These Google Business Profile updates will help your clients dominate local search

For sales teams at digital marketing agencies, staying on top of Google updates is crucial for helping your SMB clients succeed. The latest changes to Google Business Profiles offer exciting new opportunities to improve local visibility for your clients, while also revealing some surprising insights about how Google collects business information.

Update No.1: Review QR codes

Google has just made getting customer reviews significantly easier with a new QR code feature within the "Get more reviews" section of Business Manager. This update allows businesses to generate a custom QR code that, when scanned, takes customers directly to the review submission form.



Why this matters for your sales team?

When SMB prospects ask what will make the biggest impact on their local SEO, the answer is more authentic reviews. In fact, 92% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. This new tool makes that process frictionless for your clients and their customers.

Your sales team can use this update as a conversation starter with prospects by:

• Demonstrating how easy it will be for their customers to leave reviews
• Suggesting strategic places to display the QR code (receipts, thank-you emails, in-store signage)
• Explaining how increased reviews directly impact local search visibility

Remember to caution clients that while encouraging reviews is permitted, offering incentives or selectively soliciting positive reviews violates Google's policies and could result in penalties.

Update No.2: “About this place”

In a separate but equally important update, Google has expanded what appears in local pack results for experience-driven businesses like restaurants and gyms. The "About this place" feature reveals Google’s local data sources and now includes links to discussions from:

• Reddit threads
• Quora conversations
• Industry message boards
• Q&A content from Yelp and TripAdvisor

What this tells your sales team:

This update confirms what many SEO experts have long suspected… Google is looking far beyond a business's own website and Google Business Profile when determining local search rankings. The search giant is actively monitoring discussions about businesses across the web to provide users with the most comprehensive view possible.

Become a trusted advisor with these insights

These updates create perfect opportunities for your sales team to demonstrate value to prospects:

1.  Use Local Grid for competitive analysis: Show prospects exactly where they rank for important keywords compared to local competitors. Insites Local Grids gives a visual representation instantly communicates their market position and creates urgency when they see competitors outranking them.
2.  Identify keyword gaps: Use the feature to pinpoint specific terms where competitors are showing up in local pack results but your prospect isn't. This creates clear, actionable targets for your SEO services.
3.  Create data-driven proposals with insights: Build service recommendations based on actual competitive data rather than generic SEO advice. When clients can see exactly where they're falling behind, they're more likely to invest in solutions.
4.  Combine review strategies with keyword targeting: Show how the new QR code feature can help generate reviews that mention specific keywords identified in your Local Grid analysis, creating a powerful one-two punch for local visibility.
5.  Monitor multi-platform presence: Use Insites' tools to track both Google presence and mentions across the forums and review sites Google is now pulling into their "About this place" feature.
6.  Demonstrate ROI with before-and-after grid comparisons: Schedule regular updates to show clients how your services are improving their position relative to competitors over time.
   
   

The bottom line

Google continues to emphasise authentic customer experiences in local search, making comprehensive digital presence management more important than ever for SMBs. Your sales team is perfectly positioned to help prospects understand these changes and implement strategies that capitalise on these opportunities.

Looking to equip your sales team with tools they need to serve hospitality clients? Book a demo today to see how our platform can help your team convert more leads into lasting client relationships.