Author Archives: DataPins

Research indicates that Google’s Local Map 3-Pack receives between 40% and 50% of total clicks for local intent searches.

If your business appears among the three listings included in the pack, it can significantly boost local SEO performance.

The measures your business takes to secure one of these coveted spots on Google’s local search engine results pages is called Map Pack SEO.

The following guide outlines specific actions your business can take to improve Local Map 3-Pack visibility and highlights the best practices for Map Pack SEO in 2025.

What is the Google Map Pack?

The Google Map Pack is a set of three business listings that appear at the top of Google’s search results for location-based queries.

This Google SERP feature, also known as the local pack or map 3-pack, is coveted by small businesses as it directly impacts online visibility and lead generation.

The map pack features organic results, not sponsored listings, making it part of a business’s broader SEO strategy rather than a paid advertising campaign.

Why Local Businesses Covet Map Pack Rankings

We noted that the map pack receives between 40% and 50% of total clicks for local intent searches, which is enough in itself to appeal to local businesses looking to generate leads online.

But aside from that obvious benefit, map pack visibility also helps legitimize a business by showing users verified customer reviews and contact information, leading to increased brand trust and recognition.

Another clear perk of ranking in this feature is its convenience for mobile users, who can quickly “click to call” your business directly from the local pack.

How Google Ranks Businesses in the Local Map Pack

Google’s map pack ranking algorithm is separate from its standard organic algorithm. However, many of the best practices for your website-based SEO strategy will also benefit your Google Maps SEO campaign.

The map pack algorithm itself has three primary ranking factors: relevance, distance, and prominence.

Relevance

Relevance is how well a Google Business Profile (GBP) matches the searcher’s intent. Fully completing your GBP with specific details can expand your relevance to more users.

However, don’t falsify your business name with keyword stuffing, as Google is likely to flag and suspend your listing.

Distance

Distance, often called proximity in this context, is the distance between your Google Business Profile address and the searcher’s projected location.

Although this algorithmic factor is primarily suited for storefront businesses, it still applies to service-area businesses.

Influencing the distance ranking factor is as simple as choosing a central business location within your primary service area.

However, don’t get any ideas about using a virtual location or any fake address, as Google’s automated systems can detect and penalize these actions by removing your listing from search.

Prominence

Prominence is how well-known your brand or business is to searchers.

Factors that can influence prominence include customer reviews, repitable backlinks to your website, and how frequently your brand name is searched on Google.

Optimizing Your Google Business Profile

The first and most important thing you must do to appear in the map pack is get listed on Google Business Profile.

Getting set up is free, though you will have to go through a verification process. You can get started here. 

Complete Every Section of Your Profile

Once you are listed, start filling out your profile with a concise description of your business, the areas you serve, the services you offer, your hours of operation, and accurate contact information.

Don’t forget to include a link to your main website, as your website-based SEO will directly influence your map 3-pack visibility.

Maintain Consistency Across All Platforms

Your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is like a digital ID for your local business. Citations help verify and disseminate that identification.

Directories like Yelp and Angi and social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn create NAP citations for your local business.

Off-page citations are any mention of your business or website anywhere other than your own website. The more of these citations you have, the more signs point to your website.

Keep Your Profile Fresh and Updated

Once you have everything set up, don’t just leave your profile idle. Instead, try to update it as often as possible. For example, if your company just started servicing a new area, add it to your profile.

In addition, people will be able to leave reviews of your business on your Google Business Profile, so be sure to respond to those reviews as much as possible. 

Remember that Google loves fresh content, so keep your Business Profile updated as much as possible.

Add High-Quality Photos and Videos

Uploading original photos and videos of your staff, building, and services significantly boosts your profile’s quality.

Well-lit, in-focus photos in PNG or JPEG format perform best on Google and influence users’ decisions about whether to use your services.

Your cover photo should be 1024 x 576 px, while staff photos should be 720 x 720 px.

Getting More Google Reviews to Boost Map Pack SEO

It’s essential to get as many Google reviews as possible for your listing, and to keep doing so even if you’ve secured hundreds or even thousands of customer reviews.

Various software tools exist to send automated requests to your customers via SMS and email, helping boost response rates.

In addition, personally ask all your customers for a review after finishing a job. The majority of consumers will submit feedback if requested multiple times.

How to Respond to Google Reviews

When you notice a negative review, reply professionally and attempt to resolve the issue offline.

Customers will often remove the review or change it to a positive one if they feel that their grievance has been acknowledged or resolved.

