For the marketers who pack SPF 50 and a strategy primer.
Ready to finally skim those resources you bookmarked back in Q1? This roundup is for you. We’ve handpicked the best no-fluff reads to brush up on the fundamentals of reputation management—without frying your brain in the sun. Think of this as your summer refresher course in how online reviews, feedback flows, and customer experience really work in local marketing.
1. The Truth About How Reviews Impact Rankings on Google: What Joy Hawkins Wants You to Know
Start your summer reading here, with a timely reminder from Joy Hawkins that “we’re not just building profiles – we’re building trust.” Joy’s agency is celebrated for its ongoing local SEO case studies and this piece summarizes tons of things they’ve learned about the impact of reviews on your Google rankings.
2. The Most Underrated Local Ranking Factor in 2025
Spoiler alert: it’s reviews! Come read and watch Whitespark’s Darren Shaw codify why reviews need to be at the center of your plate, all the time. As the longtime publisher of the annual Local Search Ranking Factors Report, Darren speaks from experience and is well worth listening to.
3. The Leading Characteristics of Local Business Review Writers
Customer-centric brands are local search winners, and one of the best things your business can do is ground itself in a data-based understanding of the motivations, habits and preferences of review writers. This piece from Miriam Ellis summarizes everything GatherUp learned about reviewers from our survey of 1,200+ US consumers. She’s put in the work so you don’t have to. Kick back with this info-packed read to start earning more reviews from your community.
4. How to Respond to Local Business Reviews, Based on Data
Want to boost customer retention instead of having to spend so much to acquire new leads? Powerful owner responses can truly stem churn when you know what customers need from you to trust your brand again after a negative first experience. Miriam Ellis summarizes all GatherUp’s proprietary data into an actionable response strategy that could make your summer far more profitable.
Special for agencies: Mél Attia talks with Joy Hawkins, Jim McDannald and Ron Callis about why marketing firms that aren’t including rep management services in their offerings in 2025 are doomed to being left behind. Trying to convince your boss that your team needs to expand your packages? The data and quotes here will make your argument for you.
6. How to Price Reputation Management as a Digital Agency — and Why It Must be a Long-Term Service
Did the last piece help you interest your agency’s leadership in finally adding rep management services to your client packages? Next up, Mél Attia will quickly teach you how to price your new offerings, and an awesome thing about expanding into this area of marketing is that it’s highly sticky. You clients are always going to need these services, all the time. Good news for retention!
7. The High Cost of Review Fraud: An Economic Analysis of Consumer Harm
You might have missed this dynamite report if you were OOTO for New Year’s, and we’re resurfacing it because it’s an absolutely critical read. Greg Sterling and Robert Cavazos did a major study for The Transparency Company on the economic harm review fraud is currently causing consumers. The stats are mind-blowing and the future looks rather alarming, based on their predictions of fraud in the rep management sector. Prepare your teams and clients with these findings.
8. How to Recognize And Report Your Competitors’ GBP Review Fraud
Did you read #7? Then you now know that local business indexes are polluted with review spam. Thanks to the AI-review-fraud-nobody-wanted, experts like Curtis Boyd of the Transparency Company and Greg Sterling of NearMedia are predicting we could be seeing more fake reviews than real ones by the end of next year. Miriam Ellis provides this timely and actionable tutorial on how to spot suspicious review content and report it for removal.
9. Buying Google Reviews? Think Twice Before Google Puts You in Review Jail
Have a client who’s feeling tempted to spam their way to the top? Please, read this scary warning post from Joy Hawkins and share it with clients to help them understand how they could literally destroy their business with this shortcut to actual success. Credibility, visibility, and profitability are all on the line!
10. AI, Local Business Reputation, and Finding Your Magic Words
It’s the question everyone is asking: how do I get my local business to show up in AI-generated results, and Miriam Ellis is anxious that people will overlook the very basic recipe Rand Fishkin has offered anyone who is smart enough to follow his lead on this. Come learn how to answer this huge question every time you get asked by clients and co-workers.
11. New Google Maps App Photo/Review Carousel
This short but great Linkedin post from Darren Shaw demos this new G Maps App feature that can pull in multiple reviews based on the keywords they contain. He offers some good tips for seeking inclusion..
Tired from all this great reading? Lay back on the beach and catch this outstanding video chat between Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal, and Mél Attia on the state of local search in general. You won’t find three smarter people on this topic anywhere else on the web, and pay special attention around the 14 minute mark when Mike demos the new AI Overview reviews interface. Things really are changing in the rep management sector!
We’ll be back with another reading list for you next month! Now, go catch some waves (or a nap!).
