Blog · Local SEO
Local SEO and your Google Business Profile.
How to show up on Google Maps and keep your Google Business Profile healthy: reviews, suspensions, verification, fake listings, hurricane hours and what local SEO costs. Google's own rules are quoted and linked wherever they apply.
How to report a fake business listing on Google Maps
The two main reporting routes, what Google's rules say makes a listing fake, and what to collect first.
Huracán: su perfil de Google y su sitio web antes, durante y después
Cuándo usar horario especial y cuándo cerrado temporalmente, qué poner en su sitio web y cómo avisar que ya abrió, con los recursos del condado y de Sebastian.
Perfil de Empresa de Google suspendido: cómo recuperarlo
Qué hacer en la primera hora, cómo apelar paso a paso según la ayuda de Google y qué documentos de Sebastian, Vero Beach y el condado de Indian River le sirven como prueba.
Google Business Profile verification problems: what to do when it gets stuck
Still pending, a postcard that never came, a rejected video or no way left to verify. What Google's help pages say to do in each case.
Indian River County business tax receipt: what it costs in each city
The county charges $40, but Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere set their own. Which receipt you need, late penalties and who's exempt.
¿Cuántas reseñas de Google necesita su negocio? Las conté en cinco ciudades
Conté a mano las reseñas de los tres negocios del mapa en 30 búsquedas, y cómo sacar su propio número en diez minutos.
My Google reviews disappeared. Here's how I got them back
The support form that worked, how to answer Google's stock reply, and a message you can copy.
Business not showing on Google Maps? Check these in order
Hidden, or just not ranking? One search tells you which. Then the checks in order, each linked to Google's own help page.
How many Google reviews do I need? I counted the top three in five local towns
Real counts from 30 searches run by hand, what they show, and how to find your own target.
Google Business Profile suspended? How to get it back
The recovery side: what to do in the first hour, the local proof that matches your profile, and the appeal, step by step.
Hurricane season checklist for your website and Google profile
Before, during and after a storm: the hours, phone and booking checks, and when to use special hours versus temporarily closed.
Five domains, three business names, and a reputation nobody could find
Twenty-four five-star reviews, four books, and seven of eleven articles set to noindex. What it took to put one business back into one place.
What local SEO costs on the Treasure Coast
Twelve companies in these towns. One publishes a price list, seven show no dollar figure at all. Here is the monthly work, and what it should cost.
A website redesign that produced bookings she'd never had
A 5.0 rating, ten years of results, and a site that never mentioned half of what she treated. In her words: a new booking most days, and 68% more traffic.
Si su negocio solo existe en inglés, la IA no lo ve
431% de diferencia en los resúmenes de IA de Google entre los sitios con versión en español y los que no. Y ChatGPT investiga en inglés aunque le pregunten en español.
How to get cited by AI, and how to know it worked
Quotes and statistics lifted visibility 30–40% — using fabricated data. Plus the Spanish finding: untranslated sites are effectively invisible.
Where AI actually looks for a local business
82% of citations come from somebody else's website. Directories hit 46.3% of ChatGPT citations on "best of" queries.
Cómo aparecer en Google Maps, paso a paso
La guía completa para hacerlo usted mismo. Le cobro $300 por hacerlo, no por saberlo — el saberlo está aquí.
Is AI SEO worth paying for? What the studies actually found
A test of 1,885 pages found no citation change from schema. Google's own guidance says there's no special markup to add. Both sides, plus where my copy overstated it.
¿Necesita un sitio web, o solo arreglar su Google?
De cada 1,000 búsquedas en Google, solo 276 llegan a un sitio web. Dos de los cuatro pasos que recomiendo son gratis, y el caro va al final.
Why ChatGPT has never heard of your business
ChatGPT recommended 1.2% of chain and franchise locations. Google's map pack showed 35.9%. And the share of people who find AI search more helpful than traditional search fell 28 points in a year.
Google Local Services Ads: the badge changed in 2025
The green checkmark and the $2,000 guarantee both ended. Guides published this year still say otherwise.
The 90-day plan to stop paying for leads
Don't cancel anything yet — that's why most exits fail. Nothing gets turned off until day 76, and the first month is free.
The Google profile checklist most businesses never finish
One field outweighs everything else, and Google gives no warning when it's wrong. Includes the six numbers I took out of it, and why.
Browse by question
Whatever brought you here, it's probably one of these.
About your website
Do I actually own my website? Most asked My designer won't give me my logins Why are the quotes so different? Do I even need a redesign? Can I see work you've actually done?About AI search
Why doesn't ChatGPT know my business? Most asked Should I be paying for AI SEO? Does schema markup help with AI? Why does AI recommend my competitor? How do I check if AI mentions me?About getting found
Why don't I show up on Google Maps? Most asked How many reviews do I actually need? Why did my Google reviews disappear? Do I need a business tax receipt in Indian River County? How do I report a fake listing on Google Maps? Are Angi and Thumbtack worth it? Does a rebuild actually bring in more work? How do I stop paying for leads? Where does my contractor license number have to go? What does local SEO actually cost? Should I mark my business temporarily closed for a storm?Ready to go beyond the article?
Three next steps. Pick the one that fits.
Whether you've got no website, a website that isn't working, or a Google listing nobody's ever finished — there's a version of this that costs nothing to find out about.
If you have no website
Get a real price, published
Websites from $800, monthly plans from $150, every number on the site with a buy button next to it. No quote form, no discovery call before you know the cost.
See the price list →If your site isn't working
Find out if you even need a rebuild
Sometimes the site is fine and the Google listing is the whole problem — which is the cheaper half to fix. The redesign page starts by talking you out of it.
Website redesign →If you want to see the work first
Eight builds, written up honestly
What each business came in with, what changed, and the results where they exist. Where there aren't any yet, it says so instead of inventing them.
Case studies →Free, takes about ten minutes
Rather just ask someone?
Send me your business name and I'll look up your Google listing and tell you what's missing from it. No pitch, no obligation, and if it's a ten-minute fix you can do yourself I'll tell you which ten minutes.
