Google continues to change its approach to local search.
2025 marks a turning point for business owners on Google Maps—updates affect statistics, links, photos, reviews, and even the algorithms that determine which businesses are shown first.

In this article, I’ve compiled the key changes already affecting your profiles and tips for adapting to the new rules.
A detailed analysis with examples is in my video below 👇

Statistics Drop: Why Profile Clicks Have Dropped Sharply

After June 25th, many businesses noticed a sudden drop in clicks and conversions.
Google redesigned the reporting system in Business Profile and Search Console – it now only shows top queries, while low-volume keywords (from 11 to 100 impressions) simply disappeared from the reports.

Because of this, small local businesses missed out on seeing some of the queries that actually brought in customers.
These changes simplify statistics, but also make them less useful for SEO.
Services like Ahrefs and SEMrush must now collect this data themselves, so the cost of analytics and, consequently, SEO promotion will increase.

For local SEO, this means relying more on your own metrics (calls, map clicks, UTM parameters) and manually tracking trends.

New bugs and profile re-checks on Google

This year, Google is testing numerous updates, which has led to some strange glitches.
On forums, users are complaining that their profiles are showing photos that are not theirs, cropped, or even that don’t even belong to the business.
Apparently, the algorithm is trying to automatically select the “best” photos, but it’s not working correctly yet.

It’s best not to delete or reupload images manually, as this can disrupt indexing.
Google typically fixes such bugs after updates.

At the same time, the company has begun re-verifying businesses even after verification.
After 1-2 months, owners receive a request for additional verification.
This is likely an attempt to combat fake profiles or affiliates with weak verification.
Therefore, I advise against abruptly changing your address, category, or photo immediately after verification, as this could trigger a re-verification.

Links and Local Pages: Google has officially confirmed what we’ve been saying for a long time.

Google has updated its policy on the type of links in company profiles.
Now they must link to a specific branch’s page, not the chain’s main website.
This confirms an old SEO hypothesis: local pages actually influence a business’s ranking on maps.

If you have multiple locations, each should have its own page with contact information, photos, a contact form, and local content.
Google requires these pages to be “functional”: users can order a service or contact the business without authorization or CAPTCHA.
Links to social media, shortened URLs, or sites with redirects can now be removed automatically.

New profile management tools

Google has launched two important updates for managing your business profile.

The first is an updated post creation tool.
Now all publications, events, and promotions are displayed in a single “Publications” hub.
You can quickly edit them, view their status, publication date, and analytics.
This simplifies the workflow for companies systematically managing local content.

The second is the “Edit Your Business Information” tool.
Here, you can check the status of profile changes without contacting support.
The interface is similar to the appeals panel, so Google appears to be creating a unified system for managing all updates: from editing information to profile recovery.

New ranking criteria: popularity instead of authority

Google has updated its official documentation on local ranking factors.
While previously key parameters included relevance, distance, and prominence, the company is now emphasizing popularity.

This means that the algorithm evaluates how often people interact with your business: visiting your profile, reading reviews, and visiting your website.
The number of reviews and online mentions is also taken into account.
In other words, Google is trying to rank profiles that are genuinely popular with users, not those that are “technically optimized.”

Takeout and data backup

Google reminds business owners about the possibility of exporting data through the service Google Takeout.
This is the official way to save all your photos, posts, contacts, messages—and most importantly, customer reviews—from your business profile.

This is a huge advantage for businesses managing their reputation: you can make a complete copy of all your reviews, even if your profile is blocked, access is lost, or you need to transfer the data to another account.

Files can be uploaded in ZIP or TGZ format and do not affect your profile.

With Takeout, every business owner can save a history of their interactions with customers, which is especially important in the event of appeals or Google audits.

Update for the restaurant business

Google has added new features for cafes, bars and restaurants.
A “What’s Happening” section has been added to profiles, allowing you to highlight events, promotions, or live performances.
Businesses can also generate a QR code to collect reviews—convenient for offline locations.

Another useful option is a video preview before video verification to avoid errors.
And, importantly, Google now automatically reminds you to check the relevance of your data, as some fields can be updated automatically using AI.

Social Media Banned: Instagram Has Disappeared from Hotel Profiles

Google has begun removing Instagram links from hotel profiles.
The company is changing its external link policy, allowing only official websites and booking pages.
The goal is to avoid redirects and keep users within the Google ecosystem.

For hotels, this means creating their own page with a photo gallery, booking, and contact form—all on your website, not on Instagram.

Artificial Intelligence and the New Reality of Local Search

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing search and business visibility rules.
Users are increasingly turning to AI assistants rather than traditional search.
Models like ChatGPT, Bing Copilot, and Gemini already use their own algorithms to generate recommendations for users—and this is a new entry point for customers.

The problem is that ChatGPT doesn’t have access to Google Reviews data.
Therefore, even if you have dozens of positive reviews on Google, it doesn’t affect your visibility in ChatGPT.
To appear in AI search results, you need to collect reviews on open platforms like Facebook, Yelp, Trustpilot, BBB, TripAdvisor, and others.
This makes online reputation a multi-platform undertaking: relying solely on Google is no longer sufficient.

Additionally, Google has begun testing a new feature called “People are asking,” in which questions are automatically generated based on frequent user queries.
The “People are asking” label appears in place of the author’s name, allowing you to understand what questions customers are really interested in. Business owners should monitor this section and add their own responses to control profile content and build trust.

AI search is developing faster than any other technology in the last decade.
Therefore, it’s time to optimize websites for AI models (LLM SEO): structure content and create a technical file for AI that will help assistants correctly interpret information.
Those who do this first will gain a significant advantage when AI becomes the primary search channel.

Result

Google is no longer simply updating its interface – it’s changing the very logic of local search.
Algorithms are becoming smarter, focusing on user behavior, reviews, and data accuracy.
Businesses need to act now, not wait: update their profiles, create local pages, check links, manage reviews across platforms, and prepare for the new era of AI-powered search.