Google has told merchants that listings on Google Maps cannot carry promotions with an end date, prices, or direct prompts to act, according to a Search Engine Roundtable report published October 6. The wording sits in the advertising and solicitation section of the Maps and Business Profiles prohibited and restricted content policy. Any business that stuffs a sale, a price, or a “call now” line into its name or description is now on the wrong side of written policy.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable credited Hiroko Imai, who posted before and after screenshots of the policy page on LinkedIn. The reporting does not say when Google made the edit, so the only firm date is the October 6 report.
The section opens with a statement of purpose. Contributions to Maps should “reflect genuine experiences or define a business’s permanent identity,” and Google says it wants the platform to stay reliable “rather than a marketplace.” The instruction that follows is blunt: Maps content is not a place for advertising or solicitation.
Google then added a “For merchants” list with two parts. For the listing itself, the policy bars promotional or commercial content containing “time-bound promotions, pricing, or direct calls-to-action.” For posts, it bars email addresses, phone numbers, social media links, and links to websites unrelated to the business.
The post rule is narrower than it first looks. Google states that offers and updates which could be read as promotional are otherwise allowed in posts. A business can still announce a seasonal offer in a post. What it cannot do is use that post as a channel for contact details or outbound links that have nothing to do with the business.
That split matters because the two surfaces serve different jobs. The listing is meant to describe what a business permanently is. Posts are the place for what is happening this month. The new list writes that line down in the policy.
The source does not describe any enforcement action, penalty, or detection method tied to the change. Nor does it say whether Google will remove existing content in bulk or only act on reports. Treat the update as a statement of what Google may remove, not evidence that a sweep has begun.
Agencies that manage many locations should run a specific audit now. Start with business names and descriptions, the fields most likely to hold a discount, a price, or a phone prompt. Export every description across the client base and flag text that names a dollar amount, a sale window, or a command such as “book today.” Then review recent posts for phone numbers, email addresses, and social or third-party links, and check each against whether the destination is actually the client’s own business.
Each flagged item needs a decision. Descriptions should be rewritten to say what the business is and does, with the offer moved into a post or onto the website. Posts that contain contact details can usually be republished without them, keeping the offer text itself.
One caution on interpretation. The wording “links to other websites… not related to your business” leaves room for judgment. A link to the client’s own booking page is plausibly related, while a link to a partner’s promotion is less clear. Google has not published examples of either, so keep a record of what was changed and why.
Local teams should finish this clean-up so that every client listing matches the written policy before Google says anything about enforcement.
Search Engine Roundtable (Barry Schwartz), October 6, 2026, reporting on Google’s Maps and Business Profiles prohibited and restricted content policy.
