Darren Shaw

🔹 Founder of Whitespark.ca: local SEO software and services.
🔹 Local SEO educator with 45,000+ newsletter subscribers, 10,000+ YouTube subscribers, and 3,000+ email course sign-ups
🔹 In charge of the annual Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, one of the most cited resources in local SEO
🔹 Speaker at local search conferences around the globe and contributor to SEO publications
🔹 I've been doing web development and SEO for 27 years (yes, before Google existed)

Founder

Whitespark builds online tools and provides services that help businesses and agencies with local SEO. We're known for our Local Citation Finder, Local Rank Tracker, Citation Building & Audit Services, and Local SEO Consulting. Our team often collaborates with other industry leaders and frequently presents at top SEO & Marketing conferences in North America.

If you still haven’t connected your socials to your Google Business Profile, this is your sign. Google is pulling information from your social profiles directly into search results. Valentina Vasileva shared this on LinkedIn, and it’s pretty wild.

Google is adding a special tag that looks a lot like a justification. It says something like “Today: event” or “Tonight: event”, and it is pulled straight from a business’s social media posts.

This is so powerful! It’s yet another clear signal that Google is actively looking at the content on your social profiles and using it to understand your business better.

So yes, you need to connect your social profiles to your Google Business Profile. 

And yes, you actually need to be active on them.

If you’re not doing this yet, you should probably get on it.

Founder of Whitespark. I share local SEO tips and strategy. Lead researcher behind the annual Local Search Ranking Factors survey. Get everything you need for better local SEO at whitespark.ca

What if your local SEO strategy is working, but your grid rank tracker just doesn’t show it?

The whole point of rank tracking is to measure the impact of your local SEO work. So, if your rank tracker stops tracking at position 20, what are you really measuring?

Say you make some updates, and your rankings at all points move from positions 80 to 30. That's a huge win! But you wouldn’t know that if you’re using a rank tracker that displays all positions above 20 as “20+”.

That’s why Whitespark’s Local Ranking Grids tracks rankings all the way up to 100 positions. We are the only tool that tracks to 100. This is one of the biggest things that sets our software apart from other grid ranking tools.

Our local ranking grid tool is also the most beautiful on the market. It’s genuinely a delight to use, and it costs the same or less than anything else out there.

Google “Whitespark Local Ranking Grids” and try it free (no credit card required).

Worth a read: this brilliant comment that Mike Blumenthal left on one of my posts

Local SEO Tip you NEED to know: update your business description on your citations.

Most businesses wrote their business description years ago, when they first built their citations, and then never touched it again. And sometimes (most of the time) it's really poorly written.

You should rewrite your old description and update all your citations.

Think of it like a data set that search engines and AI use to understand your business. You want it to:

1. Be written in clear, structured statements, often called semantic triples:

Subject - predicate - object.

2. Clearly explain what your business is, what it does, and what it specializes in.

For example: [Acme Pest Control] [is a Dallas pest control company] [specializing in wasp removal].

What you say about yourself only goes so far. What really matters is what the broader web says about you. And your citation descriptions are a golden opportunity to fix outdated messaging and emphasize things you probably haven’t thought about in years.

I talked about this and more with Dan Leibrandt from the Local Marketing Secrets Podcast. Check out the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.

In 2026, your local SEO agency MUST diversify.
Joy showed this chart in a recent livestream we did together in December. It reflects a steady decline in clicks-to-call from Google Business Profiles over the last 2 years.

Businesses are now getting fewer leads from the local pack because:

- Local Services Ads look almost identical to organic local results, and they’re siphoning off leads
- AI Overviews are taking up more space at the top
- the local pack now appears lower on the page than it did before
- people increasingly use other channels for local searches (YouTube, ChatGPT, TikTok, etc.)

So, it’s high time local SEO agencies diversified their services beyond just website and GBP management.

In 2026 you need to help your clients drive leads through additional channels:

- Long form vidoes on YouTube
- Short form videos on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube
- Social media marketing
- Reddit/Quora engagement
- AI SEO
- Digital PR
- and I’m sorry, but you probably have to start offering PPC (especially Local Services Ads).

At the end of the day, businesses don’t really care about the Local Pack or Maps.

* They care about LEADS *

If your services aren’t generating leads, your clients will leave you for a different agency.

Are citations making a comeback? I’d say they never left.

Citations have always been important in traditional SEO. But now, with the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini, we are seeing citations increase in importance. In fact, three of the top five AI search visibility factors are citation-based.

While traditional search is heavily focused on links, with LLMs, it’s more about mentions - in other words, citations.

If you were doing SEO the right way in the past, you probably don't need to change your citation strategy much. But if you gave up on citations a long time ago and want to rank in AI search, now is the time to get your business listed on key citation sites like:

- Better Business Bureau
- Facebook, LinkedIn
- MapQuest
- Yelp
- Prominent industry-specific sites
- “Best of” lists

I recently talked about this, and a lot more, on the Local Marketing Secrets Podcast with Dan Leibrandt. Check out the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.

Founder at @Relentless Digital

Most contractors know marketing matters, but few know how to make it work.

I figured it out.

In 2020: I was helping a few local HVAC companies fix their websites and ads.
In 2021: We started getting real results, consistent calls, booked jobs, and growth that didn’t stop.
In 2022: Relentless Digital was born.
In 2024: We helped our clients hit 50%+ year-over-year growth across the board.

