Hi, Over the last year, Mike and I have had the same conversation with multiple agency owners. They’ll say something like: “Our rankings are stable… but traffic is down.” “We’re still top 3 in Maps… but calls feel lighter.” “We didn’t get hit by an update… but something feels off.” And they’re right. Something is off. But it’s not what most people think. You’re not competing for clicks anymore. You’re competing for citations and recommendations. There was a time when owning the blue link meant dominance. There was a time when being #1 in Maps meant your client’s phone rang. If you owned the organic result… If you held a green pin in the 3-pack… You owned the lead. Now? Google answers the question before the click ever happens. AI summaries recommend a “trusted source.” Local Service Ads push organic and Maps further down. Users compare across AI, Reddit, reviews, and brand mentions before they ever tap “Call.” You can rank #1. You can be top 3 in Maps. And still be invisible. Because visibility is no longer about position. It’s about authority signals. The algorithm isn’t just asking: “Who ranks?” It’s asking: “Who is the safest, clearest, most structured entity to recommend?” Most agencies are still optimizing pages. Most are still trying to “win the map grid.” The Most Important Part? Very few are building structured authority across the ecosystem. That’s the gap. And it creates a strange psychological effect. You’re technically “doing fine.” You can still show rankings. You can still show a Maps screenshot. But something feels less stable. You hesitate a little more on sales calls. You over-explain your reports. You feel the need to justify why “#1” still matters. That feeling isn’t random. You are having anxiety over competence and rightfully so. You built expertise in a ranking economy. We’re now in a recommendation economy. The good news? This shift doesn’t reward hacks. It rewards structure. When your brand becomes machine-readable…

I saw this post in Facebook: Something interesting was noted this week in the local SEO space… Two Google searches were performed for **“Chicago plumbers”**: A traditional search showing the Map Pack A conversational search triggering an AI Overview Here’s the surprising part: There was **zero overlap** between the 3 businesses in the Map Pack and the 3 businesses recommended in the AI Overview. Not one business appeared in both. After analyzing all 6 companies across multiple platforms, the findings were eye-opening. ### The AI Overview businesses had: Perfect NAP consistency (identical info everywhere) Strong institutional authority (BBB listings, awards, associations) Clean technical profiles with no data conflicts Current licensing and compliance documentation No schema markup ### The Map Pack businesses had: Strong engagement and visibility Higher review volume overall Schema markup implemented Multiple NAP variations Conflicting or outdated business information Weaker institutional authority signals This challenges a lot of conventional SEO thinking. Schema markup is designed to help search engines and AI better understand content — yet the AI Overview favored businesses that simply nailed the fundamentals: • Consistent, verified citations • Real-world authority signals • Clean external data validation • Institutional credibility It appears Google’s AI may be operating on a different trust model than traditional local search. And when referring to citations, this doesn’t mean blasting listings across low-quality directories. It means 10–15 high-quality, verified platforms that require legitimate business documentation. Google is actively testing AI Overviews for conversational queries. Today it’s plumbers in Chicago. Tomorrow it could be your market. If you’re in local SEO or run a local service business, this shift is worth paying attention to. The businesses winning the Map Pack today may not be the same ones AI recommends tomorrow. Reference from Caleb Ulku

Hey guys, realistically. How far can we get a single GMb to show in the 3-pack. I though I noted other doing it in large metro areas such as chicago while other say its impossible. With the work we do with relevance, can it be extended throught and area like chicago?

Got a client in the possum filter. He has a duplicate listing that we are tring to remove. Is the best way to get out of the filter sitll creating Geo Grid Articles along with the standard SEO (citations, branding etc.) For this client I am using Web20 Extreem Monthly GPB SEO. Im not sure what they are doing about the possum filters.

Hey guys, I have a biz owner the created 2 GMB listings, it was un no intentonal . We are trying to combine them because the wrong one has reviews. I contacted Google through the system, my telling them it is a duplicate and need to merge the listing and its been over a month. I also made a suggestion in the listing. How do I take a step further and get a hold of Google to make this change happen? Do you have any suggestions?