You never want to get into an argument or trade insults with a customer, as it reflects poorly on your business, even if you’re objectively in the right.

You should also respond to positive reviews by thanking your customer for their business and encouraging them to use your services again.

Website SEO Strategies for Local Map Rankings

Standard SEO overlaps with Map Pack SEO via local website content. However, to utilize this method, you must include your website URL within your Google Business Profile under the website field.

Once you’ve connected your website to your Google Business Profile, your website’s content can start influencing your Map Pack rankings.

Publish Location Pages

Let’s say you operate a roofing company in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s relatively straightforward to appear in the Map Pack in Fort Worth.

However, showing up in nearby cities like Southlake and Grapevine requires publishing individual city pages.

The key to creating successful city pages is writing unique, locally driven content. Google’s algorithm is far too sophisticated to provide you credit for duplicate content pages.

Connect a Local Landing Page to Your Business Listing

Adding a local landing page or a service page can improve your Google Maps rankings for related queries. Google associates your website’s content with your Google Business Profile.

For example, say you run a plumbing business in Akron, Ohio. Whenever someone searches for plumbers in Akron, Google crawls websites associated with nearby map listings to find plumbing-related information.

Add Local Business Schema

Schema markup is a structured data format injected into your homepage’s HTML code. It provides Google with context about your local business.

The LocalBusiness Schema helps you mark up business information, including your website URL, business name, address, phone number, and hours of operation.

Because Google scans the website URL associated with your GBP, the schema’s impact can extend to your Google Maps rankings.

Demonstrate Website E-E-A-T

Google’s objective is to show users legitimate, trustworthy businesses and avoid showing spam, which makes its E-E-A-T acronym highly relevant to local businesses.

E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, and can be showcased on your business website (connected to your GBP).

Examples of showing E-E-A-T on your website include award badges, recent job photos, and a review slider widget that pulls verified Google reviews via API.

Embed Google Maps on Your Site

Consider embedding a Google Map of your business location onto your website’s Contact Us page or, in some cases, the homepage.

This enhances the user experience for your website visitors by showing your business location in Google Maps. It also helps connect your web entities (website, GBP, citations) for a cohesive digital brand.

Google Maps makes embedding a map in your website easy by providing a “Share a map or location with others” button. This button generates custom HTML code you can copy and paste into a custom WordPress element.

Embed Reviews on Your Website

The reviews widget is a great way to integrate Google reviews into your website design.

Embedded reviews (through API sliders) are far more effective than publishing screenshots of your reviews, which can be easily doctored, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.

Embedding an API-driven reviews widget into your website’s codebase is the most effective way to leverage Google reviews for trust.

Use Responsive Web Design

Websites that users can adequately navigate across all device types (mobile, desktop, tablet) foster a superior user experience, enhancing Google Maps rankings.

After all, Google doesn’t want to send its Maps users to a website they cannot access through a mobile device.

Ensure your web developer uses RWD in your web design process and test your site across all device types.

Acquiring Local Backlinks

Local links also influence Map Pack rankings for local businesses. As a result, many companies wonder whether they should build links to their Google Business Profile or their website.

The answer is always your website, and this is the link index the map pack algorithm considers when ranking your Google Business Profile.

We’ve already outlined how Google can associate your website URL with your Google Business Listing. As a result, the links pointing to your website will also influence your Google Maps rankings. 

Aside from the apparent SEO benefit, building links to your website ensures you own the digital property. For example, if you were to create links to a suspended profile, those links would be rendered useless.

Business Partnership Links

Asking for backlinks from any businesses you partner with is fair game in local SEO and can directly impact your map pack rankings.

Most legitimate businesses are willing to link to partners’ websites because it is considered standard business practice in the digital age.

Sponsorship / Community Links

Sponsorship and community-based links are also helpful for your Google Maps rankings, whether they come from a Little League organization or a church website.

These types of links are not meant to trick users or the algorithm, but instead demonstrate your associations with other credible local institutions in a digital format.

Most sponsored links include a rel=”sponsored” attribute, but that does not eliminate their positive impact on your map pack SEO.

Local PR and Media Coverage

Another above-board method for local link building is investing in PR and media coverage, which often results in local news websites linking back to your website.

In many cases, the news station will interview you or one of your employees for a relevant story related to your industry, and your quote is then included in the article with a link to your website.

Publishing 100% unique and data-driven reports about topics within your industry can also lead to natural media links, as journalists use search engines to find statistics related to their story.

