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CouncilSoft
The CouncilSoft blog

Local SEO and AI search insights for growing businesses.

Practical guidance on Google Search, Google Maps, AI assistants and websites, written for owners in Bucks County, Philadelphia and beyond.

9 articles for google. Clear search

How to Get More Google Reviews for Your Small Business

Google Business Profile2 MIN READ

How to Get More Google Reviews for Your Small Business

Learn how to get more Google reviews for your small business with a proven system used by local businesses in Bucks County and beyond. Practical, white-hat…

Flat navy illustration of a hand holding a phone with a green check mark, filming a white work van outside a building.

Google Business Profile2 MIN READ

Google Business Profile verification: every method and how to fix a failed one

Every current verification method, what service-area businesses need to show on video, and how to fix a verification that failed or stalled.

Flat navy illustration of a blank business profile card surrounded by small tags, a wrench, a toolbox and a house icon.

Google Business Profile2 MIN READ

Google Business Profile categories for contractors and trades

The primary and secondary categories we use for roofers, HVAC, plumbers, electricians, remodelers and landscapers, and the mistakes that hold trades back.

Flat navy illustration of a phone receiving a message bubble beside a row of gold stars.

Google Business Profile2 MIN READ

How to get more Google reviews without breaking the rules

Ask every customer the same way, at the right moment, with your direct review link. Scripts by trade, plus the rules Google and the FTC enforce.

A homeowner in a basement next to the furnace, smiling at his phone as he calls a heating company.

Websites2 MIN READ

Mobile-friendly website checklist for small businesses (2026)

Tap-to-call, thumb-sized buttons, readable text, light images, Google's Core Web Vitals and forms that work on a phone: a checklist you can test today.

Flat navy illustration of a street map at night with three large location pins standing out above small houses.

Local SEO2 MIN READ

How the Google map pack picks its top 3 businesses

Relevance, distance and prominence in plain English, why rankings change block by block, and the fixes that move most local businesses up the map.

Flat navy illustration of a phone showing a business profile and star ratings beside a checklist.

Google Business Profile2 MIN READ

17 Google Business Profile fixes you can make today

The 17 Google Business Profile fixes we make first on almost every profile we audit, in the order we make them, updated for 2026.

Flat navy illustration of a star-rated review bubble and a reply bubble floating above soft hills.

Google Business Profile2 MIN READ

How to respond to Google reviews: templates for every situation

Reply templates for 5-star, mixed, unfair and fake reviews, the privacy rules for health and legal practices, and when to report a review to Google.

Flat navy illustration of a computer screen showing two answer cards, one marked with a green check mark.

AI search2 MIN READ

Does ChatGPT recommend your business? How to check, and how to fix what it gets wrong

A repeatable prompt list for checking what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode say about you, and how to fix the facts they get wrong.

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