From the Host: Jeremy Rivera on Local SEO
Local SEO is where I’ve seen some of the most durable, high-impact work in all of organic search — and also some of the most stubborn myths. The guests I’ve brought on for this topic range from the most-cited researcher in local search to the practitioners working daily with home service businesses, health clinics, and law firms. What they’ve taught me: local SEO has changed less than the hype cycles suggest, but the gaps between businesses doing it right and doing it wrong have gotten wider. Google Business Profile optimization, proximity signals, review velocity, and local content still form the foundation. The businesses winning are the ones who’ve built that foundation consistently.
“In the last six months of going from zero to 100 on SEO, I’ve learned that doing stuff right, you don’t see for a very long time and you just have to have faith. But when you do something wrong, you see it real fast.”
— Mark Gilliland, local business owner
Why Local SEO Rewards Long-Term Thinking
Local search is one of the highest-intent channels in digital marketing — someone searching “HVAC repair near me” is closer to a buying decision than almost any keyword you’ll find at the top of a funnel. That intent premium makes local SEO extraordinarily valuable for service businesses. It also makes it a competitive battleground where shortcuts get punished quickly and consistently-built signals compound faster than in broader organic search.
The guests on this page have collectively covered every corner of local SEO: from the foundational mechanics of the local pack to specialty verticals like health, wellness, home services, and legal. Whether you’re trying to rank a single-location business or a multi-location service brand, these episodes form one of the most complete applied guides to local search available.
Episodes on Local SEO
Robert Spinrad: Good SEO Is Good AI Visibility — Unscripted SEO Podcast
Robert Spinrad — Associate SEO Director, SEO Interactive | Philadelphia-area agency serving home services and legal clients since 2008
Robert’s agency specializes in precisely the verticals where local SEO matters most — home services and legal — across a 40-person team. His practical playbook for building local AI visibility through multi-platform review strategies, community involvement as a link signal (his community cleanup → City Hall link example is one of the most concrete local link tactics I’ve heard), and digital PR for local businesses is directly applicable to any service-area business. His transparency framework for the AI conversation with local clients is also worth the full listen.
“It’s not about clicks, it’s about results. When it comes down to it, what people care about is how much money am I making?” — Robert Spinrad
Tom Malesic: The Website Is the Center of Everything — Unscripted SEO Podcast
Tom Malesic — Founder & President, EZMarketing | Digital marketing agency for small businesses since 1997
Tom’s 28-year track record serving small business clients has produced one of the most battle-tested local SEO playbooks I’ve encountered. His 50 town pages per keyword strategy — targeting smaller nearby populations to maximize service radius coverage — is highly specific and directly replicable. His Google Business Profile daily photo and post cadence, combined with the external link + GBP post indexation technique, is one of the most operationally concrete local SEO workflows on the show.
“The website is the center of all your marketing. If that piece sucks, it doesn’t really matter. Anything else you do is also terrible.” — Tom Malesic
Joy Hawkins: Groundbreaking Local SEO Insights from Sterling Sky
Joy Hawkins — Founder, Sterling Sky | One of the most-cited local SEO researchers in the industry
Joy’s testing-based approach to local search has produced some of the most specific, actionable findings in the field — findings that contradict conventional wisdom on a regular basis. Her rigorous methodology for understanding what Google Local actually responds to, as opposed to what practitioners believe it responds to, makes this one of the essential local SEO episodes in the library.
The State of Local SEO with Mike Blumenthal
Mike Blumenthal — Co-Founder, Near Media | One of the most respected local search researchers in the field
Mike has been researching local search longer than almost anyone — and his ability to separate signal from noise in the local ranking factor landscape is unmatched. His research on the signals that actually determine who shows up in the local pack is the most evidence-based perspective on local SEO available anywhere.
Local SEO for Health & Wellness: Expert Insights from Darcy Sullivan
Darcy Sullivan — Founder, Propel Marketing | 10+ years of specialized local SEO for health and wellness professionals
Darcy’s decade of work exclusively in health and wellness local SEO has given her a depth of vertical expertise that general local SEO practitioners rarely achieve. From chiropractors to therapists to wellness centers, her insights into what drives local visibility for patient-facing practices are directly applicable to anyone in or adjacent to this vertical.
Local SEO Strategies for Home Service Contractors: From Word of Mouth to Online Leads
Wyatt Bonicelli — Home Services SEO Specialist
Wyatt’s work with window cleaners, pressure washers, and home service businesses making the leap from referrals to online lead flow is as practical as it gets. This episode addresses the specific challenges facing service businesses that have relied on word-of-mouth for years and now need to build a digital presence from near-scratch.
SEO Evolution: Chris Turnbull on Local SEO’s Surprising Stability
Chris Turnbull — Founder, Catalyst Marketing
Chris’s observation — that local SEO has changed less than everyone predicted — is both reassuring and instructive. While national and e-commerce SEO has undergone dramatic upheaval, the fundamentals of local search have held. His analysis of what’s actually working in regional markets right now is a counterweight to the constant disruption narrative.
Winning at Local SEO with Cory Beevers
Cory Beevers — SEO Director
Cory’s frameworks for what actually moves the needle in local search — with specific focus on the signals most businesses ignore — are grounded in years of hands-on client work.
Growing Small Local Businesses Beyond the SEO Norm with Apurva Bose
Apurva Bose (AB) — VP of Operations & Strategy, Overtake Digital
AB’s work growing small local businesses beyond conventional SEO tactics — integrating broader digital strategy with local search fundamentals — is one of the most comprehensive takes on local business growth in the library.
Taking the US Legal SEO Marketing Sector by Storm with Doug Bradley
Doug Bradley — Founder, Everest Legal Marketing
Legal SEO is one of the most competitive and highest-stakes local search verticals. Doug’s specialization in this demanding vertical has produced insights about local authority building and competitive differentiation that translate to any high-stakes local market.
Navigating the Complexities of Modern SEO with Gerry White
Gerry White — VP of Growth, Mirador Local
Gerry’s background spans enterprise SEO, newsjacking, and local trust signals — a combination that gives him one of the broader perspectives on local search in the library.
Jeremy’s Key Takeaways: Local SEO
- Google Business Profile is still the single highest-leverage asset. Claim it, complete it, post to it, respond to reviews, and keep it accurate. Nothing else in local SEO moves the needle faster from zero.
- Reviews are your reputation AND your ranking signal. Review velocity, review sentiment, and your response pattern all feed local ranking — and now AI search visibility. Multi-platform reviews matter more than ever.
- Town pages beat city pages for service radius coverage. Building 50 town pages per core keyword — targeting smaller nearby populations — compounds faster and faces less competition than a single optimized city page.
- Community involvement is a link strategy. Charitable activities, local events, and community partnerships generate natural, high-quality local citations from City Hall pages, event sites, and community organizations.
- Proximity, relevance, and prominence haven’t changed. Google’s local ranking factors have been the same for years. What’s changed is the precision with which they’re applied and the quality threshold for prominence signals.
- The businesses built on referrals are most vulnerable. Word-of-mouth reputation doesn’t automatically transfer to online visibility. The transition from referral-based to search-based lead flow requires intentional, structured effort.
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