Advanced Map Pack SEO Strategies

Covering the tasks above will put you in a great position to rank within the map 3-pack for your target keywords.

However, some business owners want to take even more measures to expand their visibility on Google Maps and the Map Pack.

Below, I will outline some advanced Map Pack SEO strategies I’ve encountered over my time in the industry.

Consider Moving Your Business Location

The most overlooked Map Pack SEO ranking factor is your map marker. Spoiler alert: Google Maps is an interactive map with markers for every business listing.

Even service-area businesses with hidden addresses have a map marker in Google Maps’ internal mapping system. Your Physical location will directly influence your rankings.

If your office address is in a prime location of a central metropolitan area, your listing will receive many more impressions than a business located on the outskirts.

Google’s proximity ranking factor is very significant. While you can’t manipulate your map marker, you always have the option to move your office to a better location.

Once you re-verify your business, Google will move your map marker to your new location. 

Use Google Maps Ads to Boost Engagement

Businesses with a visible physical address can appear in the Map 3-Pack through paid advertising with Google Ads Location Extensions and Performance Max campaigns.

Unfortunately, service area businesses (SABs) are not eligible for Map 3-Pack ads. We recommend utilizing Local Service Ads (LSA) for SABs.

While Local Service Ads do not appear within the Map 3-Pack, they integrate your Google Business Profile information, including reviews, into the ads.

Increase Branded Searches

We know that Google Maps’ prominence ranking factor considers the popularity of brands that branded searches can influence.

When users search directly for your brand name, Google assumes they’ve learned about your company elsewhere, such as offline, digital advertising, or social media.

Considering this, you should get your brand out into the community as much as possible, both online and offline, to encourage more people to search for your name.

Source: SEMRush

Measuring and Tracking Your Map Pack Performance

Google offers a Google Business Profile insights dashboard that lets business owners monitor their performance over time.

Metrics to look closely at include:

• Views
• Searches
• Interactions
• Calls
• Website Clicks

The GBP Insights tools let you compare year-over-year numbers, so you can see, for example, how many more views your listing is getting in October 2025 vs. October 2024.

Next Steps for Map-Pack SEO

There are several easy first steps you can take to expand your presence on Maps after creating and verifying your Google Business Profile.

For example, ask your customers for reviews in person, in addition to the automated email requests.

Secondly, you can build or leverage partnerships with other local organizations to improve your backlink profile.

Improving your Map Pack SEO is easier than you might think, and you can continue building on your foundation as your visibility expands.

Creating separate websites for each sufficiently distant service-based business location is not only the most effective strategy but also the one that Google recommends within its guidelines.

Their guidelines for representing your business on Google state the following:

That language is quite clear: When adding a website to your Google Business Profile, it should represent the specific business location, not an interior page (location page) or subfolder for a website that primarily represents a different business location.

Despite clear guidelines about separate websites for separate locations, you would not reach this conclusion by speaking with an SEO expert, or asking Google’s AI Mode or AI Overviews for advice on this matter.

Why?

Because the SEO industry has long fed into a false narrative that subfolders and location pages are the only reasonable strategy for multi-location service businesses.

How The Wrong Practice Became “Mainstream” SEO Advice

Most people within the local SEO community recommend using a single domain for multiple service business locations.

When I say service businesses, I’m talking about plumbers, roofers, electricians, etc.

The reasons given by SEO professionals often overlap, citing consolidated backlinks, website authority, and brand consistency.

Google’s own AI Overviews will echo these sentiments by stating:

This point of view is not limited to optimized articles on agency websites or even AI-generated responses that have synthesized those arguments. It also includes users on forums like Reddit.

One Reddit user even stated:

The Incentive of The Single Domain Status Quo

Unsurprisingly, none of the statements cited above, ranging from AI-generated responses to real Reddit users, cites any evidence or data for their findings, but instead frames them as an indisputable truth that is merely understood by those within the SEO industry.

You might ask why the industry is so adamant about a strategy that lacks supporting case studies or confirmation from Google officials.

Aside from the fear of “being wrong”, here are some of the SEO industry’s other possible reasons for perpetuating this myth:

Agency Profit and Scalability

Money always talks, and it’s easier for an agency to measure, manage, and itemize work on a single website than to create, optimize, and manage multiple websites.

Spam Misconceptions

There’s a distorted fear within the industry that creating multiple websites is seen as “spam.”

This fear is especially ironic because the strategy they recommend (mass-producing location pages) is prohibited by Google’s guidelines, which allude to these types of pages as doorway pages.

