Google Updates You NEED to Know About

+ your weekly local SEO tips

April 20, 2026

Hey there,

Last week was eventful for the local SEO world. Here’s what happened 👇️

1. New Google Posts feature

You can now set Google Posts to repeat. Here's what you need to know:

  • You can set a post to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly.

  • You can use this on Offer and Event posts, but not Update posts.

  • Perfect to make sure your profile stays looking freshly updated.

  • The idea is to use it for recurring events like happy hour or quiz night.

I love this feature for any business. Set up a series of monthly recurring promos and put them on repeat. This way, you always have a freshly posted special offer running on your Google Business Profile.

Michael G from Google has confirmed that this feature is rolling out globally right now and will be available to all business categories, in all countries, in all languages.

See Michael’s explanation in the LinkedIn comments.

2. Google just updated its review guidelines

The guidelines now clearly state that you can’t ask customers to mention specific employees in their reviews:

”Merchants requesting that staff solicit reviews that include specific content, including content that identifies a staff member.”

If you were rewarding your employees for getting reviews that mention them, you’ll need to ditch that strategy ;(

I know this has been a very common strategy, and I’ve even recommended it before. But if you’re doing this, it’s time to stop if you care about your Google Business Profile and your reviews.

A better strategy from now on would be to just reward the whole company when you reach certain review milestones.

P.S. Shoutout to my good friend Amy Toman for sharing the news first.

Watch my video explanation on Instagram.

3. The perfect GBP verification video

This dude shows just how ridiculous Google’s video verification expectations are 👇️

@darrenshawseo

😂 this is what the perfect Google Business Profile verification video looks like

No TikTok? Watch it on Instagram.

4. Catch up on the pod

And more breaking news from Google: You can now edit videos directly in the Google Maps app prior to posting them!

Valentina Vasileva shared the news on LinkedIn recently, and she noted that this new interface looks surprisingly similar to those of TikTok and Instagram Reels.

This development signifies a bigger change in local search. Google Business Profiles are becoming less static and a lot more like social-media-esque content hubs. It will also probably make it easier for Google’s AI to understand video content and get richer data about local businesses.

Claire and I discussed this in last week’s episode of the Whitespark Local Update podcast. We also talked about:

  • New “Text Message” Button in Google (Aaron Weiche)

  • Local Search in the Age of AI (Amanda Jordan)

  • Why Reviews Matter for Ask Maps (Claudia Tomina)

  • What to Do When Your GBP Edit Gets Rejected (Stefan Somborac)

  • Can AI responses be influenced? (Mia Sato)

And we have a special guest appearance at the end 👀

Watch the episode here 👇️

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

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Darren

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