Google removed several profile features over the past 2 years, and most guides still explain how to use them. This is a current walkthrough of what exists, what does not, and what changed.
Last reviewed September 2026. We update this page when Google changes the product.
Features That No Longer Exist
Start here, because following outdated instructions wastes more time than skipping a step.
Messaging and chat
Discontinued on July 31, 2024. New conversations were blocked from July 15 that year, and the export window through Google Takeout closed on August 30. Google’s stated reason was low usage.
There is no chat inbox, no message notifications, and no setting to turn it back on. If a guide tells you to enable messaging so customers can text you from Google, it is describing something that has not existed for 2 years.
Call history
Removed on the same date. There is no longer any native way to see who called your business through your listing. The click-to-call action still appears in your performance data as a count, but the log itself is gone.
If you need call tracking, it now has to come from a third-party call tracking service or your phone system.
The mobile app
The dedicated Google Business Profile app has been removed from both the Google Play and Apple app stores. You manage your profile from a browser, either on desktop or on your phone, or directly from Google Search by searching your own business name while signed in.
The old Q&A feature
The Q&A API was shut off on November 3, 2025, after being announced that September. Google has been moving this area toward an AI feature that answers visitor questions directly, drawing on your profile information and your reviews rather than a manually curated question list.
The practical consequence: the answers people get about your business are increasingly generated from your profile data rather than written by you. Which makes the accuracy of that data more important, not less.
Quick test for any guide you read: if it tells you to turn on messaging, download the app, or seed your own Q&A entries, it was written before 2025 and has not been updated. Check the date on anything you follow.
What Google Added in 2026
The additions are less discussed than the removals, and 2 of them are genuinely useful.
- A WhatsApp contact button, which replaces the native chat that was removed. Worth adding if you use WhatsApp for business, and particularly useful in markets where it is a primary channel.
- Native post scheduling. Previously you needed a third-party tool to schedule profile posts. You can now schedule them directly, which makes a weekly posting habit realistic rather than aspirational.
- A verified badge displayed on the profile.
- What’s Happening, a feature for promoting events.
- AI-drafted review reply suggestions, currently in testing. You review and edit before publishing rather than letting it post.
- Email alerts when a review restriction is lifted from your profile, which previously you had to notice yourself.
Google also updated its profile content policy in early 2026 to address AI-generated text specifically. Worth knowing before you paste a generated business description in.
Setting Up a Profile From Scratch
The order matters, because 2 of these are difficult to change later.
- Search your business name in Google first. A profile may already exist, auto-generated from other data. Claiming an existing one is far simpler than creating a duplicate and then merging them.
- Use your real business name. It must match your signage and your registration. Adding your city or your service to the name is the single most common cause of suspension, and the ranking benefit people chase is not worth the risk. If it has already gone wrong, see what to do about a suspended profile.
- Choose your primary category carefully. Look at the 3 businesses currently ranking for your main service and check what they use. You can change it later but it resets some of your progress, so getting it right the first time is worth 10 minutes of research.
- Decide whether you have a storefront or a service area. If customers do not come to your address, hide it and list service areas instead. Getting this wrong is a common suspension trigger and it is covered in detail in local SEO for service businesses.
- Add your hours, phone and website exactly as they appear everywhere else online.
- Verify. See below, because this changed.
How Verification Works Now
Postcard verification, which used to be the default, is no longer offered to everyone. Google now decides which methods you are offered based on your business type, category and location, and video verification has become the most common route.
Video verification means recording a single continuous video, without cuts, that shows your business location, your equipment or signage, and evidence that you manage the business, usually by signing into something on camera. It cannot be edited or paused, and that is the most common reason people have to redo it.
Prepare before you start recording: know your route through the space, have your business licence or a branded document to hand, and be ready to show a tool of your trade. Businesses that fail verification usually failed on preparation rather than eligibility.
The Fields Most Profiles Leave Empty
Completeness is one of the few things entirely within your control. Most profiles are 60% filled and stop there.
- Secondary categories. You get one primary and several additional. Most businesses use one and leave the rest blank.
- Services or products. Each service you offer can be listed individually with its own description. This is one of the emptiest sections across most profiles, and we cover it separately in adding products and services to your profile.
- Business description. 750 characters describing what you do and who you serve, written for a person rather than stuffed with search terms.
- Attributes. Wheelchair access, parking, payment methods, whether you are woman-owned or veteran-owned. These feed Google’s filters, so an empty attribute is a filter you cannot appear in.
- Opening date. Small, easy, and skipped by almost everyone.
- Photos. Real ones. Your premises, your team, your work, your vehicles. Stock photography is visible from a distance and does nothing for trust.