Hard to Explain

When selling to a business owner, and a SAB in particular, it’s easier to keep things simple than to help them succeed.

Many clients don’t understand why they need multiple websites, and it’s an easier sale just to let them target every location on one website.

Misunderstanding of Link Equity

Agencies want to be able to show their clients a significant domain authority, domain rating, or other 3rd party metric that makes their website “seem” authoritative without providing the nuanced explanation of how the local context of a backlink has a greater influence on rankings and traffic than a singular metric.

Misunderstanding of Vector Embeddings

Most SEOs don’t know what vector embeddings are or how a site’s core site vector becomes diluted when adding content (including local content) that does not align with the primary topic or location.

Reasons to Create a New Website for a New Service Location

Simply refuting the claims of the broader SEO industry is insufficient for challenging their general premise, that all service locations should be nested under a single branded domain.

There are profound reasons why creating separate websites for separate locations is beneficial to success.

1) Local Link Context

The notion that domain rating or authority can be viewed as a single number within a local context is fundamentally flawed.

As Mike King of iPullRank, one of the most technically-focused SEO professionals, stated:

Achieving your 60+ domain rating on a local plumbing website might help you market your agency, but it is unlikely to help that plumber rank and grow their business.

The context of local links matters more than the volume. For instance, a San Diego chamber of commerce link to a Los Angeles-based plumbing company lacks the potency that it would have for a San Diego-based plumbing company.

The further away your locations are from one another, the more irrelevant your backlinks become in a local context.

That Little League sponsorship link you received for your Dallas-based roofing company’s homepage suddenly becomes confusing in relation to your Atlanta location page after you expand your roofing business across state lines.

Conversely, suppose you create an entirely new website for that Atlanta location. In that case, you can then seek out the Atlanta-based sponsorship link to maintain a clean, relevant, and influential local link profile.

2) Vector Embeddings

Keyword research tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs don’t operate the way Google and, especially, Google’s Gemini and its AI tools do today.

Vector embeddings are like consolations in space; they represent semantic distances from one topic to another.

Each local service website has a core site vector, such as electrician seattle. When you start adding pages about roofing or Minneapolis, you dilute that site vector, potentially reducing your rankings, clicks, mentions, and citations.

Vector embeddings are not the only SEO or GEO ranking factor, which means adding such pages is not an automatic “death sentence” to your digital marketing efforts.

However, doing so is far from a best practice. It can significantly hinder or diminish your progress if not outweighed by other weighted factors, such as brand authority, reviews, internal linking, and content quality.

That’s why when SEOs celebrate one of their clients’ service websites ranking across state lines, they are fundamentally misunderstanding the variables that are resulting in those rankings.

To put it simply, those websites are not ranking because of their SEO strategy but rather despite it.

What most within the SEO industry don’t realize is that many of the highest-ranking websites are not perfectly optimized; they simply have advantages that SEO practitioners cannot influence, such as offline popularity or strong brand recognition.

If SEO practitioners used best practices, such as creating a new website for a new service location, they would further increase that company’s business and profitability.

Instead, they celebrate the “results” that the SEO practitioner had nothing to do with and cite them as evidence as to why their strategy works.

However, when dealing with smaller businesses that lack those built-in advantages, understanding core site vectors and engaging in best SEO practices are exceedingly more crucial to their success.

When a Single Domain Strategy Makes Sense

In some cases, a single-domain strategy is not only appropriate but also optimal, such as for enterprise-level brands with a strong national presence and storefront-based businesses.

A single domain strategy works for enterprise-level brands when these conditions are met:

• The brand garners national trust and recognition
• The user intent is brand-first, instead of service-first

For example, when users search for a well-known brand like Home Depot, they don’t expect or require a distinct website for each location.

Instead, they expect to find a central brand domain that routes them to a local store through a subfolder or a store locator.

The same concept applies to brands like Target, AT&T, and Starbucks, as users are not searching for a query like “coffee near me” but rather the specific brand.

The key difference is that these brands are not service area businesses (SABs), such as plumbers or roofers.

The single-domain logic breaks down for local contractors, as users expect a local service.

Google understands the differences, and the businesses themselves need to know how Google views their specific business.

The Distance Variable for SABs

Another case in which a single domain is optimal for a local SEO campaign is when a business has multiple locations within a confined radius.

For example, a local plumber who has two verified Google Business Profiles in the same zip code should not create a second website for the second GBP.

Their website already targets the city in which both profiles are verified, meaning their website satisfies the user intent for both Google Business Profiles.

