# sme-local-seo — Changelog

## v1.0 — 2026-05-08

**Initial build at Mastery tier.**

### Build inputs
- 49 transcripts processed (52 logged, 3 transcription failures)
- ~1.1MB of cleaned transcript content
- 89 claims extracted across all videos
- 137 concepts referenced
- 28 claims web-search-verified
- 75 canonical questions across 10 coverage areas

### Anchor sources
- Whitespark 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors report (full breakdown video)
- Sterling Sky live audit content (Joy Hawkins + Liz + Carrie Hill + Colan Nielsen)
- Whitespark Local Update episodic series (E11-E29)
- Edward Sturm interview with Darren Shaw (Local SEO Masterclass)
- SearchLab content (Greg Gifford)
- Near Media (Mike Blumenthal cross-citations)

### Coverage status
- Total canon questions: 75
- Rigorous coverage (≥3 confirming sources): 42% (lower than ideal — refresh in Q3 should improve)
- Single-source plausible answers: 30%
- Field-disputed (multiple sources, divergent answers): 15%
- Awaiting more research: 13%

### Major canon decisions
- Primary GBP category as #1 ranking factor (Whitespark consensus; Sterling Sky disputes ranking-order in favor of business name but agrees both heavily weighted)
- Vicinity update (Nov-Dec 2021) recognized as the dominant proximity-weighting era
- Q&A deprecation confirmed (API discontinued Nov 3, 2025; public phaseout Dec 3, 2025; Ask Maps replacement)
- Title tag length canon ruled "field-disputed" — operators must test on their own data

### Notable surprises during extraction
1. **Hours-as-ranking-signal jumped to #5** in 2026 LSRF — was barely tracked before. Operator implication: extending hours can be a high-ROI ranking lift.
2. **Citations re-rose for AI search visibility** — opposite direction from local pack; LLMs cite broader-web presence heavily.
3. **GBP services list jumped to #22** — Joy Hawkins's research validated by Darren Shaw; previously thought to have no ranking impact.

### Confidence-thin areas (flagged for refresh)
1. **Bilingual / multilingual local SEO** — canon has no targeted research on quasi-bilingual metros.
2. **Service-area page anti-pattern boundary** — exactly how substantive a city-page must be to escape Helpful Content; boundary is fuzzy.
3. **AI search visibility tactics** — entire frontier; field consensus thin; canon will need quarterly updates.
4. **YMYL local divergence** — heightened scrutiny acknowledged but specific tactics for medical/legal/financial under-mined.

### Known gaps
- EU/GDPR review handling not in scope
- TikTok/Instagram local search behavior emergent — not in canon
- Schema beyond LocalBusiness type lightly mined
- Cannabis / restricted-vertical specifics not addressed

### Refresh schedule
- **Quarterly refresh recommended** due to local SEO algorithm volatility.
- **Next refresh checkpoint: 2026-08-08** (Q3 refresh)
- Triggers for off-cycle refresh: major Google algorithm update, major GBP feature launch/deprecation, AI Overview behavior shifts

### Build wall-time
- Phase A (scope dialog): 5 min
- Phase B (practitioner discovery): 15 min
- Phase C (canon seed): 5 min
- Phase D (video discovery + selection): 10 min
- Phase E (transcription, 5 batches of 10 in parallel): 25 min
- Phase F+G (extraction): 35 min
- Phase J (verification): 10 min
- Phase L+N (synthesis, persona, materialize): 20 min
- **Total: ~2.5 hours wall-clock** (well under 5-hour estimate; auto-mode parallelization paid off)

### Practitioner credibility ledger
- Joy Hawkins / Sterling Sky — 0.7 → adjusted upward post-verification
- Darren Shaw / Whitespark — 0.7 → adjusted upward post-verification
- Greg Gifford / SearchLab — 0.65
- Mike Blumenthal / Near Media — 0.65
- Carrie Hill / Sterling Sky — 0.6
- Andrew Shotland / LocalSEOGuide — 0.6
- Mary Bowling / Ignitor Digital — 0.55
- Aaron Weiche / Leadferno — 0.55
- Mike Ramsey / Nifty Marketing — 0.55
- Colan Nielsen / Sterling Sky — 0.55

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## Future versions (template)

### v1.1 — [date] (Q3 refresh)
- Net-new videos studied since 2026-05-08
- Canon updates from new content
- Practitioner credibility adjustments based on continued verification
- New algorithm updates incorporated