Google seems to be testing adding buttons/links to nearby hotels and restaurants directly at the top of a Google Business Profile listing. This may be related to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules in European regions or it might just be some sort of other test.
There are a number of reports of Google Business Profile listings in Google Maps coming up broken. Google seems to be showing half of the listing, with flickering maps portions, missing business names, blue maps and more issues.
The folks over at GMBapi have put together a large study on the topic of how and why Google removes reviews from Google Business Profiles. It looked at nearly 5 million reviews across 78 countries and over 19,000 locations.
Google is sending out emails asking business owners to add their social profiles to their Google Business Profiles. The email says, “Link your social profiles so customers can see your posts from Instagram, X, Facebook, and more when they search for your business.”
Several weeks ago, Google announced it would test changes to the search results for hotels in order to see how the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe would impact hotels. Well, that test is wrapped and the results were not good for hotels, says Google.
Google now supports even more categories for more types of hours for your business listing. Google added a number of new hour types for religious institutions and restaurants.
In April 2022, Google Business Profiles added performance metrics for direction requests, website clicks, bookings, products and food orders. Well, it seems like food orders are no longer being tracked by Google Business Profiles.
Google has launched a new report form in Google Maps to “report business conduct.” Specifically, this form is to report businesses that offer incentives in exchange for reviews, or pressuring people to leave reviews.
Google has updated its Google Business Profiles guidelines to say that businesses associated with products or services that require the customer to be a certain minimum age are not permitted as service-area businesses without a storefront.
Google Maps will now show you if you can find products nearby, like you’d see in directly in Google Search and Google Shopping. This “Products nearby” carousel now shows up directly in the Google Maps app, the company announced.