How to get 10,000 branded searches

and more news from last week in local

August 11, 2025

Hi,

Here’s what you might have missed from last week 👇️

❗️ Awesome conference alert:

The SparkTogether conference is different from most marketing conferences. The whole idea is to let marketers share their honest journeys - the ups, the downs, and the HOWs - and to actually help you on yours. It’s real. It’s raw. It’s way more interesting and impactful than the standard strategies and tips you get at other conferences (which you can just find on LinkedIn anyway).

Oh, and it’s only one day, it doesn’t get recorded, and the tickets are very limited, so I strongly encourage you to check it out!

1. Google gives Posts/Updates new life

Last week, Claudia Tomina brought our attention to the new and improved Google Posts UX (see image below).

She listed the following changes:

  • “Add update” is now simply Posts (make up your mind, Google 🙄)

  • A new centralized dashboard shows all of your published content

  • Post creation is now done in one streamlined screen

  • Visual changes that make it easier to navigate and manage multiple posts

See Claudia’s full post here.

2. Speaking of Google Posts, please…

1. Don’t use AI to write your Posts without editing them first.

Review the text before publishing so you can avoid looking like the business below:

2. Don’t add hashtags on your GBP.

Don’t use them in Posts, review responses, descriptions, or anywhere else on the Profile.

You can’t click on them to get to a discover feed like you can on social media platforms, and they don’t have any impact on rankings. Google just doesn’t care about them.

3. Unhinged local SEO hack

We know that you can drive your rankings up by increasing branded searches for your business. So, what if…

  • You print 10,000 flyers that say “SCAN TO WIN FREE TAYLOR SWIFT TICKETS”

  • You add a QR code that links to a branded search for your business on Google

  • You put up the flyers all over town and thousands of people end up “looking up” your brand

Yes, everyone will remember you as the business that lied to them about the Taylor Swift tickets, but maybe you’ll be ranking number 1 🔥

People had some good questions and ideas on the topic — see them in my LinkedIn comments.

4. Bookmark this free tool to check your rankings

I blew people's minds some time ago when I showed them how to use a UULE parameter to check local results from anywhere in the world. But the process I shared was a bit tedious, so I created this tool to make our lives easier.

Scroll through this carousel to see how it works 👇️

Follow me on the these platforms for all my local SEO tips:

Darren