Posts Are Worth Doing Again
Profile posts had a period of being widely ignored, partly because they expire and partly because scheduling required a third-party tool. Native scheduling changed the second part, and there is a reason to reconsider the first.
Industry analysis in 2026 suggests Google is weighting active engagement signals more heavily than it once did, including how often a profile posts and how quickly the owner responds to reviews, and weighting static history somewhat less. A profile that has not been touched in 8 months looks dormant next to a competitor posting weekly.
What to post: a completed job, a seasonal offer, an answer to a question customers keep asking, a new service, a team addition. Once a week is plenty. Schedule a month at a time and it becomes a 30 minute task rather than a daily one.
Responding to Reviews Is Part of the Product
Owner responses are visible to every future customer and appear to feed engagement signals. Google is also testing AI-drafted reply suggestions, which you can edit before posting.
Use them as a starting point rather than a finished reply. A generated response reads like a generated response, and the audience for a reply to a negative review is not the reviewer, it is the next 50 people reading it.
The rules around asking for reviews changed substantially in 2026, and several practices that were standard a year ago are now policy violations. That is covered in full in our guide to getting more Google reviews.
Why AI Assistants Read Your Profile
This is the change with the longest tail, and most profile guides have not caught up with it.
ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity all draw heavily on Google Business Profile data when recommending local businesses. Industry surveys suggest the share of consumers using ChatGPT to research local businesses rose from roughly 6% in 2025 to around 45% in 2026.
Which means your profile is no longer just what Google shows. It is a primary source for what an AI assistant tells someone when they ask for a plumber in their area. And unlike a website, you cannot optimise it after the fact with clever content. The assistant reads structured fields: your categories, your services, your description, your attributes, your hours, your reviews.
Practically, that raises the value of the boring completeness work. An empty services list is not just a missed filter in Google Maps now, it is missing information in the answer an assistant gives about your industry.
Reading Your Performance Data
The performance section shows how people found you and what they did next: searches that surfaced your profile, profile views, website clicks, direction requests and calls.
Two things worth knowing. The call log is gone, so you see a count rather than a list. And the search terms report shows what people typed to reach you, which is often the most useful data in the whole dashboard and the least looked at. It tells you what customers actually call your service, which frequently differs from what you call it.
Check it monthly and look for the direction of travel rather than the absolute numbers. A steady rise in direction requests usually means your local visibility is improving even before rankings move visibly.
What to Do Every Month
The whole maintenance routine, and it takes about 30 minutes.
- Post 4 updates, scheduled in one sitting
- Respond to every new review
- Add 2 or 3 new photos
- Check the search terms report for phrases you are not targeting
- Verify your hours, especially before holidays
- Check for suggested edits Google or the public has made to your listing
That last one catches people out. Google allows the public to suggest edits to your business information, and those can go live without your approval. A competitor or a well meaning customer can change your hours or your category, and if you are not looking you will not know.
Where This Fits
A complete, active profile is the foundation, but it is not the whole picture. Which categories matter most, how proximity limits what you can rank for, and how the map results are actually decided are covered in our guide to how the Google local 3-pack works. If you are in Metro Vancouver specifically, ranking across the region covers the local realities.
And if you would rather have the profile set up and maintained properly rather than adding it to a list you never get to, that is what our local SEO service covers, including a one-time setup option with no monthly commitment.
Common Questions
Can customers still message my business on Google?
No. Google discontinued Business Profile messaging and chat on July 31, 2024, and the removal is permanent with no setting to re-enable it. You can add a WhatsApp contact button instead, and customers can still call or visit your website from the profile.
Is there still a Google Business Profile app?
No. The dedicated app was removed from both app stores. You manage your profile from a browser on desktop or mobile, or directly from Google Search by searching your business name while signed into the account that owns it.
How do I see who called me from my Google listing?
You cannot. Call history was removed alongside messaging in July 2024. Your performance data still shows a count of calls, but there is no log of individual callers. For that you need a third-party call tracking service.
How long does Google Business Profile verification take?
It varies by method and business type. Video verification is now the most common route and can be reviewed within a few days, though it takes longer if the video is unclear or gets rejected. Record in one continuous take, show your location, your equipment and proof you manage the business, and have documentation ready before you start.
How often should I post on my Google Business Profile?
Weekly is a reasonable target, and native scheduling makes it manageable in one monthly sitting. Analysis in 2026 suggests Google is weighting engagement signals like posting frequency more heavily than it previously did, so a dormant profile is a competitive disadvantage rather than a neutral one.
Can someone else change my business information?
Yes. Google accepts suggested edits from the public, and some are applied without owner approval. Check your profile monthly for changes you did not make, particularly to hours, category and phone number.
