Google is testing showing a button in some local panels, some Google Business Profiles, that reads “Search Products With Camera.” This seems to be related to Google Lens and the new multisearch features.
Yesterday, July 15th, Google ended support for new chats to be initiated within Google Local, Google Business Profiles, in Google Search and Google Maps. This is not a surprise, Google told us in May this was coming and now it is here.
There are new reports that a booking/appointment system run by Thumbtack, a local search service, is automatically adding its booking links and service to Google Business Profiles. Well, you can opt out, if you don’t want it. But I am sure most businesses will have no clue this was added to their local listings in Google Search and Google Maps.
Google Business Profiles can include consumer alerts on them, which will notify those viewing your local listing on Google about a possible violation or suspension of spam. These alerts can show a banner, they can result in review posting restrictions and reviews being removed.
Did you know that Google Maps can suggest that you add a stop along the way as an advertisement or sponsored route along the way? It pops up as you are driving and asks you if you want to “Add stop” or “Cancel.”
Google is now showing Local Service Ads directly in the mobile version of the Google local business finder interface in Google Search.
A Google community manager, Alistair D., posted a Reviews troubleshooting and FAQs document in the Google Business Profiles forums. It goes through why reviews go missing, why reviews are removed and how to troubleshoot those issues with the Google Business Profiles tools.
There is a new report out that says menu items and how busy you are during Google Maps popular times are both ranking factors and signals for Google’s local ranking system. Claudia Tomina posted the details on her blog and told me she tested this across numerous businesses.
Google has added new fields and options to the Google Business Profiles verification status tool.
Google is now using AI Overviews to write descriptions for the local panels shown in Google Search on Google Business Profiles. This is weird because Google Business Profiles lets you use AI to write business descriptions if you want to (at least they tested this).