Google Updates Business Profiles Links Policies & Guidelines

Posted on September 3, 2025
Source: Search Engine Roundtable by barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz). Read the original article

TL;DR Summary of Google Updates Business Profile Links Policies & Guidelines

Google Business Profiles policies have been significantly updated, doubling content volume and introducing stricter link verification measures. New rules require links to lead to dedicated landing pages with completed actions, excluding social media or app store links. Additionally, Google enforces a rigorous crawlability policy to ensure links are accessible and functional for automated verification, with restrictions on blocking crawlers or displaying error pages.

Optimixed’s Overview: Enhanced Google Business Profile Link Policies to Improve Verification and User Experience

Key Policy Enhancements and Their Impact

Google has introduced a comprehensive update to its Business Profile links policies and guidelines, affecting how businesses manage their profile URLs and action links. These changes emphasize transparency, accuracy, and ease of use for customers interacting with business listings.

New Sections in Google’s Business Links Guidelines

  • Dedicated Landing Pages: Links must direct users to specific pages tailored to the business location or service, avoiding generic or unrelated landing pages.
  • Direct Action Completion: Action links must enable customers to fully complete the intended action (e.g., placing an order), disallowing use of social media, app stores, or messaging services as action destinations.
  • Business Links Crawlability Policy: Google’s crawlers verify link validity daily, requiring accessible, error-free, and fully loadable pages without geo-blocking or restrictions that impede automated bots.

Understanding Crawlability and Verification Requirements

Google’s automated systems, including crawlers identified by the User-Agent GoogleOther, perform rigorous checks to ensure links are:

  • Unrestricted by robots.txt, CAPTCHAs, IP blocking, or rate limiting.
  • Functional with successful HTTP status codes (e.g., 200 OK) and free from errors like 404 or 503.
  • Capable of fully loading all page content including images, scripts, and stylesheets.
  • Free from geoblocking that might prevent crawler access.

Implications for Businesses

Businesses must audit and update their Google Business Profile links to comply with these new requirements, ensuring that customers have a seamless experience and that links remain visible and effective on Google platforms. Failure to meet these standards could result in automatic removal of non-compliant links, affecting online visibility and customer engagement.