E30: Google Ask Maps Deep Dive, AI Mode for Local SEO & New GBP Features

new podcast episode for you!

May 12, 2026

Google just made your Google Business Profile gallery smarter! I thought you could leverage this in a smart way, but Claire Carlile ruined it with her logic:

Google has updated the photo gallery to now sort owner-uploaded photos and videos by date.

I got excited when I heard about this because I thought you could now push a bad customer-uploaded photo by deleting your old, nice owner photos and reuploading them.

However, Claire said that the gallery that shows up on the front-end is still sorted algorithmically and there’s no way to control the order in which the photos show up for searchers 🙄 What a useless update, Google…

What do you all think?

Claire and I discuss this on today’s podcast episode, plus:

  • 17 Content Types to Survive Google’s Zero-Click Future (Cyrus Shepard)

  • 5 Data-Backed Features of Websites Winning Google in 2026 (Cyrus Shepard)

  • Google Ask Maps Deep Dive: Ask Maps Is The Future of Local SEO Panel Discussion (NearMedia)

  • Google Offer & Event Post highlights appear in search results for the Leisure Industry (Michael B. Snow)

  • Whitespark’s Guide to Google’s AI Mode for Local Businesses (Miriam Ellis)

Watch the episode here 👇️

🎧 Or if you prefer listening, find it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Watch by topic:

00:00 Intro
00:59 Content Types to Survive Google’s Zero-Click Future
04:21 Most Pages are Too Long for AI Agents to Read
10:15 GBP Photo Gallery Update
13:43 Google Ask Maps Deep Dive Discussion
16:47 Google Offer & Event Posts for the Leisure Industry
19:20 Guide to Google’s AI Mode for Local Businesses
21:30 Outro

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