New Google Business Profile rules (October 2026): no promotions, pricing or calls-to-action in the listing

What the policy says, in its words

The page is https://support.google.com/business/answer/7400114?hl=en, under Advertising & solicitation, “For merchants”. Search Engine Roundtable dated the change 6 October 2026 and quoted the lead-in: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-maps-policy-listings-or-posts-42228.html.

The two “For merchants” rules are on the policy page. They are quoted below so the wording stays the policy’s.

Google did not publish, on that page or in the Roundtable note, a date when it will start removing profiles for this. This guide does not say that a suspension today was caused by this rule.

Contributions to Google Maps should reflect genuine experiences or define a business's permanent identity. This helps users discover listings and ensures the platform remains reliable rather than a marketplace. Therefore, don't post content for advertising or solicitation purposes.

Paragraph Search Engine Roundtable quotes from the updated policy

In the listing: Promotional or commercial content that contains any of the following: Time-bound promotions, pricing, or direct calls-to-action.

Prohibited & restricted content policy, For merchants

In posts: Email addresses, phone numbers, social media links, or links to other websites in your posts that are not related to your business. Offers and updates that may be seen as promotional or commercial content are otherwise permitted in posts.

The same For merchants section

A cleanup list for the listing

Remove from the description, and from any listing text that is not a post, prices, discount percentages, the dates of an offer, and calls such as “call now” or “free quote”.

Keep the hours and a description of what you do. Hours are not a time-bound promotion.

Move offers into Posts. The policy does allow offers and updates there, with the limit below.

In each post, remove emails, phone numbers, links to Instagram, Facebook, or other networks, and links to sites that are not the business’s own.

Review the name separately: a city, “best”, or a service stuck on with a bar is still a representation-guidelines problem, not a product of this October note.

The checker and the file

The checker on this site is a set of rules in the browser. You paste the name, the description, and, if you want, a post. Nothing is sent to a server, and it is not a Google verdict.

If the profile is already suspended, this cleanup does not replace the appeal. Align the name and address with the guidelines first, then submit one appeal. The Rescate file puts that process in order. It does not promise reinstatement.