— The Editorial Index
The SEO Cover
A curated hub of SEO articles, videos, tools, and people — organized by topic.
The 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey is as full of insights as ever. It was published yesterday, over at Whitespark. (As always, a big thanks to Darren for organizing it and herding the cats.) If you do nothing else today to improve your understanding of local SEO and abi
Whitespark
TL;DR: • Google Business Profile reviews usually go missing for 3 reasons: business policy violations, spam attacks, or Google moderation errors.• Common triggers include sudden review spikes, incentivized reviews, review kiosks/shared IPs, fake engagement tactics, and reviews fr
Sterling Sky
Phil Rozek
Just about every business owner wants to be more visible in the AI local results, but it’s easy to get analysis paralysis. Where and how do you even check your visibility? How should you size up competitors? What are realistic next steps, particularly next steps you don’t already
Whitespark
Google Quietly Removed a Major Barrier to Reviews Google just made one of its most significant shifts to its review system in years: users can now leave reviews under a pseudonym instead of their real Google Account name. This change, rolling out globally in November 2025, lowers
BrightLocal
In the world of online business, your reputation is gold. Recently, however, many agencies, local businesses, and online services have been dealing with a tricky and unfair challenge specifically on Google: mass 1-star review bombing. This is a real issue that has grown significa
BrightLocal
AI has made it possible to publish more content than ever. It has also made it easier than ever to break trust. A perfect example came from Wil Reynolds’ talk at BrightLocal’s Local SEO for Good. He showed a sign from a Philadelphia cheesesteak shop that claimed to be “authentic.