If you run a small business in places like Gresham, Oregon—or really, any city where local competition matters—keeping up with Google might seem like something only big agencies or tech-savvy marketers do. But the truth is, the way Google changes its search engine has a direct impact on how easily customers can find you online.
That’s why it’s worth paying attention to the latest updates from Google Search News, a video series hosted by John Mueller, who works on the Search team at Google. In the most recent episode, John laid out several changes that matter for everyday business owners. This post breaks them down in plain English and explains how they connect to local SEO—and why now is a great time to double-check your visibility in Google.
A New Look at Search Console: Hourly Data and More
One of the most useful updates is that Google Search Console now shows hourly performance data for the past 24 hours. For years, Search Console only gave us a 1–2 day delay in reporting, so being able to see how your website performs almost in real-time is a big shift. If you’re running a promotion or just launched new content, you can now track how quickly it’s picked up—and whether it’s working.
Google also added smarter notifications around crawling problems. In simple terms, crawling is how Google discovers and reads the pages on your site. If 5% or more of your pages suddenly become inaccessible (because of server issues, broken code, or other problems), Google will let you know. That’s important because if your site can’t be crawled, it won’t show up in search results. For a local business, that’s the equivalent of turning off your open sign.
Cleaning Up Outdated Schema and Language
Another update involves structured data—specifically, the sitelinks search box schema, which Google is no longer supporting. If your website once showed a little search box under its listing in Google, that was powered by this schema. Google now ignores that markup, so if your site has it, don’t worry—it’s not hurting anything, but it’s not doing anything either.
Interestingly, Google is also working to modernize its own communication. It’s moving away from old-school terms like “webmaster” and refreshing the way it presents data and reports in tools like Search Console. This is a good move, especially for business owners who aren’t developers and just want things to make sense.
Behind the Scenes: Crawling, Indexing, and Technical SEO
If you’re the kind of business owner who likes to know how things work, Google also released a set of technical articles that go deep into how their systems crawl websites. While some of it is advanced, the key takeaway is simple: if your site is hard to navigate or loads slowly, Google might not index it properly—and that means less visibility.
Things like faceted navigation (filters, tags, or layered categories) can create issues if not managed well. Google also explained how it uses HTTP caching and how its bots handle duplicate pages. If that sounds overwhelming, just know this: the structure of your site, how it loads, and how pages are connected matters more than ever.
What It Means for Local Search and Small Businesses
So how does this all tie back to Gresham, or any other small-town market?
Local SEO is built on two things: making it easy for customers to find you online and making it easy for Google to understand and trust your business. These updates—especially the improvements in Search Console—give small business owners better tools to do both.
The crawling alerts and hourly performance data are particularly useful if you’re running local promotions, updating your site often, or trying to figure out why traffic dipped after a slow week. And if you’re using structured data (like LocalBusiness schema), make sure it’s still valid. Google’s move to retire the sitelinks schema is a reminder that what helped in the past might not help now.
Another thing to note: even Google’s own team is embracing AI. In a fun twist, John Mueller admitted that he used AI to help write the episode script. That’s not just a gimmick—it shows how AI is being baked into every part of content creation and search. But don’t take that as a green light to use generic AI blog posts. Google still values originality, clarity, and usefulness—especially for local content.
If you run a local business and you haven’t taken a serious look at your website in a while, now’s a great time to do so. These changes show that Google is trying to make it easier for small business owners to succeed—if they take a little time to understand what’s working and what isn’t.
Q&A: What Local Business Owners Are Asking
How do I know if my website is being crawled properly?
Check Google Search Console. Use the URL Inspection Tool to see if key pages (like your homepage, contact page, and service pages) are indexed. If they aren’t, there could be a technical issue that needs fixing.
Do I need to do anything about the sitelinks search box change?
No. If you had that structured data on your site, you can leave it, but it won’t do anything now. Just focus on keeping your LocalBusiness schema and contact information accurate and consistent.
Can these changes help my site show up in the map pack?
Indirectly, yes. Better indexing and structured data help Google connect the dots between your website and your Google Business Profile. This can influence local visibility, especially for service-based businesses.
Is it worth hiring someone to help with this?
If you have the time and interest, you can do a lot of this yourself using free tools. But if you’re busy running your business, hiring someone to clean up your SEO, implement structured data, or fix crawling issues could be a smart investment.
What should I do first if I haven’t done any of this?
Start by verifying your site with Google Search Console. It’s free, and you’ll get data within a couple of days. From there, check your core pages for errors and make sure your Google Business Profile is fully updated.
Final Thoughts
Google’s latest updates aren’t just for tech geeks—they’re a reminder that every business with a website is part of the search game, whether they know it or not. These tools and changes are designed to help you understand how your site performs and where you can improve, especially when it comes to local search.
If you’re ready to get your site in shape—or just want someone to take a look—reach out here. Let’s make sure your business shows up exactly where it should: right in front of your next customer.