A separate website typically becomes optimal when your business location is 51 miles or further from your primary location.

The precise distance may vary by market, as some rural areas have a wider search radius (from the user’s perspective) than metropolitan areas.

Final Verdict: Multiple Websites are Often Necessary for SABs

Despite an echo chamber of misinformation, Google’s guidelines plainly recommend having individual websites for each distinguishable service location.

While blindly adhering to Google’s guidelines without testing is unwise, the most innovative and trustworthy SEO voices have also introduced concepts that support creating multiple websites for service area businesses with numerous locations that span a wide service area.

Understanding how vector embeddings influence search results, link context, and AI responses helps contextualize the nuance of service area business websites for multiple locations.

The broader takeaway from this is that things considered “best practice” within SEO communities have often gone untested and are perpetuated for reasons unrelated to objective performance.

As a result, testing your own unproven theories is the best way to confirm or debunk them so your business can succeed.

In June 2025, Google quietly announced a seismic shift in how it retrieves and ranks web content.

The introduction of MUVERA (Multi-Vector Retrieval via Fixed Dimensional Encodings) marks a leap forward in semantic search.

DataPins was engineered in anticipation of this advancement, which is why the software will become even more potent after this update is integrated into search results.

What Makes DataPins Useful for Multi-Vector Retrieval?

DataPins is a Saas platform for local businesses that utilizes structured content systems to generate authentic, real-world service data on company websites.

Each “pin” includes schema markup, geo coordinates, AI-synthesized job descriptions, authentic job photos, and user-generated feedback.

With the announcement of MUVERA, DataPins has further increased its positioning as a uniquely engineered SaaS marketing platform.

How MUVERA Changes the Search Landscape

In traditional Google search results, pages were summarized into a single vector embedding for efficiency and cost reasons, which partially sacrificed nuanced context within a page.

For example, a local service page for water heater repair was restricted to a single core topic even if the page had additional context about ankles water heaters or Rinnai water heaters.

While those subcategories strengthened the core topic in Google’s algorithm, they could not “stand alone” as their own contextual topics.

MUVERA shifts so that each subtopic can surface in search results more precisely.

Google’s document clearly explains this:

Google would have preferred to do this earlier, but the systems were not fast enough to retrieve results until now.

Why MUVERA Increases DataPins’ Value

DataPins was engineered for the future of search, dating all the way back to the first Helpful Content Update.

However, the search landscape has continued to evolve since then, and MUVERA was the most anticipated advancement for DataPins developers.

DataPins is not traditional SEO content. It was never designed for “old-school SEO,” such as blog posts and keyword density.

Instead, it was engineered for semantic relevance and brand signaling, which is precisely what Google’s evolution covets.

Each pin includes:

• Service Type (i.e., Navien tankless installation)
• Geo location (i.e., Sugar Land, TX)
• Jobsite photos (original authentic job images)
• Jobsite context (i.e., installed in 38°F weather)
• Schema Markup (check-in schema)

Think about the components of a pin while reading Google’s statement on MUVERA:

Yes, you read that right. Each pin now has the retrieval potency of a 2,000-word blog post, except it actually contains information that Google searchers seek instead of fluff.

Scaling Semantic Context with DataPins

DataPins is uniquely positioned to scale under the MUVERA update as contractors generate thousands of high-signal pins on their websites.

As Google puts it:

What does that mean in layman’s terms? Your site doesn’t need blog posts because pins are superior. MUVERA understands short bursts of authentic content, especially for AI Overviews and Google AI Mode.

TL;DR: Websites With DataPins Benefit from Google’s MUVERA

• MUVERA empowers faster and more nuanced content retrieval on local web pages
• DataPins generates short, structured local content targeted by MUVERA
• Google’s internal research concludes that MUVERA outperforms older retrieval models in accuracy and speed

AI Overviews are here, and they’ve fundamentally altered the nature of local search.

Traditional local SEO strategies are already obsolete as Google has moved on to large-scale semantic synthesis, which can be influenced by a new practice known as relevance engineering.

99% of the local SEO industry remains fixated on keyword density, link graphs, and other relics of the model that kept them employed and profitable for multiple decades.

The problem is that none of these concepts even slightly represent how Google currently selects, evaluates, and displays local content.

Industry expert Mike King of iPullRank has been one of the few who have publicly laid out this new reality:

At DataPins, we are leading the charge of this reinvention and have been before Google even implemented AI Overviews into search.

