Google Business Profile policy now bans time-bound promotions and pricing in listings

Google has updated the advertising and solicitation section of its Google Maps and Business Profile "Prohibited and restricted content" policy to say what merchants may not put in a listing and in Posts. Search Engine Roundtable reported the change on 6 October 2026 after Hiroko Imai shared before-and-after screenshots on LinkedIn. The key rule: a listing itself may not contain promotional or commercial content with time-bound promotions, pricing or direct calls-to-action, while offers and updates are otherwise still allowed in Posts.

What the Google Business Profile policy now says

The text sits in the "Advertising & solicitation" part of the Google Business Profile Help page on prohibited and restricted content. It opens with a statement of purpose: contributions to Google Maps should reflect genuine experiences or define a business's permanent identity. Google says this helps users discover listings and keeps the platform reliable "rather than a marketplace". From that principle it concludes that people should not post content for advertising or solicitation purposes.

Search Engine Roundtable's report, written by Barry Schwartz, says the section was expanded to list what merchants and business owners cannot post on their listings and in their posts. The page now splits its prohibited content into two groups. For users, it lists promotional or commercial content, and email addresses, phone numbers, social media links or links to other websites in reviews. For merchants, it adds the new "For merchants" list covering the listing and posts separately.

The merchant rules: listing versus posts

The distinction between the two places is the heart of the change, so it is worth reading carefully.

• In the listing: promotional or commercial content that contains time-bound promotions, pricing, or direct calls-to-action is prohibited.
• In posts: email addresses, phone numbers, social media links, or links to other websites that are not related to your business are prohibited.
• Also in posts: Google states that offers and updates that may be seen as promotional or commercial content are otherwise permitted.

Read together, these lines assign each kind of content a home. The listing is meant to carry the permanent identity of the business. Posts are the place where offers and updates are allowed, with a limit on contact details and unrelated outbound links. Google's page does not define "listing" field by field, so which exact fields count (name, description, attributes, services, products) is something the source does not spell out.

Where this sits next to earlier Business Profile news

Relevant Audience covered a Business Profile change in late September, when suggested edits were reported to take four days. That story was about how quickly edits are processed. This one is about content rules: what text is allowed to exist in the listing in the first place. Both matter to anyone managing a profile, but they are separate questions, and the September item should not be read as covering the October policy text.

What the sources say and what they leave out

The table lists the facts the policy page and the Search Engine Roundtable report state directly.

Several points are not in either source. Google did not announce an enforcement date. It gave no number of listings affected. The page does not say whether existing listing content will be removed automatically, whether enforcement will be by edit, removal or suspension, or whether the change applies differently in different countries. Search Engine Roundtable noted only that the page was updated and that a before-and-after comparison exists in the LinkedIn screenshots. Anyone who tells you exactly how or when it will be enforced is guessing.

Why the "permanent identity" wording matters

Most policy updates read as lists of banned items. This one starts from a test. Google says contributions should either reflect a genuine experience or define a business's permanent identity. A review passes the first half of that test. A business description that says what the business is passes the second half. A sale price that expires next week passes neither, which is why the three examples Google gives for the listing (time-bound promotions, pricing, direct calls-to-action) all describe content that changes or pushes a purchase rather than describing the place.

That framing also explains why Posts are treated differently. Google allows offers and updates there. The restriction on Posts is narrower and concerns contact routes and outside links: email addresses, phone numbers, social media links and links to other websites that are not related to your business. The wording "not related to your business" is Google's, and the page does not give examples of what counts as related. A link from a post to the business's own website is the obvious case the sentence seems designed to leave alone, but the source does not confirm this, so treat it as a reading rather than a rule.

How the rules may read for different kinds of business

The policy does not give industry examples, so the cases below are illustrations of how the stated rules could apply, labelled as analysis.

• A restaurant that lists a lunch-set price and an end date in its description has pricing and a time-bound promotion in the listing. The same lunch set announced as a Post is within what Google says is otherwise permitted.
• A hotel that writes "book now for 20 percent off" into its description has a direct call-to-action and a promotion in the listing. A permanent description of the rooms, location and facilities is the kind of content Google describes as a business's permanent identity.
• A clinic that puts a mobile number and a messaging-app link at the bottom of a Post has a phone number and a social link in a post, both items on the policy's list for posts, although the page's "not related to your business" wording may qualify the whole list, which the source does not settle.
• A salon that keeps its standing opening hours, services and address in the listing is already doing what the policy describes as permanent identity.

