November 9, 2026. Where Google offers business chat, Google Maps now shows a Message button right next to Call on business listings, on both Android and iOS, and a tap sends the customer to the text number or WhatsApp link set in your Business Profile. Google announced it in its November Small Business Bulletin, posted about November 5 by Google employee Lisa Landsman in the Business Profile community, and Search Engine Roundtable reported it on November 6. For a home services business, that puts a second lead channel next to the phone button on Maps.
What changed on Google Maps
- A Message button beside Call. Google writes that "customers on both Android and iOS can now find a prominent Message button right next to 'Call' on your Google Maps listing." The change is placement: before, chat on Maps "required scrolling deep down into your profile."
- The same chat as Search. "If you've already been connecting with customers via chat on Google Search, that same direct line of communication is now also available on Google Maps."
- Chats go to your channel. Tapping Message "routes customers straight to where you already handle business; including WhatsApp and SMS/Text."
- Not in every region. Google's help page says chat options "are currently available for select regions and might not be available for your Business Profile."
How to turn it on
The bulletin links Google's chat setup page, which says a claimed and verified Business Profile can add a WhatsApp or text messaging option:
- Open your Business Profile and choose Edit profile, then Contact.
- Next to Chat, select Edit and pick WhatsApp or Text message.
- Add your WhatsApp click to chat URL, or "a phone number that can receive text messages," then save.
Two details from the same page: "If you add both options, only the text message option will be shown to customers," and "Different Business Profiles can use the same WhatsApp link." The page also points you to your chat performance metrics.
What it means for home services
Google pitches the button as "an immediate fallback" for customers when you are "mid-appointment or on an off-site job." We suggest three checks this week:
- Pick a number that is watched. Google asks for a number that can receive texts, so a desk landline that cannot is the wrong choice.
- Reply fast. Our speed to lead guide covers response time research. If your texting or WhatsApp tool offers an auto-reply, we would use it to confirm receipt and ask for the job details. If you text from business software in the US, see our 10DLC registration cost brief, and if you want software to answer chats, our AI chatbot for business cost guide.
- Track the source if you can. If your texting or WhatsApp tool shows where a chat started, tag profile chats as their own source; Google's chat performance metrics are the other place to look.
Our AI call answering for home services builds cover calls and an SMS leg for trades, and our AI automation agency team does the CRM wiring. Related: our Google AI Mode for home services brief.
Frequently Asked Questions
Google's bulletin links its chat setup page: in your Business Profile, choose Edit profile, then Contact, then Edit next to Chat, and pick WhatsApp or Text message. Add a WhatsApp click to chat URL or a phone number that can receive texts, then save. The profile must be claimed and verified, and Google says chat options are currently available only in select regions.
You can add both, but Google's help page says that if you do, only the text message option will be shown to customers.
Yes, where chat is available. Google's November bulletin says customers on both Android and iOS can now find a Message button next to Call on your Google Maps listing, and its help page says chat options are currently available for select regions.
No. Google says chat options are currently available for select regions and might not be available for your Business Profile.