Marla Bainbridge Business Solutions

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Ranking is nice; booked jobs are better. We align your Google profile, website, and CRM so the path from search to sched...
06/02/2026

Ranking is nice; booked jobs are better. We align your Google profile, website, and CRM so the path from search to scheduled visit takes three clicks or less.

Just sent this to my email list and you should see it too. Businesses who are invisible on Google are invisible for one ...
06/02/2026

Just sent this to my email list and you should see it too. Businesses who are invisible on Google are invisible for one reason.

Nobody ever finished setting up the profile.

The good news is that it's fixable in a 4-hour workshop, once you know the moves. That's the whole workshop.

I'm opening registration this week. Want the link first? Comment WORKSHOP and I'll make sure you get it.

Who needs a Custom app or an AI agent for your business? I am building in Claude code and lovable.
06/01/2026

Who needs a Custom app or an AI agent for your business? I am building in Claude code and lovable.

If you're not in the top three on the map, it's almost never about being good enough at your job. It's these three thing...
06/01/2026

If you're not in the top three on the map, it's almost never about being good enough at your job. It's these three things, and you can fix every one of them this week. Swipe through, save it, and start with one. https://marlabainbridge.com/gbpworkshop

The Incentive Program You Forgot AboutQuick check for business owners:Does your staff get a bonus, spiff, or recognition...
05/29/2026

The Incentive Program You Forgot About

Quick check for business owners:

Does your staff get a bonus, spiff, or recognition when a customer mentions them by name in a Google review?

If yes, you have a compliance problem — and depending on how your reviews look, you may already be losing them.

Google's 2026 update makes three things explicit that I think many business owners don't realize are connected:

You cannot incentivize reviews — directly or indirectly
You cannot ask customers to include specific content (like employee names)
Reviews that violate these rules are being identified and removed retroactively

Greg Gifford at SearchLab Digital documented this specifically — businesses offering staff bonuses tied to name mentions have built a review process that now violates guidelines on two levels at once.

My take: this isn't a technicality. It's a systemic risk to your review profile. If you've been running this kind of program, the number of reviews at risk could be significant.

Pull the incentive. Retrain the staff. Fix the process before the reviews disappear for you.

Source: SearchLab Digital (searchlabdigital.com/blog/google-review-guidelines-2026-update)

05/28/2026

If you own a local business, your social media posts are about to start showing up directly on your Google Business Profile.

I've been watching this update closely, and big credit to Darren Shaw at Whitespark and the other local SEO folks like Caleb Ulku for sharing this.

Here's what they're showing us.

Google is rolling out something called the Social Media Updates carousel. It pulls your latest posts from Facebook and Instagram directly onto your Business Profile.

It's not everywhere yet.

I actually haven't seen it on any of the profiles I manage, which is why I wanted to share this with you now, before it lands. So when it does show up, you're already ready instead of scrambling to catch up.

Here's what this means for you.

Start posting now. Post more often. And post the things that actually represent your business. Your services. Your finished projects. Your offers. Your team. The work you want to be known for, not random filler content.

f your social feed has gone quiet or it's off-topic, this is the week to fix it. Want help building a posting system that runs without you having to remember?

Comment AUTOPILOT and I will send you information about how we manage social media posts so you can automate and be ready for the Social Media Updates carousel

Your Reviews Now Feed AIHere's something most local businesses haven't connected yet:Your Google reviews are no longer j...
05/22/2026

Your Reviews Now Feed AI

Here's something most local businesses haven't connected yet:

Your Google reviews are no longer just a conversion tool. They're being pulled into AI-generated search summaries and used to determine whether your business gets recommended at all.

PinMeTo's research notes that reviews now influence AI-generated summaries and shape visibility across AI-driven discovery — not just traditional Google Maps rankings. That connection between your review profile and AI search results is getting tighter every month.

And ALM Corp's analysis of the March 2026 Core Update confirms that the same content quality standards now apply across traditional search and AI-mediated environments.

My opinion: if you've been treating reviews as a "set it and occasionally request it" part of your business, that approach is now undersized for what's actually at stake.

A strong, consistent, authentic review profile is no longer just good for your star rating. It's becoming infrastructure for how AI systems decide what to say about your business, or whether to mention you at all.

What this means practically:
— Reviews with specific details and context carry more weight
— Consistent volume matters more than periodic spikes
— Response quality matters (it's content too)
— Diversifying beyond Google is now a legitimate risk management strategy

Sources: PinMeTo (pinmeto.com/blog/why-google-reviews-removed-2026) | ALM Corp (almcorp.com/blog/google-march-2026-core-update)

The Scripted Ask Is DeadI've been telling clients to stop scripting their review requests for a long time. In 2026, it's...
05/15/2026

The Scripted Ask Is Dead

I've been telling clients to stop scripting their review requests for a long time. In 2026, it's not just bad practice, it's an explicit Google violation.

Greg Gifford at SearchLab Digital put it plainly: Google's updated guidelines now prohibit businesses from asking customers to include specific content in their reviews. That means no asking for employee names. No prompting service mentions. No keyword coaching.

Restaurants, Car dealers. Healthcare practices. Home service companies. This was our standard operating procedure for years. It's over.

And here's why I think this matters beyond just compliance: Gifford makes a point I completely agree with, it's not human nature to write a review mentioning a salesperson's first and last name unless you were coached to do it. Google's AI recognizes that pattern. It's been recognizing it for a while. Now it's enforcing against it explicitly.

The good news: the compliant approach is also the better long-term approach.

Ask neutrally. Ask consistently. Ask every customer, not just the happy ones. Let them write in their own voice. Those are the reviews that stick and the ones that actually build trust with future buyers.

Source: SearchLab Digital (searchlabdigital.com/blog/google-review-guidelines-2026-update)

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