It’s just been a year that has caused a continuing epidemic of budget cuts, strategy issues and a lack of resources for SEO professionals at all levels. Many are more focused on preparing to travel than having a plan in place for the coming year. This is especially important for local search, where customer behavior is changing rapidly and Google’s updates can have a quick and far-reaching impact. What trends and technologies should you have on the radar to inform your local SEO strategy faster and easier? Joy Hawkins is the owner and founder of local SEO agency Sterling Sky.

He is a Google Business Profile Product Expert, a well -known and respected author and speaker, and a professor at Local U. In this Q&A interview, Joy shares her advice on where local SEO marketing leaders should focus their whatsapp phone number list attention this year, which SEO technologies are exciting, how to build a career in SEO there local, and many others. Local trends to be seen in 2022Miranda Miller: "What are the local SEO trends that the CMO should be looking at this year?" Joy Hawkins: “Google released an algorithm update in late 2021 that caused major disruption for local businesses.

We called this the ‘Vicinity Update’ because the biggest impact at the time was the ability for customers to rank farther away from their location. Google seems to have given more importance to a company’s location and proximity. If this update persists, it’s important to look at the competition closest to your customers - especially if they now appear in pack 3 - to see what they’re doing and not your customers. Google has been improving its LSA (Local Service Ad) program in recent years, so there’s a good chance we’ll continue to see this platform grow and expand throughout 2022.