Greetings LMTs,

I wanted to take some of your time and bring you some updates on Google Business marketing tools and AI.

Two years ago, Torey Felkey, a digital marketing strategist from Bainbridge Island, presented a comprehensive tutorial on how to take advantage of your Google Business Profile using free tools to get your business to the top of the results when someone in your area searches for "massage therapist near me." You can watch the recorded video here. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth your time.

I spent two hours the other day with Torey talking about how AI is becoming more integrated into the search process. As she pointed out in her presentation two years ago, Google and most search engines share one goal: returning the best answer. With AI now built into search, you can imagine how much data these systems review to find it.

So here is what you need to know: recent activity has become an increasingly important signal. Industry research on AI search shows that recently updated content gets cited far more often — in one study, nearly a quarter of the content featured in Google's AI Overviews was less than 30 days old. Google itself now advises businesses to keep their Business Profile information up to date for AI features in Search.

A profile or website that hasn't been touched in months sends the wrong message. Stale information makes these systems less confident your hours, services, and availability are still accurate — and that can cost you visibility.

One honest caveat: freshness is one signal among many, not the whole game. Reviews, engagement, and accurate information still carry serious weight, and the updates need to be meaningful. A new photo of your space, a note about a seasonal special, an updated service listing — those count. Changing a date and calling it a day does not. AI systems do pay attention to whether an update has substance, so give them something real to notice.

The good news is this is easy. A few minutes a month keeping your profile current works alongside all the SEO groundwork you've already done, not instead of it.

So if your business depends on clients finding you through your website or a simple search for "massage near me," don't let your business hibernate in the search results due to a lack of regular updates.

Carl Wilson

WSMTA President