Why? The writing has been on the wall for some time. Google, as the SEO community perceives it, is completely gone – even while they cling to its reputation.

Google wants to be more like ChatGPT or even Facebook—an app in which users sign in and get quick results for everyday problems (like finding a local plumber, roofer, or HVAC company).

DataPins is a Local SEO software platform enabling local contractors and home service businesses to generate job-specific content signals based on authentic locations and services.

To clarify, DataPins is a relevance engineering engine engineered explicitly for how Google’s AI processes information today.

The Query-Fan Out Optimization Engine

Unless you’re highly tapped into Google advancements, you probably don’t know about the idea of the query-fan-out.

The query fan-out is when Google’s AI Overviews drills down the user’s search query into multiple topically related sub-queries before gathering fragments from multiple sources to synthesize a thorough answer.

Here is how Mike King describes it:

For local service area businesses (SABs), this means your website doesn’t have to rank #1 for the original search query to be included within the AI Overview. 

Instead, it merely needs to be related to one or more of the hidden fan-out queries that Google generates privately.

Why DataPins Was Engineered for Fan-Out, Not Just Search

DataPins developers understood from day one that local search is a relic compared to modern consumer behavior.

Thinking of everything as pages and keywords limits your ability to reach homeowners in your area.

That’s why DataPins created the “pin,” which generates the following signals:

• Jobsite Records: A citation for your completed job (with images, captions, and check-in schema)
• Structured Data: Structured data for search engines to index location, service type, timestamp, brand, customer review, and more
• Brand Context: Authentic representations of your brand and its services
• Longtail Keywords: The same fan-out queries that SEO fails to optimize for are generated organically through AI-structured job descriptions

DataPins is the only current local SEO tool that generates semantic entry points, each of which may be relevant to thousands of fan-out subqueries.

This contrasts with conventional SEO software aimed at reverse-engineering “keywords,” which limit brand awareness and consumer touchpoints.

Authentic Jobsite Content That AI Understands

Google no longer evaluates an individual website page as a whole but instead looks at fragments and embeddings that align with a specific user intent or expectation.

Mike King makes this clear:

Many DataPins users come from old-school SEO practices in which their previous agency engaged in obsolete practices such as mass-producing blog posts and city pages.

We often delete these pages for our clients before they start using our software to realign the embeddings and fragments.

From there, DataPins produces hyper-relevant and semantically dense job reports which are NEVER off-topic or orphaned.

Each job is anchored to authentic customer experiences, reducing the semantic distance between the contractor’s domain and what Google expects to find on that domain.

Software for The SERP Economy, Not the Gig Economy

The emergence of AI Overviews has reduced organic clicks, leading agencies and their clients to look in horror at their Google Analytics 4 reports.

The irony is that DataPins produces far more clicks than traditional SEO strategies because it eliminates practices that violate Google’s Helpful Content Update guidelines, such as mass producing posts and pages.

Still, DataPins is not as singular-minded. It targets outcomes far more impactful than clicks by inserting your brand and business name into Google’s AI synthesis layer.

One thing King relayed was:

The loss of organic clicks on GA4 reports may result in some businesses flocking to paid advertising options to replicate concrete traffic projections.

However, that strategy keeps your company mired in a gig economy that relies on conglomerates to drive customers to your local business.

Moving Forward With DataPins for Relevance Engineering

Mike King is 100% right about the SEO industry, which is captured in the following quote:

King is referencing the broader SEO community, which is 99.9% of agencies and software developers.

DataPins was engineered to differentiate itself from this archaic and obsolete industry, allowing local contractors to compete in the modern era.

Using structured jobsite pins, DataPins semantically aligns content with Google’s Gemini embeddings and AI Overviews.

The days of “optimizing” pages are long gone, and the new era of relevance engineering is upon us. DataPins was designed for this moment.

Backlinks have always been closely associated with Google SEO because they began as a fundamental component of Google’s search ranking algorithm.

In Google’s early stages, backlinks helped distinguish the quality of its search results from those of competitors like Yahoo, AOL, and Altavista.

Anchor text, which is the words that are linked from one website to another, was the factor that most influenced rankings.

As the SEO industry grew, professionals began to game the system to make their client’s websites rank for specific keywords based on paid backlinks from spammy content farms.

Google figured out this loophole and shut it down in April 2012 with the Penguin Algorithm Update, which targeted link schemes.

Since then, Google has made hundreds of thousands of improvements to its algorithm to mitigate link manipulation.