Now, I lead a team that helps HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors dominate their markets using digital strategies that actually work.

Here’s what we do best 👇

- Build websites that convert (not just look pretty)
- Drive leads through SEO + paid campaigns
- Help brands tell their story and own their market

Before marketing, I worked in the trades.

That’s why I get it.
I understand how hard it is to juggle calls, crews, and customers — while trying to grow.

So we built a system to do that for you.

Here’s how I can help you:
1️⃣ Follow me here on LinkedIn for weekly trade marketing insights.
2️⃣ Listen to our podcast, “The Trades Growth Show.”
3️⃣ Visit Relentless Digital if you’re ready to scale your business the right way.

If you’re serious about growth, let’s connect.
It’s time your digital presence worked as hard as you do in the field.

🐂 Let’s be relentless.

Josh Crouch 🐂🎯

99% Contractors believe local SEO is posting on Google.
But the top 1% treat it like an ecosystem, not a checklist.

This visual breaks down the Local SEO ecosystem for home service brands
The exact system behind consistent calls, reviews, and local map dominance.

Here’s what regulates it:
✅ Google Business Profile & Local Map Pack
✅ Review platforms that boost trust signals
✅ Smart on-page tools that help you rank
✅ Analytics that track what’s really working

The difference between being “listed” and being found lies in how connected these tools are.

Follow Josh Crouch 🐂🎯 for expert Local SEO tactics.

Founder & CEO at Relentless Digital | Home Services Marketing

ChatGPT won’t rank your local business by itself. 
Here’s how contractors are actually using it to win local SEO 👇 

They don't write generic prompts.
They generate hyperlocal content with specific, strategic prompts.

Here is how you can do that;
1️⃣ Ask it for service + city + near me keywords homeowners really search
2️⃣ Turn those into Google Business Profile descriptions that sound local (not robotic)
3️⃣ Write review replies that quietly reinforce keywords
4️⃣ Build service + location page outlines in minutes
5️⃣ Generate local FAQs customers already Google in emergencies
6️⃣ Fix title tags & meta descriptions without stuffing

I've been testing ChatGPT for local SEO over two years, and these 10 deliver results every time.

Feel free to customize these prompts according to your content requirements.
Save the post for reference.

Follow Josh Crouch 🐂🎯 for more insights on how to use AI for Trade businesses.

If your Local SEO reports end with we got more impressions
You still don’t have ROI.

AI-driven Local SEO doesn’t win on vanity metrics.
It wins on:
    ◾ Phone calls
    ◾ Bookings
    ◾ Form fills
    ◾ Store visits
    ◾ Revenue

If you can’t tie your Maps rankings and GBP activity to real dollars, you’re confused, not scaling.

These are the exact metrics that separate we’re visible from we’re profitable.

Save this if you manage local SEO.
Share it with a client who still thinks rankings means revenue.

Follow Josh Crouch 🐂🎯 for more local SEO updates

You Are the Master of Your Destiny

I had to pause during my webinar last week and share something that's been on my mind...

After spending 9 years in the HVAC industry and now working with over 150 contractors, I keep seeing the same pattern.

The blame game.

"Google changed the algorithm again..."
 "LSAs don't work anymore..."
 "My market is too competitive..."
 "The economy is killing my business..."
"PE is hard to compete with..."

And look, I get it. 2025 was ROUGH for a lot of you. 

Hardest year post-COVID. New equipment regulations, tariff anxiety, and homeowners not spending like they used to.

But here's what I've learned:

The contractors who crushed it this year? They stopped waiting for things to get better and started controlling what they could control.

One of my clients was convinced he had a lead problem. Spending $40K/month on ads. Always chasing more.

When I pulled his data, 44% of his qualified leads never got booked. He wasn't losing because of Google or the economy.

He was losing because of what happened after the phone rang.

We fixed his booking scripts. Trained his CSR. Set up automated follow-up.

Same market. Same competition. Same economy.

Different results.

Here's the quote I shared that hit different:

"You are the master of your destiny. Stop letting everyone else control or having that control. Take it back and realize you can do things differently. You can influence, direct, and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be."

As we head into 2026, I want you to ask yourself:

What am I blaming that I actually have control over?

Your booking rate? 
Your follow-up system? 
Your team training? 
Your database sitting there untouched?

You don't need permission to fix these things.

You don't need a better market, a new algorithm, or perfect timing.

You just need to stop waiting and start doing.

What's one thing you're taking control of in 2026?

I'd genuinely love to hear it. 👇

Have you ever thought about where you get the customers if Google deranks you?!

If you don't know the answer, this is the talk you need to hear.

Last week, we sat with Peter Murphy from Strategic Pete to discuss how contractors can build direct relationships with customers.

If you want to know how to own your customer list and build loyalty.
Watch the complete episode now. Link in the pinned comment. 👇

View company: Service Business Mastery Podcast

Search is about to change in a big way, and a lot of what service businesses rely on today won’t work the same tomorrow. 

AI is already reshaping how people find information, which means depending on search alone is getting riskier by the day. That’s why owning your audience matters. Your customer list, your relationships, and your loyalty are the few things you actually control. 

Ignore that, and you’re building on ground that can shift overnight. 📉📈

This and more real insights in the full episode, link’s right here: https://lnkd.in/dWZXV8Gk

Josh Crouch 🐂🎯
#servicebusinessmastery #leadershipinthetrades #ownyouraudience #aiforcontractors #businessmindset

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