Joy Hawkins: Why Your Clients Rank #1 But Their Phones Stopped Ringing

<p>The undisputed Queen of Local SEO, Joy Hawkins, joins Navneet Kaushal on The Agency Insider Show to break down what&#39;s actually happening in local search in 2026 — and why most agencies aren&#39;t ready for it.</p><p><br></p><p>Joy is the founder &amp; CEO of Sterling Sky, owner of LocalU, a Google Business Profile Product Expert, and a contributor to Search Engine Land. With 43 employees, zero sales team, and 100% inbound leads, she&#39;s built one of the most respected local SEO agencies in North America.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, Joy doesn&#39;t hold back. We get into:</p><p><br></p><p>→ Why your clients are ranking #1 but their phones have stopped ringing</p><p>→ How AI Local Packs are killing click-to-call and what to tell clients</p><p>→ Why rank tracking is going out the window in 2026</p><p>→ The press release tactic that can hijack an entire AI Overview overnight</p><p>→ How she runs a 43-person agency with no KPIs, no quotas, and no sales team</p><p>→ The review extortion scam every agency owner needs to know about</p><p>→ Why YouTube is the most underrated ranking signal for 2027</p><p>→ The brutal advice she gives to anyone trying to start an agency today</p><p><br></p><p>If you run an SEO agency, manage local clients, or are trying to figure out where local search is heading — this one is essential.</p><p><br></p><p>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━</p><p><br></p><p>⏱ CHAPTERS</p><p><br></p><p>00:00 Cold open</p><p>00:03 Welcome &amp; introducing Joy Hawkins</p><p>01:11 What Joy is testing right now: 2025 core updates hitting local</p><p>02:49 The biggest story in local search: AI Local Packs replacing 3-packs</p><p>03:19 What an AI Local Pack actually looks like for users</p><p>05:23 The dramatic decline in clicks &amp; call buttons</p><p>06:59 Ranking #1 but the phone isn&#39;t ringing — how to explain it to clients</p><p>08:54 The pay-to-play shift: should agencies add Google Ads &amp; LSAs?</p><p>10:35 Do PPC and SEO actually compound?</p><p>12:09 Building a local SEO empire: Sterling Sky, LocalU, Ranking Academy</p><p>14:21 From maternity leave to 43 employees: hardest inflection point</p><p>16:25 Why Sterling Sky has no KPIs, no sales quotas, no financial projections</p><p>18:49 The education business model — why events break even on purpose</p><p>20:04 Hiring for a 100% remote agency — the #1 trait Joy looks for</p><p>21:52 Why Sterling Sky has no separate sales team</p><p>24:00 Review extortion scams — what they look like &amp; how to handle them</p><p>26:23 The &quot;Most Relevant&quot; reviews algorithm — how to influence it</p><p>28:22 Minimum review count, the &quot;10 reviews&quot; ranking boost</p><p>29:29 Review velocity vs total count — what really matters</p><p>32:29 Content strategy in the age of AI — finding gaps competitors missed</p><p>34:53 GBP services — do you really need a page for each?</p><p>36:43 Entity creation, schema, and what actually moves the needle</p><p>38:15 Local SEO for AI &amp; LLMs — Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews</p><p>40:16 The press release comeback — why they shine for AI</p><p>42:39 Press release frequency, distribution services &amp; map embeds</p><p>45:15 Is local SEO a growing or shrinking industry?</p><p>47:14 The #1 ranking signal Joy is betting on for 2027</p><p>49:31 Trust, consistency &amp; execution — winning local SEO in 2026</p><p>50:44 Rapid Fire Round</p><p>54:36 Joy&#39;s #1 advice for agency owners feeling stuck</p><p>55:48 Wrap up</p><p><br></p><p>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━</p><p><br></p><p>🔗 CONNECT WITH JOY HAWKINS</p><p>Sterling Sky: https://www.sterlingsky.ca</p><p>LocalU: https://localu.org</p><p>Local Search Forum: https://localsearchforum.com</p><p>Search Engine Land column: https://searchengineland.com/author/joy-hawkins</p><p><br></p><p>━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━</p><p><br></p><p>🎙 THE AGENCY INSIDER SHOW</p><p>Hosted by Navneet Kaushal — Founder &amp; CEO of PageTraffic, an SEO agency serving 10,000+ clients across 36+ countries since