LeadSquirrel

04/29/2026

Google's Late Q1 2026 update made a couple super important changes to their rules for reviews, and following them will help you from an SEO standpoint as well (I'll explain that at the end).

Here’s what changed (and what actually matters for your business):

• You can’t ask customers to mention your techs by name anymore
• You can’t hand someone an iPad or have them leave a review in person
• You can’t “filter” customers (happy = Google review, unhappy = private feedback... we used to do this one a lot)
• You can’t offer discounts, gift cards, or incentives for reviews — or to remove bad ones

And yes, Google is actively removing reviews and/or suspending profiles that break these rules. This lines up directly with the Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 crackdown on fake and manipulated reviews.

The era of “review hacks” is over. (Or that's what Google wants you think)

Car dealerships and furniture stores ruined the fun for everyone. They're the biggest offenders of incentivized reviews. Just like lead gen companies like Augie and the myriad of others that exist across industries forced Google's hand in requiring video verifications, now Google's getting appropriately strict on reviews.

So what actually works now?

• Send a follow-up text/email AFTER the job is done
• Give every customer the same chance to leave a review
• Make it easy (link, QR code, etc.)

That’s it.

The companies that win moving forward are the ones with legitimate services, clear followups, and presenting an honest opportunity for customers to leave a review.

Now for the SEO implications

I mentioned above that these changes could actually help your SEO. We're seeing more and more evidence that Google's AI overview (as well as OpenAI's and Perplexity's language models) are extracting helpful info from customer reviews and sharing those tidbits in AI overviews.

This is where you can gain a little benefit from Google's changes. You can't ask for a name drop, and you can't incentivize the review in any way. You also can't get friends and family reviews, because Google is also tracking whether or not a customer interacts with any of your assets prior to reviewing.

What we've switched to is the following review request script:

"Hi {customer name},

When you leave us a Google review, can you please mention the problem you hired us to solve and the time of day we came to solve it? This helps us improve and maintain our services. Thanks!"

This language doesn't prompt the review for tailored information (as you're still leaving it up to the customer what they say they hired you for) and it doesn't ask explicitly for a technician's name to be included. With this request, you're in the clear in Google's eyes while also getting extractable info in the review itself.

And one last note related to SEO.

SEO for AI (known as AI SEO, AIO, AEO, GEO) IS JUST SEO. All of the things that make you more likely to show up in AI search (like citations, brand mentions, reasonably extractable content, entity alignment, and schema markup) are all things you should be doing as a foundational part of your SEO efforts anyway. Good SEO gets you ranked everywhere. OK I'm off my soapbox now 😂

07/15/2025

SEO doesn’t need to be complicated.

Tell Google what you do (on your website).

Show Google who you are (via citations and proper GBP verification).

Prove to Google that people trust you (via reviews and backlinks).

The more Google trusts you, the faster your SEO efforts will take hold.

See the image? Every dot on the map shows the rank of this client for the phrase “wildlife removal.” If the dot says “1” then they’re the first result. 1-3 is in the map pack (the most important place to rank). Top 10 is excellent. 20+ isn’t even on the list.

In the course of one day, we took over the map and got this client ranking in every corner of their target area.

LeadSquirrel is 🔥. Business as usual.

AnimalControlMarketing.com

04/07/2025

Well, it finally started. We're seeing accounts lose access to Call-Only ads! Read this blog post to see how this affects you and what you should do about it.

If you’ve been relying on Google’s Call-Only Ads to generate leads for your pest control or wildlife removal business, it’s time to pivot. Google has officially begun phasing out Call-Only Ads, a format many service providers—especially in high-intent, emergency-driven industries like ours.....

11/28/2024

Grateful for every opportunity we are given 🙏

11/11/2024

This Veterans Day, we recognize and extend our gratitude to those who have served our country.

11/05/2024

Ellis locked in his vote! (He isn’t registered, so we had to build a ballot box just for him… don’t tell him)

10/31/2024

Struggling to get your pest control business noticed online? Our latest blog post reveals the ultimate SEO strategies for pest control to boost your local visibility and rank higher on Google! From targeted keyword research to optimizing your Google Business Profile, we’ve got you covered.

📖 Read now and start attracting more local clients today:

Boost your local visibility with these SEO for pest control strategies. Learn proven steps to rank higher on Google and attract more local clients today!

10/17/2024

Successful businesses seek perfection & dedication in 3 core places: craft, customer service, and employee satisfaction. Meir Ginsburg wants the best of all three for Green Arrow Pest Solutions.

It's for this reason that I'm honored to have him on as the very first guest of LeadSquirrel's Catch & Convert podcast.

Give this a listen and snag some valuable insights from Meir as he takes us through his journey into the pest & wildlife world, from getting his feet wet to owning a growing, successful pest control company.

Meir, thanks again for being on the show!

In this episode of the Catch & Convert Podcast, host Tate Morgan sits down with Meir Ginsberg, founder of Green Arrow Pest Solutions in Phoenix, AZ, to explo...

09/20/2024

🦝

09/16/2024

Without a doubt, this is one of the most difficult markets to crack.

This client is doing everything right: a new location, a handful of 5-star reviews, strong on-page content, and a few relevant local citations.

Each dot on the maps below represents a search for the phrase "wildlife removal." The numbers in the dots show their ranking at the time of the search. A dot with a 1 means they were the top result, while a dot with 20+ indicates they aren't even showing up.

In April (and May, though the scan was run in April), they barely appeared anywhere.

Today, they’re in the Top 10 across much of their target area. With some focused efforts on building out localized content for the north side of this map, they should be able to dominate the entire region.

animalcontrolmarketing.com