🎙️ Unscripted SEO Podcast
Joy Hawkins: Groundbreaking Local SEO Insights from Sterling Sky
Founder of Sterling Sky on the most important and most misunderstood signals in local search — and what rigorous testing actually reveals about how Google Local works.
Joy Hawkins began her journey within the search industry in 2006 selling Google Ads and moved into SEO where she self-taught herself. Joy soon realised that Local SEO was the area she found most interesting and founded Sterling Sky — now one of the most respected local SEO agencies in North America.
“Behind the 9-Figure Empire: Neil Patel’s Secret to SEO Success” — one of the most recognized names in digital marketing on scaling content, building authority, and why the fundamentals always win at scale.
— Neil Patel | Listen: Neil Patel on SEO at Scale →
Key Takeaways
- Sterling Sky’s testing program is one of the most valuable resources in local SEO. Joy’s team systematically tests local ranking hypotheses — not just observes correlations — and publishes the results. That rigor has produced definitive answers to questions that the broader SEO community has debated for years.
- Review spam is a bigger problem than most local businesses realize. Fake reviews — positive for competitors, negative for you — are a systematic attack on local rankings and reputation. Joy’s research into Google’s review filtering has shaped how the industry understands this problem.
- Proximity is the most underrated local ranking factor. How close the searcher is to your business location still matters significantly in local pack rankings. No amount of optimization fully overcomes significant proximity disadvantage for highly competitive transactional queries.
- Google Business Profile categories are more impactful than most businesses realize. Choosing the right primary category and the right supplementary categories can be the difference between appearing in the local pack and not appearing at all for core service queries.
Connect with Joy Hawkins
- Agency: sterlingsky.ca
- LinkedIn: Joy Hawkins
The Unscripted SEO Podcast features candid, unscripted conversations with SEOs and digital marketers. Hosted by Jeremy Rivera.
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