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

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-agency-insider-show-7021946/joy-hawkins-why-your-clients-rank-1-but-their-phones-stopped-ringing
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-agency-insider-show-7021946/joy-hawkins-why-your-clients-rank-1-but-their-phones-stopped-ringing.md
Podcast: [The Agency Insider Show](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-agency-insider-show-7021946)
Published: 2026-04-30T14:43:22+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/navneet-kaushal/episodes/Joy-Hawkins-Why-Your-Clients-Rank-1-But-Their-Phones-Stopped-Ringing-e3imnfl
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/f8469864/podcast/play/119282613/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-30%2F423193330-44100-2-de35b14affd3b.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-agency-insider-show-7021946/episodes/joy-hawkins-why-your-clients-rank-1-but-their-phones-stopped-ringing
Duration seconds: 3416

## Resource

The undisputed Queen of Local SEO, Joy Hawkins, joins Navneet Kaushal on The Agency Insider Show to break down what's actually happening in local search in 2026 — and why most agencies aren't ready for it. Joy is the founder & 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's built one of the most respected local SEO agencies in North America. In this episode, Joy doesn't hold back. We get into: → Why your clients are ranking #1 but their phones have stopped ringing → How AI Local Packs are killing click-to-call and what to tell clients → Why rank tracking is going out the window in 2026 → The press release tactic that can hijack an entire AI Overview overnight → How she runs a 43-person agency with no KPIs, no quotas, and no sales team → The review extortion scam every agency owner needs to know about → Why YouTube is the most underrated ranking signal for 2027 → The brutal advice she gives to anyone trying to start an agency today If you run an SEO agency, manage local clients, or are trying to figure out where local search is heading — this one is essential. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:03 Welcome & introducing Joy Hawkins 01:11 What Joy is testing right now: 2025 core updates hitting local 02:49 The biggest story in local search: AI Local Packs replacing 3-packs 03:19 What an AI Local Pack actually looks like for users 05:23 The dramatic decline in clicks & call buttons 06:59 Ranking #1 but the phone isn't ringing — how to explain it to clients 08:54 The pay-to-play shift: should agencies add Google Ads & LSAs? 10:35 Do PPC and SEO actually compound? 12:09 Building a local SEO empire: St…

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