Proof that photos DIRECTLY impact your GBP rankings

Hi everyone,

Here are last week’s local SEO things through my eyes 👁️

By the way, if you scroll to bottom, you’ll find a special announcement 👀

1. Here’s why I’m right and everyone else is wrong about title tags

(just kidding, but hear me out)

I just found an awesome example where Google rewrote this business’s title using the H1 on the page (which is usually what they do when rewriting title tags). Look at thid video 👇️

Original title tag when you click “View source”:
Denver Plumbers | Plumbing Services in Denver | Bell Plumbing & HVAC.

Rewritten title tag by Google (pulled from the H1):
Your Reliable Plumbers in Denver Since 1926

Here are the facts 👇️

1. 2022 research by Zippy shows that Google rewrites about 60% of the title tags in its SERPs.

2. In 2021, Google’s John Mueller confirmed that the original title is still used for rankings even when it gets rewritten in the SERPs.

So, in this example, Google has made a much more catchy and impactful title tag for this business that should help them get more clicks, but the business is also benefitting from all the keywords they stuffed in their original title tag.

What’s the takeaway here? See this post on LinkedIn to find out!

2. The Google review strategy everyone needs to know

Stop paying for ads and start investing in the people who drive your business forward.

Here’s a brilliant review strategy I learned at the SparkTogether conference from Jon Pippert 👇️

3. Proof that photos DIRECTLY impact your GBP rankings

Google Maps now lets users search visually through their new “Discover through photos” carousel that appears for some searches.

Scroll through this short thread to learn how to use this feature 👇️

Or read the thread on Bluesky.

4. I take it back. Schema is valuable for all local businesses

Earlier this year I said that schema was dead for local SEO. I take that back.

I recently went to the brightonSEO conference in San Diego, and Martha van Berkel’s talk completely changed my mind. I now understand that schema is valuable for every business because search is changing, thanks to the advancements of LLMs and AI.

Last week’s article from Miriam Ellis is one of my favorites. She interviews a few of our favorite local SEOs (think Mike Blumenthal, Claire Carlile, Colan Nielsen, etc.) and dives into the ways schema fits into local search today.

By the time you finish it, you will know if schema is worth the investment for your business in 2025 👇️

5. The best comments on our YouTube channel 😍

The internet is a truly magical place. Scroll through this carousel for some of the funniest comments we’ve gotten on our YouTube videos 👇️

Find the carousel here.

By the way, I’m launching a special video project today, so be sure to subscribe to Whitespark’s YouTube channel and follow along as I take you through what I call The 12 Days of Rankmas 😉 

Darren