#maps--local-seo

#maps--local-seo

Google has been removing the call button from local packs dramatically over the past year. This study of 2,580 search results showed that only 510 had a call button. This means, 4 out of 5 searches in the map pack have no call button.

"People talk most about": In several examples, this is just a straight-up list of exactly three menu items. For one spot, it was literally just: omakase, sake, nigiri. "People love to order": This section gets a star icon and goes deeper than just listing names. It includes brief descriptions of specific dishes, like noting a Michigan Roll has a "generous portion of tuna."

Just a couple of months ago, Google had ads on the local pack for less than 3% of tracked keywords; now it's up to about 22% of tracked keywords. This was data posted by Joy Hawkins on X she got from Places Scout. Joy wrote, "Just had Places Scout re-run the data to see how this looks in January so far (we're tracking across 1200 mobile ranking reports). The increase isn't slowing down yet."

If you think your small business is too "boring" or "unsexy" to need social media marketing, think again. Social Media Today reports that over 72% of people use social media for brand research and to learn more about products or services they're thinking about buying. You wouldn't buy from a business without doing at least a little bit of research, right? The same goes for your potential customers. When you think of social media as a research channel, the game changes.

Our client was charged $400 for a current client to call their Google Local Services Ads profile. direct business search was not turned on. I thought, ok no big deal, I will escalate this and they will obviously rectify the situation since this was a mistake. I went back and forth with an account manager over there who denied it. I escalated it further and they are not refunding it even though they clearly know its a current client call.

Google still controlled a whopping 89% of all U.S. web traffic in 2025. It's still a search powerhouse, no doubt, but it isn't the only show in town anymore. SEO as we know it is no more. The way people find information is changing dramatically. Google's rolling out 12-plus algorithm changes per day. At the same time, platforms like TikTok, Amazon, and generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are becoming major players in the search game.

At its core, an SEO audit is a step-by-step review of your website's technical health, content quality, and search visibility. An SEO audit identifies technical, on-page, content, and link issues on a website. It helps SEO teams identify, prioritize, and fix the issues that block traffic, rankings, and, importantly, conversions. Businesses and SEO teams should create audits to identify opportunities that advance business goals and growth.