September 2026 Release Notes

BrightLocal now works inside Claude, so you can manage your local SEO in plain English

You can now use your BrightLocal data and tools right inside Claude. Just ask a question or tell Claude what you need in plain English; there's no need to log in separately. This helpful feature is included right in your Grow plan. 

What is the BrightLocal MCP server? It connects your BrightLocal account to AI assistants like Claude, so they can read your local SEO data and act on it for you.

What’s new?

• BrightLocal in the tools you already use. Your rankings, grid results, citations, reviews, and AI visibility sit right alongside everything else you work on in Claude. There’s no switching between tabs to find an answer.
• Manage your local SEO in plain English. Tell Claude what you need, and it gets done from the chat. Create and update locations, upload logos and photos, run reports, and order citations without opening BrightLocal.
• Client updates without the busywork. Ask how a location performed this week and get a ready-to-share summary built from your BrightLocal data.
• Up and running in a few clicks. Find BrightLocal in Claude’s connectors directory and sign in with your BrightLocal login. There’s no API key to set up.

Why it matters: You shouldn’t have to log in to another tool just to check a ranking or update a location. Now BrightLocal comes to you, so a routine SEO task takes one sentence instead of a whole session.

What’s next: We’re working on listings in the OpenAI and Mistral directories. Until then, ChatGPT users can connect manually with an API key.
 

Get Local AI Visibility up and running faster, with clear next steps

Local AI Visibility now gets you to your first results sooner, tracks the questions your customers are likely to ask, and shows you what to do about what you find.

What’s new?

• Quicker setup. Start a trial or add a location, and we’ll suggest ten prompts for that business. Keep the ones that fit and add up to ten of your own, and your first report runs automatically. You don’t have to start from a blank page.
• More precise tracking. Suggested prompts are tailored to your business, so you track the questions customers actually ask AI rather than guesses. Refresh them anytime with the “Suggest prompts” button in your report settings. It’s available for locations you added by finding your business on Google.
• The headlines in seconds. A “What’s new?” summary at the top of your report shows what matters before you dig into the detail.
• Know where to focus. The insights panel breaks down your Strengths, Weaknesses, Competitors, and Opportunities, so you can see what to work on to get mentioned more often.

Why it matters: Tracking AI visibility only helps if you’re tracking the right questions and know what to do with the results. Now setup takes minutes, your prompts reflect your business, and your next steps are spelled out.

What’s next: You’ll soon be able to access your Local AI Visibility data through the BrightLocal API. We’re also expanding coverage to more AI platforms.
 

A quick reminder on the new platform

We're rebuilding BrightLocal piece by piece throughout the rest of the year. For now, you can use the new and legacy platforms side by side with the same login. Things may look a little different as you move between them, and that's expected. More improvements are landing in the coming weeks.

Note: Local AI Visibility is only available in the New Platform.

BUG FIXES

Local Rank Tracker

Resolved: Organic results showed your homepage instead of the ranking page

Some Local Rank Tracker reports recorded the homepage instead of the page that actually ranked in Google's organic results. Ranking positions were correct. But reports set up to track a specific page could show no organic rankings, and some reports showed every keyword as new. We've fixed how ranking pages are recorded, so organic results show the right page again.

Local Search Grid

Resolved: Sponsored listings appeared in grid rankings

Some Local Search Grid reports counted sponsored listings as rankings. This could push a business down the results or show it as not ranked when it appeared in search. We've fixed this, so reports now show only organic local rankings.

Reputation Manager

Resolved: New reports couldn't be created on some older plans

A small number of customers on older plans couldn't create a new Reputation Manager report, even when there was space left on their plan. This happened because reports moved from a schedule to one-off runs still counted toward the plan's scheduled report limit. We've fixed this, so one-off reports no longer take up a scheduled slot.
 

Billing

Resolved: Some plan payments failed after a trial ended

Some customers whose free trial had ended saw a "payment failed" message when choosing a plan, and weren't given a way to re-enter their card details. We've fixed the issue, and plan purchases now go through as expected.