Google Maps policy now limits promotions and pricing in listings

Google expanded the advertising and solicitation section of its policy on prohibited and restricted content for Google Maps and Business Profiles. Search Engine Roundtable reported the update in Updated Google Maps Policy: What Merchants Can’t Post In Listings Or Posts. We read the current wording on Google’s Prohibited and restricted content help page, which is where the quotes below come from.

What does the updated policy say?#

The section now opens with a purpose statement. Contributions to Google Maps “should reflect genuine experiences or define a business’s permanent identity”, which Google says helps users discover listings and keeps the platform reliable “rather than a marketplace”. So the instruction is not to post content for advertising or solicitation purposes.

Below that sit separate lists for users and for merchants. The user list covers promotional or commercial content, and emails, phone numbers, social media links or links to other websites in reviews.

What is barred in the listing?#

The merchant rules are new in the section, per Search Engine Roundtable. For the listing, Google prohibits promotional or commercial content that contains any of the following:

• Time-bound promotions.
• Pricing.
• Direct calls-to-action.

The page does not define these terms or give examples, so how strictly each is applied is unknown. Check the places a listing carries free text, starting with the business description, before assuming anything is safe.

What about posts?#

For posts, Google lists email addresses, phone numbers, social media links and links to other websites that are not related to your business as prohibited in posts. It then adds that offers and updates that may be seen as promotional or commercial content are otherwise permitted in posts.

Read together, the listing is for identity and posts are the place for offers. Business-related contact details are not the target: the same page says merchants may post contact information tied to their business, including phone, email or social media handles.

Who spotted the change?#

Search Engine Roundtable says Hiroko Imai spotted the update and posted before and after screenshots on LinkedIn. We did not find a dated change note on Google’s page, so the date of the edit is not confirmed and we do not give one.

What should I check now?#

Review the listing for promotions with an end date, prices and calls-to-action, and move offers to posts. Keep business-related phone and website details in the fields built for them. Your local business markup is separate from this policy, but it is worth confirming its name, address and phone match the listing. More on this topic sits in Local SEO.