Google Business Profile Messaging, Best Practices [2026]

Google’s built-in Business Profile chat ended on July 31, 2024. Messaging from a profile now means a text message or WhatsApp link that you add to your contact details, where Google offers it. Those messages arrive on your own phone or WhatsApp account, not in a Google inbox, so the old rules about Google’s Messages tab no longer apply. This guide covers how to set the link up and how to answer the messages it brings in.

Updated October 2026: rewritten for the text and WhatsApp options that replaced Business Profile chat. We removed figures from the earlier version (a lead uplift figure, a response-time threshold, message-type percentages) because we could not trace them to a source.

1. What changed when Google removed chat

Google’s help page says chat and call history stopped being available in Business Profile on July 31, 2024. With chat went the Messages tab, the welcome message setting, Google’s response-time label and its spam button. Advice that tells you to “turn on chat” in Business Profile, or that Google hides your button if you reply slowly, describes a feature that no longer exists. Our post on what replaced Business Profile chat covers the change in full.

2. Set up a text or WhatsApp link the right way

Messaging options are available only in select countries and regions, so check whether your profile shows them. In the profile editor select Edit profile, then Contact, then Edit next to Chat. Choose WhatsApp and paste a click-to-chat link, or choose Text message and enter a number that can receive texts. If you add both, Google shows only the text option.

• Use a number your team watches. The link is only as good as the person answering it. Do not point it at a personal phone that is off at weekends.
• Check the number can receive texts. Some landlines and VoIP numbers cannot, so send a test text before you save.
• Use a WhatsApp Business account for WhatsApp. It keeps business chats separate and adds a business profile, greeting and away messages.
• Test from a customer’s view. Open your listing on a phone, tap the option and confirm it opens a chat with the right number.

3. Reply fast, but set honest expectations

Google no longer measures how fast you answer messages, but customers do. Someone who texts three local businesses about a quote often books the first one that replies with a clear answer. Reply during business hours as quickly as you realistically can, and state your hours in the greeting so nobody expects an instant answer at midnight.

4. Greeting and after-hours templates

WhatsApp Business lets you set a greeting message and an away message. For texts, most business phone systems offer an auto-reply. Keep both short and specific:

• Greeting: ‘Hi, thanks for messaging [Business Name]. We reply during business hours ([days and times]). For urgent jobs call [phone]. What can we help with?’
• After hours: ‘Thanks for your message. We’re closed now and will reply when we open at [time]. For emergencies call [number].’

Only promise a reply time you can keep, and only mention an emergency line if you really staff one.

5. Common message types and how to answer them

• Price questions: give a range or a starting point and invite the details you need for a firm quote.
• Booking requests: reply with available slots or your booking link.
• Complaints: acknowledge the problem, apologise where it fits, and move the conversation to a call.
• Spam and scams: do not engage. Block and report the sender in WhatsApp or your phone’s messaging app.

6. Handling sensitive industries

Medical, legal, mental health and financial businesses should not give advice by message. Reply with something like ‘we’d be happy to discuss this in a private consultation; here is our intake form or booking link.’ Never diagnose, prescribe or estimate settlement values over text or WhatsApp, and ask customers not to send sensitive personal details.

7. Track messages as leads

Because the messages land in your own tools, Google’s performance report will not tell you what happened next. Label WhatsApp Business chats by stage (new, quoted, booked), log text enquiries in your CRM or a shared sheet, and track how many messages turn into booked jobs each month. Pair this with a UTM-tagged website link (see our UTM tracking guide) so you can see every lead your profile sends.

8. Answer common questions before they become messages

Ask Maps now answers many customer questions inside Google Maps, using your profile, website and reviews. Put clear answers to the questions you get most (prices, service area, hours, payment, parking) on your website and profile. That cuts repetitive messages and means the ones you do get come from customers who are ready to book. Our Ask Maps guide explains how.

9. When not to add a messaging link

If nobody can watch the number or WhatsApp account during business hours, leave the Chat option empty. A link that goes unanswered loses the customer. Rely on the call button and a strong website contact page until you can staff messages.

Sources: Google Business Profile Help: chat and call history removal · Google Business Profile Help: add text and WhatsApp messaging options

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