Google can now send a home-service customer straight to a booking form from its AI search, and the button runs through whichever booking company you're connected to. Discover why that tap might be free or might cost you a lead fee, why a sudden jump in Search Console clicks probably wasn't real people, and a fifteen-minute count of every way an Erie customer can reach you. [Read the full edition →]
Our CEO, David Hunter, talked with YourErie about the flood of AI-made graphics in marketing and why a human eye still makes the difference.
Google can add things to your Business Profile without asking, and last week it did, putting Facebook Messenger links on some profiles. Discover why your profile has more editors than you think, why nearly 2% of new Google reviews disappear within a week, and a fifteen-minute check that shows your profile the way an Erie customer sees it. [Read the full edition →]
Small-business owners now rank AI tools just ahead of Google as a source of new customers, but their customers tell a different story. Discover why Google still sends almost all of the visits and sales, why Chrome now warns visitors before opening non-secure websites, and a fifteen-minute tally that shows where your own customers really start. [Read the full edition →]
Changing your web address can feel like a fresh start, but Google remembers the old one for months. Discover why a move Google says takes a few weeks can stretch much longer, why ChatGPT visitors may be hiding in your "direct" traffic, and a fifteen-minute check that shows where your old web addresses actually lead. [Read the full edition →]
Google only sends one kind of warning about your website, and it goes to whoever's listed on your Search Console account. Discover why that list matters more as consultants report a rise in Google penalties, why healthcare websites are losing their review stars in search, and a fifteen-minute check that shows you exactly who Google is writing to. [Read the full edition →]
AI can write a page of website copy in seconds, and Google's guidance now calls checking that copy "critical." Discover why an unchecked page can promise things your business doesn't do, why Google Ads will start pulling offers off your website on Oct 12, and a fifteen-minute fact-check you can run on one page of your own site tonight. [Read the full edition →]
Google's AI now phones local businesses to ask what they charge, then lines up every answer for a shopper to compare. Discover why what your front desk says on that call matters more than ever, why phone numbers in your Google posts now get checked, and a fifteen-minute test that shows you what a caller hears when they ask your price. [Read the full edition →]
Some of the numbers in your marketing report are measured. The rest are estimates, and this month the estimating got a lot harder. Discover why one rank-tracking company is pulling 80% less data out of Google than it was, which file type started dropping out of search results in late August, and the fifteen minutes that tell you which numbers in your report to trust. [Read the full edition →]
Every other thing you own online publishes only what you put on it. Your Google listing is the exception, and this month somebody used that to put a wrong phone number on more than 150 businesses at once. Discover why Google's own screening caught it late, which two WordPress form plugins are under active attack right now, and the fifteen minutes in your own photo gallery that would catch the next one. [Read the full edition →]
Google's local results are showing two businesses where they used to show three, and often with no call button at all. Discover why a study of 179 profiles traced falling calls to a missing button rather than to lost rankings, which SEO plugin created credentials on WordPress sites without asking first, and the fifteen-minute test that shows whether Google's directions actually get a customer to your door. [Read the full edition →]
Two Google products, the same clinic, the same hour, the same question. One named the business in every answer. The other never mentioned it. Discover why there's no single number for how you're doing in AI search, which one question type scored above 95% on all four systems we tested, and the 15-minute check that shows you who's getting named instead of you. [Read the full edition →]
Google confirmed an update last Tuesday and finished it Friday, then said almost nothing about what it does. The forums filled in the rest. Discover why a spam update isn't the core update everyone assumed, why a stranger can answer a question on your Google Business Profile, and the two-line Search Console check that tells you whether last week was about you at all. [Read the full edition →]
