GatherUp April Newsletter | AI Is Rewriting Local Search. Is Your Reputation Ready?
Hey, Reputation Warriors!
May is here, and so is the moment you’ve been preparing for. AmpUp 2026 kicks off May 13th, and if you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time. This month, we’re also unpacking the growing threat of review fraud farms, sharing a fresh webinar replay on AI-powered local search, and catching you up on the latest from the GatherUp blog. Let’s get into it.
🎉 AmpUp 2026 Is Almost Here — May 13th & 14th
This is it. GatherUp’s annual virtual conference is less than two weeks away, and the lineup is built for the people actually doing the work, agency marketers, multi-location brands, and business owners who want real frameworks, not theory.
Two days. Three certified tracks. Zero fluff.
AmpUp 2026 is free, fully virtual, and designed so every session is something you can apply immediately.
What’s on the agenda:
- How AI is reshaping local reputation – and what you need to do about it now
- Workflows for AI-powered review responses that actually sound like your brand
- Connecting reviews to revenue, rankings, and customer retention
- How to spot, document, and dispute fake reviews before they do damage
- Selling Review Defense as a premium agency offering
- And much more across both days
Whether you’re managing reputation for dozens of client locations or finally ready to stop leaving reviews to chance for your own business, AmpUp was built for you.
👉 Spots are limited. Register now
🎙️ Webinar Recap: From Reviews to AI Results How Your Reviews Are Shaping AI Search — Watch On Demand
Your customers are asking AI about your business. Do you know what it’s saying back?
In this session, GatherUp’s Director of Rev Ops and Growth Annie Jackson walks through how AI platforms are using your reviews and listings to rank, or bury, your locations, and what multi-location brands need to do to take control of their narrative before competitors do.
🎯 Key takeaways:
- How AI platforms use your reviews and listings to surface (or sideline) your locations
- The exact reputation signals you need to control across every location
- A practical framework for standardizing your reputation strategy at scale
- What to fix first if your brand’s AI narrative is already off-track
- Live Q&A insights from real multi-location brand challenges
Do You Know Where Your Reputation Actually Stands?
You’ve worked hard for every real review but what if some of the ones hurting you shouldn’t even be there? The free reputation audit scans your Google Business Profile and flags suspicious reviews that may violate Google’s Terms of Service, so you know exactly what can be challenged and removed. Stop letting fake or unfair reviews define you.
What you’ll walk away with:
- A clear snapshot of your current reputation health
- Gaps and risks you may not even know exist
- A starting point for a real defense strategy before you need one
Does Your Business Actually Show Up in AI Search?
Here’s something most businesses don’t realize yet: AI tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews are pulling from your business listings to decide who to recommend, and incomplete or inaccurate profiles are quietly telling customers (and AI) to choose your competitors instead. Your listings are the infrastructure behind your visibility, and most brands have no idea what shape they’re in.
Here’s what’s at stake:
- Incomplete profiles signal low trust to both consumers and AI
- Errors and inconsistencies actively push people toward competitors
- Clean, complete listings = more visibility in the searches that matter now
📚 Must-Read: What’s New on the GatherUp Blog
Review Recency as Reputation Defense
Fresh reviews aren’t just good for star ratings; they’re your best protection against both fake review attacks and AI invisibility. Miriam Ellis breaks down why recency is one of the most powerful and underutilized reputation signals you have.
Read the full post →
Counting the True Cost of Unmanaged Fake Reviews.
Fake reviews aren’t just annoying, they’re expensive. This piece quantifies the real financial damage review fraud is doing to businesses across home services, legal, and medical sectors, and makes the case for why defense can’t be an afterthought. Read the full post →
Review Fraud Farms: How to Protect Your Business from Paid Fake Reviewers.
Review fraud isn’t just individuals with a grudge anymore; it’s a global, organized, and increasingly AI-powered industry. Miriam Ellis goes inside how these operations work, how to spot the warning signs on your own profiles and your competitors’, and what tools you need to fight back at scale.
Read the full post →
Want more insights like this? Explore the full GatherUp blog for the latest on reputation management, local SEO, and agency growth.
💬 We’re Here to Help
Whether you’re finalizing your AmpUp registration, running a review fraud scan before the conference, or figuring out how your reputation stacks up in AI-powered local search, our team is ready. Chat with us!
See you at AmpUp,
Team GatherUp