If you’ve been paying attention to local search lately, things have been moving fast. In just the past week or so, Google made a change that’s already generating a lot of noise in the SEO world — and I want to break it down in plain English before the rumor mill gets ahead of it.
Reddit Is Now Inside Google’s AI Answers
You’ve probably noticed those AI-generated summary boxes that appear at the top of Google search results. Google calls them AI Overviews. Up until now, those summaries pulled from websites and traditional web content.
That changed on May 6th.
Google announced that AI Overviews will now pull in first-hand perspectives from Reddit threads, public forums, community discussions, and blogs — and display them inside the AI summary, not buried below it. Google is calling this section “Expert Advice” or “Community Perspectives” depending on the search.
Here’s the plain-talk version of why this matters for your business: when someone searches “best roofer near me” or “HVAC company [your town],” they’re increasingly looking for what real people said — not just a polished website. Google noticed that people were adding “Reddit” to the end of searches to get honest answers, and now they’re baking that behavior directly into results.
What this means for you: your online reputation just got louder. Reviews, community mentions, and word-of-mouth that shows up anywhere online now has a path into Google’s AI answers. The businesses that show up as trusted, talked-about, community-connected — those are the ones that win.
GBP Suspensions Are Spiking — Check Your Profile Today
I’m going to be direct about this one because I dealt with it firsthand with a client this week: Google Business Profile suspensions have been spiking over the past several days, and local SEO experts aren’t entirely sure if it’s a bug or an enforcement wave. Reports started surfacing around May 5th of profiles being suspended in connection with account-level restrictions.
If your Google Business Profile is your front door — and for most of my contractor clients, it absolutely is — a suspension is the equivalent of someone putting a “Permanently Closed” sign on your door without telling you.
Here’s what I want every client to do right now:
- Log in to your Google Business Profile and confirm your listing is active
- Make sure the Google account tied to your GBP is in good standing
- If you’ve recently changed your business name, address, or category, double-check that nothing triggered a review
If you see a “Suspended” flag or a sudden drop in profile views and calls, reach out to me immediately. These situations are recoverable, but the faster you act, the better.
One Good Change: You Can Now Schedule GBP Posts in Advance
Not everything out of Google this cycle is a fire drill. Google quietly rolled out native post scheduling for Google Business Profiles — meaning you can now plan your posts in advance and have them publish automatically. Multi-location businesses can push a single post to all their listings at once.
For my clients who’ve heard me say “you need to post to your GBP consistently,” this removes the biggest excuse: forgetting. You can sit down once and line up a month’s worth of posts. That’s a real improvement.
The Bottom Line
Local search in 2026 is more dynamic than it’s ever been. The businesses that stay visible are the ones staying active — consistent GBP posts, current photos, real reviews, and a profile that’s clean and compliant.
If any of this has you wondering whether your Google presence is in good shape, let’s talk. That’s exactly what I do.
