LocalU Author Page

Joy is the owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the industry since 2006, writes for publications such as Search Engine Land, and enjoys speaking regularly at marketing conferences such as MozCon, LocalU, Pubcon, SearchLove, and State of Search. You can find her on Twitter or volunteering as a Product Expert on the Google My Business Forum.

SGE Example

How Google’s New AI Impacts Local Search

By Joy Hawkins / July 5, 2023

Recently, at Google IO, they announced that they would be experimenting with integrating AI into the search results. This experience is called Search Generative Experience (SGE) and is currently being tested via Search Labs. You can sign up to see how it looks here. ๏ปฟ We wanted to see how this experience looks for local…

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๐Ÿ“น Video: Last Week in Local for Week Ending May 30, 2023

By Joy Hawkins / May 30, 2023

Join Mike and Carrie as they discuss the last week in Local SEO! They’re talking about what’s new at Google, business showcase videos, local SEO trends, rich results test tool, generative AI and so much more! Last Week in Local is a look back at the interesting and important articles from the previous week. It…

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๐Ÿ“น Video: Last Week in Local for Week Ending May 22, 2023

By Joy Hawkins / May 22, 2023

Join Mike and Liz as they discuss the last week in Local SEO! They’re talking about what’s new at Google, GBP Images not being approved, Google deleting inactive accounts, GA4 transition playbook, and so much more! Last Week in Local is a look back at the interesting and important articles from the previous week. It…

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๐Ÿ“น Video: Last Week in Local for Week Ending May 8, 2023

By Joy Hawkins / May 8, 2023

Join Mike and Erin as they discuss the last week in Local SEO! They’re talking about what’s new at Google, GBP categories, upcoming changes to Google Search, visual explore features and so much more! ๏ปฟ Last Week in Local is a look back at the interesting and important articles from the previous week. It is…

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last week in local

๐Ÿ“น Video: Last Week in Local for Week Ending April 3, 2023

By Joy Hawkins / April 3, 2023

Join Mike and Carrie as they discuss the last week in Local SEO! They’re talking about what’s new at Google, Local SEO Case Study on Dentists,ย  Google Business Review SPAM, Webinar with Tommy Mello, LocalU Dallas, and so much more! ๏ปฟ Last Week in Local is a look back at the interesting and important articles…

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๐Ÿ“น Video: Last Week in Local for Week Ending February 13, 2023

By Joy Hawkins / February 13, 2023

Join Mike and Carrie as they discuss the last week in Local SEO, LIVE in the new year! They’re talking about what’s new at Google, Google Removing Legit Reviews, Google Map Reviews, GBP Landing Pages, upcoming webinars, LocalU Dallas, and so much more! Last Week in Local is a look back at the interesting and…

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Why does Google show a 4.8 rating when I have all 5-star reviews

Why does Google show a 4.8 rating when I have all 5-star reviews?

By Joy Hawkins / January 26, 2023

Last Updated: Jan 26, 2023 Why Does Google Show a 4.8 Rating When I Have All 5 Stars? It is a question that comes up repeatedly on Mike’s blog and in the Google Business Profile help forum leaving many people asking “How does Google review rating work?” If you have a review score average on…

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Did you know you can post videos in Google reviews?

By Joy Hawkins / January 25, 2023

Recently in our Facebook group (Local Search Insiders), David Hills pointed out that you can add videos to your reviews on Google. Apparently, this feature has existed for a while but itโ€™s really easy to miss because it is not an option on a desktop. When you go to leave a review on your computer,…

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Why You Should Add Videos to Your Google Business Profile

By Joy Hawkins / December 12, 2022

Google has given business owners the ability to add videos to their Google Business Profile for quite a while. Up until now, there has never been a compelling reason to add them to your profile. They were usually buried and we have found that adding things like Google Business Profile photos and videos to your…

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3 Tips for the New Google Business Profile Manager Dashboard (Now Called New Merchant Experience)

By Joy Hawkins / December 7, 2022

Google recently launched a new dashboard on the Google Business Profile Manager (formerly Google My Business). It is called the New Merchant Experience (NMX). Here are a few tips to help with this new dashboard. 1.ย  See Performance Improvement Year Over Year When you initially go into the performance metrics, it only shows data for…

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