One of the best parts of Google My Business was that you were able to dial a phone number and speak to someone at Google about your Google My Business listing. So if you had an issue with how your business was showing up in Google Search or Google Maps, someone at Google could potentially help you.
Well, now that feature is gone. You can no longer dial into a phone number and immediately get someone from Google to listen to your problem.
The announcement. “We’ve removed toll free customer support numbers from the Google My Business homepage. If you call one of the existing numbers, you’ll be directed to the Google My Business Help Center for a more personalized and efficient help experience,” Google said.
If you try to call those numbers, a message will tell you to go to the Google My Business help center, list a short URL, say goodbye and hang up on you. You won’t be able to speak to anyone.
You can request a call back. Instead, you can fill out a form and ask someone at Google to call you back from this form. “You’ll still be able to request a toll free call from a support specialist under the ‘Contact Us’ options in the Google My Business Help Center,” Google said.
Why we care. This phone number has been instrumental in helping fix critical issues for businesses. Like factually incorrect issues that show up about the business or show competitive numbers or addresses because of someone manipulating the result. Now, the response time will be slowed because you cannot reach someone at Google immediately.
The industry will of course adapt, like it always does.
About The Author
Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land’s News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.