Local SEO from someone who reads the source code.

I'm Kevin Pauls, a Platinum Product Expert for Google Business Profile — Google's own recognition program. I help local businesses get found on Google, I build the websites and the software that make it repeatable, and I share what I learn along the way. Founder of Simple SEO Marketing and Local Visibility Lab, based in Kelowna, BC.

See the work → About me

Platinum Current Product Expert level for Google Business Profile — the second-highest of Google's five
2 Companies founded: Simple SEO Marketing (agency) and Local Visibility Lab (platform + community)
$50K → $400M+ Annual revenue range of the businesses I've worked with, from mom-and-pop shops to national brands
CA + US Clients served directly, and behind the scenes through marketing agencies and software platforms

Credential · Google Product Experts

I'm a Platinum Product Expert for Google Business Profile.

It's the thing behind everything else on this page: the agency, the platform, and the reinstatement work other agencies bring me in for.

Google Product Experts is Google's own program for independent contributors who know a product deeply and spend their time helping other people in Google's official help communities. There are five membership levels. I'm currently at Platinum, the second-highest, in the Google Business Profile community.

Google defines Platinum as seasoned members who contribute beyond answering questions — mentoring, creating content, and more. In practice that means I'm in the Business Profile Help Community working through the things that actually break: failed video verifications, hard suspensions, address and service-area eligibility, policy edge cases that don't have a documented answer yet.

You can't buy it and you can't shortcut it. It's awarded by Google, it's tied to sustained public work, and it can be reviewed. That's exactly why it's worth something.

See my Product Expert profile → What the levels mean

The five levels

Bronze Granted automatically
Silver Developing product knowledge
Gold Trusted, knowledgeable contributors
Platinum Kevin is here Seasoned members who contribute beyond answering — mentoring, creating content, and more
Diamond Product mastery; helps users and other Product Experts

Level names and definitions are Google's. Diamond is the top level; Platinum is the one below it.

What it means for you
The person looking at your profile has spent years on the hardest version of this problem, in public, where the answers are checkable.
Why agencies bring me in
Agencies that specialize in local SEO bring me in to consult on Google Business Profile issues — reinstatements, suspensions, and the cases where a profile is already off the map.
What it does not mean
No special access, no back channel, and no guaranteed reinstatement. Product Experts are independent contributors, not Google employees. Anyone promising otherwise is selling you something.

What I do

Four things, one thread: getting local businesses understood by Google.

You want people to find you online. That only happens when Google understands who you are, what you do, and where you do it. Everything below is in service of that.

Product · Local Visibility Lab

Equip the agency. Empower the owner.

Local Visibility Lab started as the internal tooling my agency used every day to manage client Google Business Profiles: tracking changes, answering reviews at scale, and dealing with the suspensions that are unavoidable once you manage enough profiles.

It's now a platform for agencies (white-label) and multi-location brands, with a practitioner community and a weekly group call where real profiles and real problems get worked through live. It still runs my agency's work. That's the point.

Explore the platform → For agencies

01
Every profile in one dashboardChange tracking, review response, posts, and reporting across all the locations you manage.
02
Reinstatement toolkitReadiness audits that catch issues before Google does, and AI document review that checks evidence against Google's guidelines.
03
White-label for agenciesYour brand on the dashboard and the reports, with client workspaces kept cleanly separate.
04
Community + weekly callsSuspensions, policy questions, and optimization problems, worked through live with other practitioners.

Agency · Simple SEO Marketing

The agency: local SEO that works.

Simple SEO Marketing is the agency I founded in Kelowna. We manage Google Business Profiles, run local SEO, handle verification and reinstatement problems, and build and optimize websites for service businesses across Canada and the United States.

simpleseo.biz →

Consulting · Worked with

Mostly behind the scenes, through agencies and platforms.

Most of my consulting runs through marketing agencies and software companies you may recognize, and I consult for local SEO agencies on Google Business Profile issues. That's given me a look inside a wide range of industries and business sizes.