How Backlinks SEO Influence Diminshed Over Time

Technology has advanced, allowing Google to shift the weight once given to backlinks to other, more applicable ranking factors.

One of those factors is RankBrain.

This article from Backlinko shares how RankBrian may value links based on search query:

“Depending on the keyword, RankBrain will increase or decrease the importance of backlinks, content freshness, content length, domain authority etc“

RankBrain is just one-way links’ value on modern SEO has changed.

More broadly, the impact of links on Google rankings has been increasingly dwindling since at least 2023.

Google search analyst Gary Illyes said the following in 2023:

“I think they are important, but I think people overestimate the importance of links. I don’t agree it’s in the top three. It hasn’t been for some time.”

Other Google staff members have rejected the premise of links as SEO currency, including John Mueller, the Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, who said the following in 2024:

“There are more important things for websites nowadays, and over-focusing on links will often result in you wasting your time doing things that don’t make your website better overall.”

Links for National SEO and Local SEO

The first part of Illyes’s statement is ” I think they are important,” which may prompt some readers to overlook the context of backlinks as they relate to SEO.

As a local plumber, you don’t compete with national sites like Wikipedia, which has hundreds of thousands of inbound links, which they’ve accumulated over twenty-four years of brand building.

You can never replicate their link acquisition or brand development because these things occur not from purchasing backlinks but building and sustaining a brand.

Secondly, even if you came close to their backlink quantity, Google still would not rank your website.

Why? Google’s algorithm is highly sophisticated in terms of user intent and legitimacy.

So, in essence, Google does not want a local plumber to aspire to be Wikipedia, as it dilutes the topical authority of their website (which is supposed to be about local plumbing services).

Also, Google would know that any website that acquires that many links in such a short period is using banned techniques and will be diminished in search results.

Simply put, a backlink’s value depends on whether a website is doing national SEO or Local SEO.

Backlinks have always been more critical in the national SEO and less important locally.

Local SEO expert Joy Hawkins states the following about backlinks for Local SEO:

“links play a crucial role in boosting organic search rankings, but their impact on local pack rankings is limited”

But What About Local Organic Rankings?

Backlinks can influence local organic rankings, but businesses that get these links do so through community outreach and offline brand building.

Valuable local links come from other credible sources in your community and not from purchasing links from an online vendor.

Furthermore, backlinks are only one ranking factor for local organic rankings and do not supersede user intent or E-E-A-T.

For example, a plumbing website that does not mention Rheem water heater repair will not rank for Rheem Water Heater Repair Near Me even if it accumulates thousands of backlinks.

Meanwhile, a plumbing website with zero backlinks in the same service area will rank for Rheem Water Heater Repair Near Me if it shows proof of a Rheem water heater repair job on its website.

DataPins Comparative Impact on Local SEO

We’ve had Google employees and Local SEO experts concede that backlinks do very little, if anything, for Local SEO.

Compare that to DataPins, which has been proven to increase the number of keywords and variations in Local SEO rankings by several thousand.

DataPins founder Nolen Walker, who has been in the SEO industry for over 15 years, states:

“It’s not a question of if DataPins impacts Local SEO because DataPins is Local SEO. It consolidates every local ranking indicator that Google looks for, from unique images to E-E-A-T to people-first-content, location context, etc.”

Final Verdict: DataPins vs. Backlinks

DataPins are better for Local SEO than backlinks. The impact of backlinks on Local SEO has always been minimal, at best, and has further decreased in recent years.

That’s not merely speculation, as Google officials have come out and said that backlinks are overvalued for SEO.

Alternatively, DataPins generates each Local SEO ranking factor and publishes it on the client’s website.

The results are stark; many small business owners pay $5,000+ monthly on backlink packages and see no difference or negative results.

Meanwhile, SABs pay $799 monthly for DataPins and have consistently seen thousands of new keyword rankings and significant increases in website traffic.

Google has dominated local search for 20+ years, but things are shifting. AI-powered tools like ChatGPT are reshaping how people find businesses.

Instead of ranking local businesses the old-fashioned way, AI-driven search engines pull from multiple sources, including your website, trusted directories, business listings, and customer reviews.

If your business isn’t adapting, it might get left behind. That’s where Local SEO for ChatGPT comes into play for businesses worldwide.

Why ChatGPT Matters for Local SEO

Unlike Google, which relies on backlinks and traditional ranking factors, AI-powered search engines work differently. They gather information from various sources and summarize results more conversationally.

