Local search &
platform news
Timely local SEO updates for multi-location brands: Google Business Profile, Apple Business, Meta, AI search, and EU regulation, explained for the central teams that manage hundreds or thousands of locations.
July 2026
Google review snippets bar undisclosed incentivized reviews
Google's review snippet rules now bar undisclosed incentivized reviews in your markup, and pages that break them can lose star-rating rich results.
Astghik NikoghosyanChatGPT gains Yelp reviews, ratings for local answers
OpenAI has licensed Yelp's reviews, ratings and photos so ChatGPT can answer local queries with that data. What the deal means for multi-location brands.
Astghik NikoghosyanEU fines Google β¬890 million under the Digital Markets Act
The European Commission fined Google β¬890 million under the Digital Markets Act for search self-preferencing and Google Play steering. What changes at scale.
Marcus OlssonGoogle updates crawl budget doc with conservative default
Google rewrote its crawl budget docs: every site now starts on the same conservative crawl limit, shared across all crawlers. Large sites should take note.
Astghik NikoghosyanGoogle Search ad revenue hits record as AI answers grow
Alphabet's Q2 2026 results show Google Search advertising up about 17% to a record $63.3 billion, in a quarter when AI Overviews and AI Mode kept expanding.
Marcus OlssonEU Digital Fairness Act stalls on scope as Commission splits
The EU's planned Digital Fairness Act targets fake reviews, dark patterns and addictive design, but the Commission is split on scope. What brands should watch.
Marcus OlssonGoogle's Content API for Shopping sunsets in August 2026
Google will sunset the Content API for Shopping on 18 August 2026. Retailers must migrate to the Merchant API, and an extended-access form is now available.
Ehsan MousaviGoogle puts Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite behind AI Search
Google launched Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, its fastest, cheapest 3.5-class model, now coming to Search. Why the model behind AI answers matters to brands.
Astghik NikoghosyanApple Maps ads arrive with a strict, private rulebook
Apple's ad policy sets rules for its upcoming Maps ads: one ad per result, on-device data, banned categories. What multi-location brands should know.
Malin Dotevall BanksGoogle says AI Search sends billions of clicks weekly
Google's Nick Fox says AI Search sends billions of weekly clicks to sites, without the data. What it means for local visibility at scale.
Astghik NikoghosyanGoogle Demand Gen adds product feeds and Maps ads
Google's Demand Gen now runs on Google Maps and pulls dynamic ads from product feeds, with automotive feeds next. What multi-location brands can do with it.
Ehsan MousaviMeta Business Agent: what it means for chains at scale
Meta's AI Business Agent answers customers across WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. Why a 100-location brand should treat it as governance, not a button.
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