Prices are the least clear-cut case. The policy lists pricing as prohibited promotional or commercial content in the listing, but it does not say whether a standing menu or service price counts the same way as a discount. The policy also does not name which listing fields the rule covers, so treating the business description as part of the listing, as the examples here do, is a reading of the policy rather than Google's wording. The source does not resolve that, and the safe reading for an audit is to review each price on its own merits and keep a record of the decision.

The review side of the same section

The same Advertising and solicitation section also covers users. It prohibits promotional or commercial content for users, and email addresses, phone numbers, social media links or links to other websites in reviews. Merchants who invite customers to review should avoid suggesting that they include contact details or links. This overlaps with the separate rules on fake engagement in the same policy page, which prohibit offering incentives for reviews and soliciting or encouraging content that does not represent a genuine experience. The new merchant lines do not change those rules, but they sit in the same document, so a profile review is a good moment to check review-request wording too.

What to audit in a Business Profile now

The checklist below is analysis built on the policy text, not a list Google published. The aim is to match each piece of content to the place the policy says it belongs.

1. Read the business description, name and other free-text fields and look for time-limited wording such as a sale end date, a seasonal discount or a "this month only" line. These are the "time-bound promotions" the policy names.
2. Look for prices inside the listing text. The policy lists pricing as prohibited promotional or commercial content in the listing, so a price list pasted into a description is a risk.
3. Look for direct calls-to-action in the listing text, such as an instruction to book, buy or call now. The policy names direct calls-to-action in the same list.
4. Move offers to Posts. Google says offers and updates are otherwise permitted in posts, so a time-bound promotion belongs there rather than in the listing.
5. Check Posts for phone numbers, email addresses, social links and links to unrelated websites. The policy prohibits these in posts, so a post that closes with a messaging-app link or a personal phone number should be reviewed against that wording.
6. Keep permanent facts in the listing: what the business is, what it offers in general, where it is and when it opens. That matches Google's description of a listing as a business's permanent identity.
7. Record the changes you make and when. Because Google has not said how existing content will be handled, a dated record helps if a listing is edited or flagged later.

What this means for Thai businesses

The sources do not mention Thailand, and Google did not say the rule differs by country. The policy is written for Google Maps and Business Profile generally, so it applies to listings wherever the business is based unless Google states otherwise. Thai small businesses such as restaurants, clinics, hotels and salons often put promotions and contact details into profile text. That habit is an observation about common practice rather than something the source says, but it is the reason an audit makes sense. A Thai restaurant that keeps a monthly set-menu price in its description, or a clinic that writes a limited-time offer into its profile, now has content that matches the examples Google lists.

For agencies and in-house teams, the practical point is a division of labour between the permanent listing and Posts. If you run local SEO work for several locations, a short template that separates "permanent facts for the listing" from "offers for Posts" will make the cleanup repeatable. Good listing hygiene also supports the wider SEO in Thailand picture.

FAQ

Can I still post offers on Google Business Profile?

Yes, in Posts. Google's updated policy says offers and updates that may be seen as promotional or commercial content are otherwise permitted in posts, though the policy also lists email addresses, phone numbers, social media links and links to unrelated websites among what Posts may not contain.

What can no longer appear in the listing itself?

Promotional or commercial content that contains time-bound promotions, pricing or direct calls-to-action. Google's policy page lists these under the "For merchants" rules for the listing.

Will Google remove old listing content automatically?

Google has not said. The policy page does not state whether existing content will be removed, and neither Google nor Search Engine Roundtable gave an enforcement date or a number of affected listings.

Does the rule apply in Thailand?

The sources do not say anything specific about Thailand. The policy is a general Google Maps and Business Profile rule, and Google did not announce country exceptions, so Thai businesses should treat it as applying to their listings.

Where did this change come from?

Search Engine Roundtable reported it on 6 October 2026 after Hiroko Imai posted before-and-after screenshots of the policy page on LinkedIn. The current wording is on Google's own Business Profile Help page.

Next step

If your locations carry prices, sale dates or phone numbers in their listing text, a one-time review can sort what stays in the profile and what moves to Posts. Relevant Audience can run that review as part of a local SEO engagement, and we will update this post if Google publishes enforcement details.