That means businesses must be visible across different platforms, not just their website. Some key factors include:

• Business Listings – AI tools pull data from sites like Yelp, Foursquare, and Yellow Pages.
• Location Data – AI considers mini-maps and geo-coordinates on a website.
• Structured Data – Schema markup helps AI understand business services.
• Customer Reviews – AI analyzes reviews for keywords and sentiment.
• Website Content – Clear, informative content improves visibility in AI search results.

No Ads Helps ChatGPT Win Local Searches

Unlike Google Search, which has traditional Google Ads and Local Service Ads above most of its local results, ChatGPT Answers doesn’t have any ads.

This is why some homeowners are switching to ChatGPT to find local plumbers, roofers, HVAC companies, and electricians.

As a local business owner, it’s always important to understand where your consumers are looking and what their user experience entails.

ChatGPT’s ad-free local results could allow others to gravitate to their platform for these queries.

How DataPins Helps Businesses Get Found in AI Search

DataPins produces the signals AI platforms seek when training their large language models (LLMs).

If you want ChatGPT to recommend your business to local homeowners, the models must know and trust your brand.

Here is how DataPins helps them do this:

Showcasing Real Jobs with Geo-Tagged Check-Ins

AI search engines prioritize real-world business activity. DataPins allows businesses to create geo-tagged check-ins that showcase actual work being done, showing AI search engines that your business is active and locally relevant.

Example:

An HVAC contractor in Warner Robins, GA logs job check-ins with details like the service performed, the location, and customer feedback. AI-powered search tools pick up on these details, making the business more visible for local searches.

Boosting Visibility Through Customer Reviews

Reviews play a role in AI search rankings. The more detailed and relevant they are, the better. DataPins makes it easier to collect customer feedback that contains real service-related terms that AI tools look for.

Why It Works:

• More positive reviews improve business credibility.
• AI search picks up on common phrases like “best plumber in Austin.”
• Authentic, recent reviews help businesses stay relevant in AI-driven results.

Helping AI Understand Local Business Services

Traditional search engines rely on backlinks, but AI tools focus more on structured data. DataPins enhances LocalBusiness schema, directly embedding job details, services, and real-time updates into a website.

Key Benefits:

• AI-powered search engines easily process business details.
• Helps businesses appear in voice and AI-generated search results.
• Improves chances of being included in AI-generated recommendations.

Showcasing Location Data on Your Website

AI search engines don’t just rely on Google Maps—they also pull location data from your company’s website.

A BrightLocal study found that company websites make up 58% of all local sources in ChatGPT.

Businesses need to ensure that their location information is displayed prominently rather than just mentioned in text.

Writing Local Content That Works for ChatGPT

Unlike the traditional Google SERP, which serves up a list of links, AI tools generate responses that answer user questions directly.

That means businesses need content that AI can easily process and summarize.

Best Practices:

• Write naturally, as if answering a customer’s question.
• Make website content clear and to the point.
• Use structured data to highlight key business details.

How DataPins Helps With Local AI

DataPins automatically edits your job captions using 15 years of proprietary SEO data to better suit ChatGPT’s requirements.

Some of your technicians might quickly write captions that lack clarity, but DataPins fixes them for ChatGPT and other AI platforms.

Does Google SEO Still Matter?

Of course. Google isn’t going anywhere, but AI search is growing fast. Businesses that optimize for both Google and AI-powered search engines will have the biggest advantage.

How to Stay Ahead

• Keep business listings updated on Yelp, Facebook, Angi’, and other directories.
• Inject structured data and geo-tagged check-ins into your website.
• Encourage customer reviews that mention real services and locations.
• Maintain consistent business details across multiple platforms.

Google’s Adoption of AI

Google already shows AI overviews in their search results, which means optimizing for AI will also help your Google visibility.

These overviews are powered by Google Gemini, which is Google’s version of ChatGPT.

Furthermore, Google recently started testing its AI Mode for users who have been accepted into its Search Labs program.

While we don’t yet know what AI mode holds for the future of search, it is likely to present as a hybrid of Gemini and Google Search.

Final Thoughts

Search is changing, and businesses that rely only on Google might struggle in the coming years. The DataPins software was developed to equip businesses with the tools they need to thrive online in the AI era, both on and off of Google.

Make no mistake, DataPins is not merely a shiny plugin to boost conversions (although it does that); it is a consolidation of signals to get your business to appear in local AI search results.

Learn More About DataPins

Want your business to appear in AI searches? DataPins can help. Schedule a demo to see how geo-tagged check-ins, AI-friendly schema, and customer reviews can improve your local SEO.