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.
The #1 Cause of Bad Reviews, New GBP Policy & How AI Sees Your Site | E50 The Whitespark Local Update
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) (https://www.seroundtable.com/google-business-profiles-misuse-of-support-channels-42175.html)
Google Business Profile third-party policies (https://support.google.com/business/answer/7353941?hl=en)
📝 SEO & AI Tip: Grade Every Page the Way Google's Quality Raters Would, Then Map Them Semantically and Size Them by Clicks (Dan Hinckley) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danielhinckley_seo-ai-tip-grade-every-page-the-way-googles-share-7510676843918729216-BSKt/)
📝 Why Customers Leave Good and Bad Google Reviews (Miriam Ellis) (https://whitespark.ca/research/why-customers-leave-good-and-bad-google-reviews-2026-research-of-1200-google-business-profiles/)
📝 Earlier today I attended the GEO KNOW HOW conference. Here is everything I learned (Malte Landwehr) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/landwehr_earlier-today-i-attended-the-geo-know-how-share-7511487841927979008-7k-R/)
📝 GEO Is CRO: Ross Hudgens on Chasing Influence, Not Citations, in AI Search (Near Media) (https://youtu.be/aq9UU_AZi3Y?si=XN6Pr8P-xOlF9Jh3&t=2055)
📝 How to Check What Google & LLMs See in Website HTML (Daniel Foley Carter) (https://www.assertive-media.co.uk/blog/how-to-check-what-google-llms-sees-in-website-html/)
30 Sept 2026
Edward Sturm's Ranking Trick, Hacking AI Overviews, Parasite SEO | E49 The Whitespark Local Update
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) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stevetothjr_seo-keywordresearch-digitalmarketing-share-7507506148187643904-927z/)
📝 NotebookLM Parasite SEO (Gagan Ghotra) (https://x.com/gaganghotra_/status/2101852777769287684?s=20c)
📝 5 reasons why I'm skeptical of the entire AI tracking industry (Rand Fishkin) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/randfishkin_5-reasons-why-im-so-skeptical-of-the-entire-share-7507961906540904448-fa6-/)
📝 I Tracked 70K+ ChatGPT and AI Overview Responses to Measure Their Volatility (Glen Allsopp) (https://detailed.com/ai-volatility/)
📝 King of AEO: The Exact Tactics Ranking Pages and Changing AI Overviews in Hours (Edward Sturm) (https://edwardsturm.com/articles/king-of-aeo-seo-tactics/)
📝 How to check if AI has your content in its index (Myriam Jessier) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/myriamjessier_retrieval-snippet-test-for-geo-1-copy-share-7506630112226795520-BEsF/)
📝 Rank Faster With the Topical Authority You Already Have (Edward Sturm) (https://edwardsturm.com/articles/topical-authority-rank-faster/)
🔥 Compact Keywords (https://edwardsturm.com/compact-keywords/)
🗺️ Whitespark Local Ranking Grids (https://whitespark.ca/local-ranking-grids/)
15 Sept 2026
Stop the AI Slop, Claude Research Assistant & New GBP Verification | E48 The Whitespark Local Update
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) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/benfishertechpad_new-this-could-be-a-pretty-significant-change-share-7501382342024941569-NGb3/)
📝 Claude Project for Improving Information Gain for SEO (Steve Toth) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stevetothjr_improving-information-gain-for-seo-is-easier-share-7501249336832311297-hh_i/)
📝 The new rules of AI search (Crystal Carter) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/crystal-carter-digital_my-first-book-the-new-rules-of-ai-search-ugcPost-7499088885138984960-jJUb/)
📝 Study: How Keywords in Business Names Currently Impact Google Local Pack Rank and AI Search (Miriam Ellis) (https://whitespark.ca/blog/study-how-keywords-in-business-names-currently-impact-google-local-pack-rank-and-ai-search/)
📝 Has excessive use of AI slop knocked us back to an “anti-digital” age? (iPullRank newsletter, Carly Stoenner) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/has-excessive-use-of-ai-slop-knocked-us-back-share-7501315575910969345-MHl_/)
Sign up here (https://ipullrank.com/rank-report)
📝 We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’ (Jason Koebler) (https://www.404media.co/we-are-living-in-a-chatgpt-flyer-pandemic/)
📝 Side of slop? Bizarre AI food images jump from online to IRL menus (NBC News) (https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/side-slop-bizarre-ai-food-images-jump-online-irl-menus-rcna594786)
📝 Google is now asking about edits BEFORE they go live (Claudia Tomina) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/claudia-tomina_does-this-look-right-to-you-finally-google-share-7502730396858552321-7E2U/)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
14 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
21 ratings
Contact The Whitespark Local Update
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
