{"id":7622,"date":"2025-06-26T08:51:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/?p=7622"},"modified":"2025-06-26T08:51:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:51:53","slug":"21-local-search-developments-you-need-to-know-about-from-q2-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/21-local-search-developments-you-need-to-know-about-from-q2-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"21 Local Search Developments You Need to Know About From Q2 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019ve had a relatively quiet quarter for reviews, a rather loud one for Google Business Profiles, and a stereo blast of AI studies. Today\u2019s roundup will help you feel confident that you\u2019re caught up on the major local search marketing developments of the past quarter, with plenty of actionable takeaways from some of the best minds in our industry. Let\u2019s roll!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GBP developments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. GBP Services Guidelines update<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Darren Shaw posted on Linkedin<\/a> to draw attention to an important document published by Google titled \u201cWhat\u2019s new in Google Business Profile: March 2025<\/a>\u201d in which they show this screenshot of what they consider an optimized vs. an unoptimized GBP Services menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As you can see, the preferred example has written a description of every service including providing a time estimate and booking functionality. It\u2019s great to see Google offering this type of guidance, and this would be a great week to take your own service menus from simple list format to full descriptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. AI insights into GBP photos<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Claudia Tomina shared a very hot tip<\/a> on how you can prompt Google\u2019s AI overviews to describe what it \u201cunderstands\u201d about your GBP photos. She offers this process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Open the Google app on mobile or search on desktop.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Search your business and go to the Photos tab.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Press and hold any image, then tap “Search inside image” or right click and select “Search with Google lens”.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Claudia explains that, though Google lens doesn\u2019t analyze faces, it will pick up on objects. Why not give this a try to see whether your owner-uploaded photos are being parsed by AI as representative of the objects you intend them to highlight? You may get some surprises that lead you to retake some shots so that it\u2019s clearer to Google what your photos represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. New GBP video verification previews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    Google\u2019s Lisa Landsman announced a new feature<\/a> that lets you review your video verification recordings prior to submitting them. This should hopefully cut down on the need to resubmit videos that don\u2019t pass muster. You can read more about this announcement here<\/a>. Anything that makes the GBP video verification process even a little less arduous is certainly welcome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. GBP \u201cWhat\u2019s Happening\u201d feature for restaurants<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    Also announced by Lisa Landsman this quarter<\/a>, a new engagement-driving feature for restaurants in the US, UK, AU, CA, and NZ. This feature is driven by Google Updates and by connecting your Facebook, Instagram, or X profiles to your GBP. Landsman suggests focusing on content like \u201cToday\u2019s Special\u201d or \u201cLive Music on Saturday\u201d. Note that this is a mobile-only feature at present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Speaking of posts, I want to quickly call out a test caught by Annabel L<\/a>. of what appears to be a very different Google Posts dashboard. She said she saw it and then it was gone. Worth checking out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. You may have run into a Google Updates bug in May<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    There is a lot of buzz right now about whether Google Updates (formerly known as Posts) may go away at some point, and a bug in May (since resolved) likely contributed to this worry. As reported by Amy Toman<\/a>, Updates were not publishing on GBPs for a while, but she does not see this as an indication that Google plans to remove this feature. It\u2019s a good indicator of how uncertain local business owners and their marketers feel about the stability of GBP, but every bug tends to make us worry that Google is about to sunset something we count on. It\u2019s always important to remember that Google is constantly tinkering with listing features. Never count too much on any single one of them in your marketing. And speaking of that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    6. Is time running out on adding services to Google Products?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    This Linkedin post from Darren Shaw<\/a> and the many comments it has received capture the uncertainty many local SEOs are feeling about the future of the GBP Products feature. Many of us have used this feature in the past to list services as products, but there are signs that this is going away. Confusingly, though, actual products appear to be getting rejected, as well. Multiple mentions were made of vehicles not being accepted as products. If they aren\u2019t products, what are they? Amy Toman\u2019s comment provides a good summary of what many of us would like to see from Google:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    7. Speaking of instability, what the heck is going on with GBP Q&A?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    The Q&A button keeps playing hide-and-seek on GBPs, causing much speculation about whether this feature is doomed to be removed. Claudia Tomina amplified<\/a> a screenshot from Tushar Pardeshi<\/a> of the Q&A button reappearing, though it did not appear to open anything when clicked on. Lots of people are trying to figure out how Google may be resculpting this GBP functionality to be part of their overall AI-first trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    8. Know Before You Go GBP AI Feature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    Mike Blumenthal caught a test of an experimental AI-generated GBP feature<\/a> called \u201cKnow before you go\u201d that commenters on his post didn\u2019t seem able to reproduce but which is definitely worth noting. Mike says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cUnlike Learn Something Specific, which invites users to ask questions (sometimes pre-populated), Know Before You Go pushes statements and summaries directly to the user. Both features are part of Google Local\u2019s generative AI experiments, their rollout is erratic, category-specific, and mobile-only.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s good to be keeping an eye out for these experiments in the wild, but also to keep in mind that a random sighting won\u2019t always roll out into an established feature. Frankly, I\u2019m rather nervous about error-prone AI describing legally-binding business policies like product returns guarantees. If AI gets it wrong, who can be held to account?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    9. Separate booking buttons for ordering pickup vs. ordering delivery<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    When Joy Hawkins first spotted this in early June<\/a>, commenters could not replicate with their own searches, but I am now able to see this interface across multiple GBPs. When clicking on the \u201cOrder pickup\u201d button for a Domino\u2019s Pizza near me, I get this popup, guiding me to the business\u2019 own website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    However, when I click on the \u201cDelivery\u201d button, the popup features multiple third-party delivery services, including DoorDash, UberEats, and Postmates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    It\u2019s a useful feature for consumers, and I\u2019m glad that the \u201cDelivery\u201d button at least includes the business as an option. Those third-party delivery charges can be outrageously high. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    10. Advice from a Diamond PE on posting in the Google Business Profile Help Community<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    Amy Toman\u2019s role in Google\u2019s forum makes her advice well-worth listening to when she advises local businesses and their marketers not <\/strong>to put full business details directly in your GBP Help Forum posts. As she says, these details can get indexed and may not be what you want out there on the web when folks are searching for your brand. Instead, you can put this information in a Google drive folder or doc for more private viewing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Local business review developments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    11. Google Maps Content Trust & Safety Report takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    Darren Shaw did a deep dive into the most recent Trust & Safety Report from Google<\/a> and wrote a useful Bluesky thread<\/a> on notable takeaways from the document, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n