◆ guides
What Google's rules allow in a business listing, what in Posts, what to keep on your own website, and what to check in your profile.
2026-10-16 · 5 min read
What you get
• What Google's rules let you put in the listing and what in Posts
• What to write in the description and the website field
• What to check in your own profile today
Apply in: 20 minutes · Saves: hours of searching Google's help pages
Got a Google profile and not sure what to remove and what to add? Send me a note.
Ask me about your siteWhat can't go in a Google listing, and what can go in Posts?
Google's rules say a listing may not carry time-bound promotions, prices or direct calls to action. Posts may carry offers and updates, but no email addresses, phone numbers, social media links or links to sites unrelated to the business (checked October 16, 2026).
That is the wording of Google's content policy for Maps and Business Profiles. SERoundtable and Relevant Audience reported the change to this section on October 6 and 8, 2026. Google's own page carries no date.
Where
Allowed
Not allowed
Profile description
services, products, history, mission
links, a focus on prices and promotions
Posts
offers, updates, a link to your own site
email, phone, social links, links to unrelated sites
What should the profile description say?
Say what you do, where and for whom, with no links and no prices. The description is limited to 750 characters, and Google says not to put URLs in it (checked October 16, 2026).
Google tells you to describe your services, products, history and mission. So write the kind of work you do, your city or neighborhood, who you serve and how long you've done it. Describe how to book in words; the phone number and website have their own fields.
Where do prices and promotions go?
Keep standing prices on your own site and put a promotion in a dated Post. The services editor accepts a price, but Google has not said whether it counts as "pricing" under the new rule.
The services editor lets you add a price and description to a service, though not in every category. Publish a promotion as an offer Post: it needs a title and dates, and Posts older than 6 months are archived unless you set a date range. For a service whose price varies, see the guide to price lists.
On a Studio plan site you keep a price list, and changes are unlimited (a new feature I quote first). The site runs on a free Givyx subdomain; you buy your own domain in your name and I connect it for free.
- Up to 15 pages
- Everything in Starter
- Online booking
- Unlimited changes (new features quoted first)
- Advanced SEO
- Analytics dashboard
- Priority support
- 1 design refresh / year
First month free - you pay from month two, and only if you keep the site. Other plans on the pricing page; no build fee on any of them.
What goes in the website field?
The full address of your own site, with http or https. A booking link has its own field and does not replace the site.
Google lets you add up to 10 booking links per category and one menu or services link, and mark one as preferred. For a commission-free Booksy link, see the guide to Booksy's new-client fee. Free sites built from Google profiles (business.site) stopped working in 2024: until June 10, 2024 they redirected to the profile, then showed an error (Search Engine Journal, February 29, 2024). If the field still points at one, enter an address that works.
What is known about the new rule, and what has Google not said?
Google has published the rule in English and Polish. It has not said when it enforces it, whether it removes existing text, or whether it applies the same way in every country.
So nobody knows whether your profile will be touched, in the US or anywhere else. The same policy page also allows a business to post its own contact details, so the wording is inconsistent. Safest: keep phone and email only in their fields. What to check today:
1. In the description, remove prices, phrases like "this week only" and website addresses. 2. In Posts, remove email, phone and social links from the text. 3. In the website field, enter an address that works. 4. In the services list, check that names contain no prices or phone numbers. 5. Move promotions into offers with dates.
What does the website button show in practices with no site?
Among 36 selected podiatry practices in Poland, the website button on Google was empty for 20 and led to Facebook for 9; among 36 beauty salons, for 15 and 15.
Checked September 24, 2026 (podiatry) and September 25, 2026 (beauty) in public Google profiles (podiatry, beauty):
The website button leads to
Podiatry (36)
Beauty (36)
nothing, field empty
20
15
9
15
Booksy or iPodologia
5
2
Instagram, another booking page or a directory
0
4
a domain that shows no site
2
0
The practices were picked because they had no working site, so the result does not describe the whole industry. What they wrote in their descriptions was not checked, and nobody knows whether the new rule applies to them.
FAQ
Can I put a price in my profile description?
Google lists a focus on promotions, prices and sales as not allowed in the description. Keep standing prices on your own site; whether they may sit in the services editor, Google has not said.
Can I link to my own site in a Post?
The rule bans links to sites unrelated to the business, so a link to your own site is not excluded by that wording.
◆ your website
Describe the business; I build a first version; you decide with the real site in front of you.
