Merchynt's Local SEO Blog

The AI Search Secret Nobody Told You About

Quick question: When was the last time you updated your YouTube channel? If your answer is “Wait, I have a YouTube channel?” we’ve got a problem. Because while you were busy optimizing your Google Business Profile, YouTube quietly became the second most-cited source in AI search results. That’s right, when people ask AI tools for local recommendations, there's a very real chance the answer comes from a video. And if that video isn't yours, AI is handing business to someone else who did remember to hit record. So yeah… it’s time to dust off the tripod.

June 25, 2025

Newsletter

Is Google’s AI Mode Hurting Your Metrics?

Google’s new AI mode metrics just started showing up in Search Console reports. Cool? Yes, but there’s a catch. Over 50% of users are now using AI Mode, but it doesn’t show the usual call, directions, or website buttons from your Google Business Profile when your business is shown to a potential customer. What does this mean, you ask? Your performance metrics on reports might look like a hot mess until this is sorted out.

June 18, 2025

The Truth About Google Business Profile Strength: Why That Green Circle Doesn’t Mean What You Think

After analyzing millions of data points from thousands of Google profiles, we discovered something surprising (and a bit alarming): That “profile strength” meter in your GBP dashboard? It’s basically meaningless. Let’s unpack why, and what matters if you want to rank higher on Google Maps.

June 16, 2025

How to Turn Bad Google Reviews Into Local SEO Wins

If you're obsessing over that one-star review, take a breath. Here's a wild truth: Businesses with a perfect 5.0 rating don’t always rank the highest on Google. In fact, after analyzing thousands of Google Business Profiles, we found that businesses with a 4.8 or 4.9 rating often outrank those with flawless reviews. Let’s break down how to transform every bad review into an SEO advantage, and when to get them removed entirely.

June 13, 2025

Google’s Secret Weapon for Local Businesses

June 11, 2025

Newsletter

Learn How To Master AI Search From The Man Who Helped Build Google Business Profiles

In case you missed it, Google just rolled out a brand-new feature called AI Mode — and it’s going to completely change the game for local SEO. That’s why we’re hosting a free virtual training tomorrow — and bringing in someone who understands this situation better than anyone else: Brad Wetherall – Former Director of Google Business Profiles at Google

June 10, 2025

Best Tools for Creating and Analyzing Local SEO Heatmap Report

Whether you're a digital marketing agency managing multiple client profiles or a local business trying to get found on Google Maps, heatmaps give you a visual breakdown of where you rank—and where you don't. In this post, we'll compare the top heatmap tools on the market, share the pros and cons of each, and introduce a new game-changing feature we built into our own platform, Paige, that makes heatmap reports far more accurate than anything else out there.

June 6, 2025

Newsletter

Google Doesn't Care About Your Website Anymore

If you’ve seen Google’s new AI Mode in action, you might have noticed something missing: everything you’ve spent years building. No website links. No blog content. No organic listings. Just a big ol’ AI box talking to itself like it doesn’t even need your website anymore.

June 5, 2025

Paige Just Got a Massive Upgrade (And You’re Going to Want to See This)

If you're an agency tired of chasing rankings, managing Google reviews manually, or wondering how to keep up with the latest Google AI search changes, here's the good news: Paige now does even more of the heavy lifting. Automatically. Let’s break it down. If you are new here, Watch how we used Paige in real-time here.

June 4, 2025

5 Things Marketing Agencies Need to Know About Google AI Mode (If They Want Their Clients' Google Business Profiles to Rank)

The rules of SEO just changed. Google’s newest update, AI Mode, isn’t just a feature. It’s a shift in how people search, how content is found, and how local businesses are discovered. In this post, I’ll break down the five most important things every marketing agency needs to know about Google AI Mode, how to rank within it, and how you can use Paige, the fully automated Google Business Profile management platform, to help your clients stay ahead.

June 4, 2025

How To Launch A Whitelabel SEO Service In 30 Days (And Run It In 30 Hours A Week – Or Less)

If you’ve ever hit a ceiling trying to grow your digital marketing agency, you’re not alone. Sometimes sales stall, fulfillment drains your time, and hiring reliable talent becomes a nightmare. But what if there was a better way? In this post, I’ll walk you through why becoming a white label SEO agency—or converting your existing agency into one—could be the smartest business move you make this year.

June 2, 2025

How Agencies Use Paige to Handle 50+ Google Business Profiles Without Missing a Beat

Managing a single Google Business Profile (GBP) is already a lot. But managing 50 or more? That could be back-breaking. In this blog post, you’ll learn how local SEO agencies use Paige’s white-label platform, bulk dashboard, and automation features to streamline operations, boost search engine rankings, and deliver consistent results to dozens (or hundreds) of clients simultaneously.

May 30, 2025

The $500 Question You're Too Afraid to Ask

Getting reviews is half the battle when it comes to ranking higher on Google Maps. You probably know by now that we talk about this all the time, and that’s because it’s true. Reviews don’t just build trust — they’re one of the biggest signals Google uses to decide if your business deserves to show up before your competitor across town. But even though reviews are this important, most businesses are still struggling to get them.

May 28, 2025

The Hidden Problem with 24/7 Heatmaps—and How We Fixed It

If you're using a heatmap tool to track your local SEO rankings, there's a hidden problem most people don’t realize: timing. Most heatmap tools run reports around the clock—midnight, 2 AM, 4:30 AM—whenever their system happens to be free. And while that might seem efficient, it’s actually giving you skewed, unrealistic data that doesn’t reflect how your business actually performs during the hours that matter. At Merchynt, we realized this flaw was hurting agency partners and business owners alike. So, we built a smarter solution into Paige—our AI-powered local SEO software—to fix it.

May 26, 2025

Newsletter

Google Killed Your Website In New AI Mode

If you thought you had Google Business Profile rankings figured out, buckle up. Google just dropped its brand-new “AI Mode” for search, and it’s going to change how people find local businesses forever. This is one of those updates where, if you’ve been putting off optimizing your Google Business Profile, now is the time to really take it seriously... unless you’d rather be invisible to your next customer. We threw together a checklist on your profile to ensure you’re ready for this update, but first, here’s what’s new. Google launched its AI Mode as part of Google Search (yes, a replacement for the Google Search you’ve loved all these years). If you search for local businesses, Google AI shows some options in a list format, but when you click on a business, Google now shows their Google Business Profile instead of their website! Boom. Adios websites, hello Google Business Profiles.

May 21, 2025