E1085: Caleb Ulku joins to talk about one of the most practical local SEO systems I've heard in a while: the "Core 30."

The idea is simple: stop treating your website and Google Business Profile like two separate things.

Caleb's approach is to build the website so it directly supports the Google Business Profile.

Your GBP categories, services, landing page, location pages, service pages, and internal links should all send Google the same clear signal about what your business does and where it does it.

Caleb says that for many local businesses, this ends up being around 30 pages. That is why he calls it the Core 30.

We also get into how AI is changing local SEO. Not in a vague way. Caleb explains how Google, Gemini, ChatGPT, and other AI systems are likely to read local business websites, what they need to see, and why messy websites may become a bigger problem as AI agents become more involved in search.

In this episode, we cover: - Why Caleb moved away from non-local informational SEO after ChatGPT came out - Why he now treats the Google Business Profile as the "money page" for local SEO - How the Core 30 works for plumbers, lawyers, home services, and other local businesses - How to structure service pages around your GBP categories and services - Why many local businesses are underusing secondary GBP categories - Why keyword stuffing GBP services does not make sense anymore - How to think about location pages for multi-location businesses - Why Caleb cares more about internal linking than URL structure - Where the keyword still matters on a local service page - Why the first paragraph of a local page should not be a company history lesson - How AI changes the way local business content should be written - What "attribute matching" means for ChatGPT, Gemini, and local recommendations - Why local pages need real local detail, not copied city-swap content - How Caleb uses rank maps to decide what content to build next - The difference between topical relevance and geographical relevance - Why some blog posts bring traffic but do not help local rankings - How to build content around service intent instead of empty informational searches - Why Caleb likes local sponsorship links, chambers of commerce, charities, and events - How he found a $250 sponsorship link from a UT Austin TEDx page - Why video may matter more for local SEO as Gemini becomes more important in Maps - When AI images are better than no images, and why real client images are still better - Why phone answer rate can affect local SEO performance - What happens when someone calls your business, hangs up, and calls a competitor - How Caleb thinks about AI answering services for local businesses - How to ask for reviews in a way that actually gets people to respond - Why trust content may become more important as AI reads more of your site

This is a very tactical local SEO conversation.

If you work with local businesses, run a local SEO agency, or own a business that depends on Google Maps rankings, this episode will give you a clearer way to think about site structure, GBP optimization, content, reviews, links, and AI search.

⭐️ Caleb Ulku on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@calebulku

💎 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/

00:00 Meet Caleb Ulku 01:16 From Exxon to Freedom 03:06 First SEO Lessons 06:06 Upwork to Big Brands 09:28 Pivot to Local SEO 11:12 Core 30 Blueprint 15:03 Multi Location Strategy 16:47 GBP Mistakes to Fix 18:43 URLs and Internal Links 22:31 Writing for AI Agents 27:05 Hyperlocal Content Research 30:44 AI Images and EXIF 32:34 Video for Gemini Maps 35:40 Local Links via Sponsorships 38:22 Backlinks for SaaS 39:52 Blog SEO Pitfalls 40:42 Traffic vs Local Calls 42:44 Rank Map Metrics 44:58 Topical Relevance Threshold 46:54 Geographic Content Strategy 48:30 AI Lowers Content Costs 49:48 Trust Content for LLMs 52:53 Press Releases for AI 54:37 Phone Answering Impacts Rankings 59:59 AI Phone Agents 01:03:26 Review Strategy for Ask Maps 01:05:44 Avoiding Review Scams 01:09:13 Rebuilding an Agency 01:13:25 Scaling to Seven Figures 01:16:15 Future of SEO Trust 01:21:22 Digital PR and Linkable Stunts 01:24:56 Final Thanks and Where to Find

The Edward Show. The #1 search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/

#localseo #localmarketing #searchengineoptimization #googlebusinessprofile