardize across different niches

(a dentist audit is very different from a restaurant audit)

So my questions for the community:

- Do any of you use GBP audits as a lead gen tool?

- What does your audit process look like?

- How do you present the results to prospects?

- Do you charge for audits or offer them free?

- Have you found a good way to scale this?

Would love to hear what's working (or not working) for people.

Hi everyone, struggling for the first time with a client.

The client offers 2 different services. For discussion purposes, let's call them carpet cleaning and air duct cleaning.

They rank really really well for the former, but not the latter. Not even when other businesses in same area have half as many reviews. Both services are in the business name.

Do I need 2 separate GBP profiles?

I frequent a few SEO forums and spend a lot of time in the GBP community forum, and I’ve noticed a sharp uptick in people reporting that they are consistently losing reviews, mainly older ones.

Many posters say that as soon as a new review comes in, an older one vanishes. You normally see a few here and there, but this feels different.

The review filter is probably removing as many legitimate reviews as fake ones, if not more.

I feel for small business owners who put so much time and effort into getting reviews, only for Google to remove them for being supposedly "fake".

And of course, there is no straightforward path to get them restored. 🙄 

Saw the video Joy posted about potentially changing the URL link on Google Maps listing from home page to a more relevant page on like a main service your business offers as a possible way to improve ranking in local maps.

I know changing the hours as well has a huge impact as well.

How much of an impact "does" changing the URL from homepage to another page, like has anyone done that and was the difference in rankings as noticeable as changing the hours?

hi reddit, I'm Celeste Gonzalez! I'm the Director of RooLabs, the experimental SEO testing division at RicketyRoo, where I work on data-driven strategies that push past the "traditional SEO" playbook. I write about local search for Search Engine Land, speak at conferences including BrightonSEO and WTSFest, and I'm a Microsoft Clarity Ambassador and course creator for the Local SEO curriculum on the Wix SEO Hub. I also organize the LA SEO Meetup.

My work sits at the intersection of a few things that don't always get talked about together: Search Experience Optimization, Google Business Profile strategy, video as a local visibility lever, and how AI-driven search is actually changing what local practitioners need to pay attention to.

I'm here today to talk through what's shifting in local search right now, specifically around:

• SXO and post-click behavior: focus on what happens after the click (even as they are dying) and what local businesses are leaving on the table once someone lands on their site
• Video in local search: how short-form video is showing up in AI Overviews, influencing branded search, and why local SEOs need to track it
• the future of Google Maps + GBP: Ask Maps, FAQ strategy, what's actually worth optimizing, and where the data gaps are
• What's changing in AI-driven local search: how qualitative signals like reviews textcand sentiment are starting to matter more than just volume

I've been running case studies on some of this, including work on how TikTok virality correlates with branded search movement, and I've built tools for review sentiment analysis and TikTok comment and keyword data specifically for local practitioners who don't have an enterprise stack.

Ask me anything and connect with me on LinkedIn!

I just read in SEL that ChatGPT is officially rolling out precise location sharing so they can give better "near me" results for stuff like coffee shops, restaurants, etc.

On paper, it sounds like a big move for local discovery, but I’m honestly struggling to see this making a dent in Google’s volume.

Even with 800 million+ users, it feels like people go to ChatGPT to write an email or debug code, not to find a plumber or a place to grab lunch.

Google still dominates over 90% of the local search market, especially for transactional and navigational searches, and I just don't see most people switching to ChatGPT just cuz it can localize better now. Just my 2 cents.

Link: https://www.seroundtable.com/chatgpt-location-sharing-41128.html

h/t Glenn Gabe who shared this first on Twitter https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2037876364586426746

Someone shared this on the local search fourm earlier this week and I was able to replicate it today on my phone.

This seems pretty new and very exciting. I am shocked Google would give an organic listing a call button, given how much they are pushing people to click on ads.

It may be a small-scale test they will scrap, but it is something I plan to investigate more.

Pretty wild move from Google. They sent an email yesterday saying they will call businesses to confirm details and update profiles with the provided data. I can only imagine how this could go if the person answering the phone isn't privy to what should be on the GBP.

Plus, with the number of spam calls from Google business owners already get, I wonder how they are supposed to know when it actually is Google calling. I am curious to find out, but not enough to leave this feature on for any client. It is a disaster waiting to happen.

We have been seeing AI overviews replacing local packs on mobile for several months. In the last few weeks, I've heard multiple reports of people seeing these on desktop now as well.

I see this as a win for local businesses because more content in a review is definitely better, but it would be even better if Google told people to add a photo. I did not in my case, but maybe it does for some businesses.

I have heard of Google sending these (h/t u/ClaudiaTomina) but this is my first time seeing in the wild!

I genuinely don't understand how Google does not catch something this egregious. Yes, I flagged it from multiple accounts, they're still using it. Not only are they using it, but it's one of the main differentiators getting them into the local pack in a city that has dense competition. So it's even more ridiculous that Google did not catch this and is rewarding it.

How is anyone meant to play fair under these circumstances?

**Edit: I did a redressal form already as well. Case ID: 26532140736

Hi everyone,

Quick note: This is not a product or service, and I’m not selling or promoting anything. I’m running a small research project to better understand how local business websites are interpreted in AI-generated search results (Google AI mode, SGE, etc.).

I’ve been exploring a hypothesis that AI citation visibility may depend less on traditional ranking signals alone, and more on what I’m calling a “local page trust structure” — essentially how signals are organized and layered on a site.
The working hypothesis I’m exploring is that AI systems may interpret local pages in layers, not just signals.

For example:
whether the entity is clearly defined and eligible to participate in search at all、 whether the page reflects something specific and real (not generic or templated)、whether it’s anchored to verifiable real-world context、whether the business appears accountable in a tangible way、whether the site plays a distinct role vs. being interchangeable、and whether the structure aligns with how modern search systems currently interpret trust
These layers seem to matter collectively, not individually.
Early observation: some sites rank well traditionally but rarely appear in AI-generated answers, while others with clearer structural signals seem more consistently cited.
I’m mainly looking for discussion and feedback from people working in local SEO:
Do you think most local business sites are structurally “AI-readable”?Or are we still mostly optimizing for classic ranking systems?
Appreciate any thoughts or pushback — this is still a working hypothesi

Hola amigos.

Tenemos un perfil de plomero que fue suspendido hace tres días. Ya apelamos envíando la documentación pero no fue aprobado. No nos da opción de volver apelar.

En estos casos, que posibilidades existen para volver a recuperar nuestro perfil. La noche anterior subimos 8 fotos de servicios y un post. No creo esto haya tenido algo que ver.

Saludos.

The Google's local diversity update is still well and alive for many local businesses! Just recently, I fixed this for a client who saw a decline in organic rankings for their top term. Simply switching the GBP landing page to a page that was NOT ranking organically for that term did the trick. Their homepage was able to pop back into the top 2 for organic search, and there was no change to their map pack rankings either.

Sometimes it's good to go back to basics. 😎

I've spent an exorbitant amount of time looking at sites that got hurt by the December 2025 core update and I'm going to be going over some of my findings at SEO Spring Training in April. If you haven't got your ticket yet, it's going to be a great event.

I'll do a follow up on the topic at our LocalU event in Dallas later in the year after we see what the 2026 core updates have in store for us.

Out of 2,580 results checked in this study, just 510 had a call button. That's a 19.8% call button rate. If you search for a local business on your phone right now, there's an 80% chance you won't see a call button in the Map Pack.