The week Google changed your profile, your WhatsApp button and search

In less than two weeks, Google touched four places that affect anyone running a local business: the panel that shows up when someone searches your company name, the rules for what you can write in your profile, search rankings and the ads account. Each change is small. Together, they add up to real work.

The good news is that almost nothing requires a rush. The bad news is that some of these changes are still half-rolled-out, and not everything is confirmed for Brazil. This article separates fact from rumor, and ends with a task list ordered by effort.

If you haven't even claimed your profile yet, start with our earlier article on the Google Business Profile. This one assumes the basics are done.

What changed in the last two weeks, in short

There were five moves between September 24 and October 13, 2026. Google started showing a WhatsApp button in the local search panel, reinforced the rule against promotions inside the listing, ended a spam update, turned on automatic promotions in ads and released new dietary labels.

Here is the quick overview, from most relevant to an ordinary local business to most restricted:

• WhatsApp button in the local panel. Seen in search on October 7. Availability in Brazil: not confirmed.
• Rule on promotions and prices in the listing. Time-limited offers should go in Posts. No enforcement date announced.
• September spam update. Ended on October 8, after 13 days and 16 hours.
• Automatic promotions in Google Ads. On by default since October 12, only for advertisers. Reach in Brazil: not confirmed.
• "Gluten-free" and "lactose-free" labels for dishes. Restaurants only.

Before going into each one, a note about sources.

Where does this information come from, and what does that change?

Almost everything here comes from US SEO trade press, in English, such as Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Journal and PPC Land. As of this date, there are no Brazilian numbers on these changes. Every time a point isn't confirmed for Brazil, we'll say so plainly.

This matters because Google often tests things in a few countries and on some accounts before releasing them to everyone. A US news story is a signal of direction, not a guarantee that the feature has already reached your screen.

Another thing: part of what was reported comes from people who spotted the change by chance and posted a screenshot. That works as an alert, but it isn't an official announcement. Where Google has said nothing, the text says so.

Our reading rule for this week is simple. If a change is already in Google's official documentation, treat it as fact. If it only showed up in a screenshot, treat it as "worth checking in your account".

A WhatsApp button appeared in Google's panel. Has it reached your business?

Google started showing a WhatsApp button in the local search panel, in place of or alongside the call, directions and website buttons, according to Search Engine Roundtable on October 7, 2026. It's still unknown whether the feature is available in Brazil. Google has not commented.

The alert came from Sachin Patel, who saw the button in search. Barry Schwartz, of Search Engine Roundtable, was able to reproduce it and wrote that the feature "could be fully rolled out". In plain English: it seems to be rolling out gradually, and you may not see the button even if a competitor does.

One detail the story doesn't settle: it doesn't say on which devices the button appears. So we can't claim it's mobile only. Test on both computer and phone before drawing conclusions.

How to set it up, step by step

The instructions come from Google's help page on chat in the profile. First of all, the profile must be claimed and verified. Without that, none of the options below show up.

1. Open your Google Business Profile (search for your company name while logged in to the right account).
2. Tap Edit profile.
3. Go to the Contact tab.
4. Look for the Chat option.
5. Choose WhatsApp.
6. Paste the WhatsApp chat link (the "click-to-chat" link, the one that opens a conversation with your number directly).
7. Save.

The chat link follows the format WhatsApp itself generates for the business number. Test the link on your phone before pasting it. If it opens the right conversation, you're set.

The SMS catch

Google's help page carries a warning that's easy to miss: if you set up WhatsApp and SMS at the same time, the customer sees only the SMS option. For most small Brazilian businesses, which serve customers over WhatsApp, that's the opposite of what you want.

So if the idea is to show WhatsApp, don't register both options. Pick one.

What we still don't know

The same help page says chat is available "in selected regions". Brazil doesn't appear in the list we consulted. That means that today, the option may not even show up in your edit menu.

Two possible situations. If the Chat option appears in the Contact tab, set it up. If it doesn't, it's not your mistake: the feature probably hasn't been released for your region yet. Check again in a few weeks.

Once it's active, Google says chat performance shows up in the profile metrics. It's worth looking after a month to see whether anyone actually clicked.

While the button hasn't arrived

Your WhatsApp doesn't need Google's button to work as a sales channel. Check that the number in the profile is the one that actually answers, that the opening hours in the profile match the hours when someone replies, and that there is an automatic welcome message. A customer who clicks and waits hours for an answer goes away.

Promotions and prices in the Google listing: what does the new rule say?

Google's policy for business listings on Maps and Search prohibits time-limited promotions, prices and direct calls to action inside the listing itself, according to Search Engine Roundtable on October 6, 2026. Offers and news are still allowed in Posts. The safest practice: a temporary offer goes in a Post.

The person who noticed was Hiroko Imai, who compared before-and-after screenshots and posted them on LinkedIn. The site Relevant Audience also covered the case on October 8. The text appears on Google's official page on prohibited and restricted content, which is the source that counts.

Think of it this way: the listing is the permanent storefront. The Post is the poster you change every week. Google wants the poster on the poster board, not taped to the shop window.

What changes in practice

Imagine a pizzeria with a profile description like this: "Every Tuesday, all-you-can-eat for R$49.90. Order now on WhatsApp!" It has a price, a time limit (every Tuesday) and a call to action (order now). Going by the rule, that's the kind of text that shouldn't be in the listing.

The way forward is to take it out of the description and publish it as a Post, with a photo and an expiry date. The description keeps what doesn't change: what the pizzeria is, where it is, what it serves.

What is and isn't allowed in Posts

Posts accept offers and news. But the rule lists what they can't contain: email addresses, phone numbers, social media links and links to websites unrelated to your business.

This point catches a lot of people. It's common to write in a Post "message us on Instagram @someone" or "call (11) 9xxxx-xxxx". Going by the policy text, that shouldn't be there. Use the Post's own button, when there is one, and the profile's buttons.

The questions that remain open

Relevant Audience pointed out what nobody knows. There is no enforcement start date. There is no count of affected listings. And it isn't clear whether a fixed menu or the price of a permanent service counts as a "prohibited price".

It also wasn't possible to verify when the text entered the policy page. It may be recent, or it may be a reinforcement of something old. So don't panic, and don't delete your whole menu.

Our cautious reading: the focus seems to be on time-limited promotions, not permanent information. The fixed price of a service is a real question, and the best attitude is to wait for clarification from Google, without removing anything essential for the customer's decision.

A 15-minute review

Open your profile and read these fields carefully: business description, service names, product descriptions, and questions and answers. Look for three things: amounts in reais, words like "promotion", "discount" or "today only", and command phrases such as "call now" or "buy now".

Everything temporary becomes a Post. Everything permanent and useful stays, in an informational tone, not an advertising one.

Google's spam update has ended. Was my site affected?

The September 2026 spam update ended on October 8, after 13 days and 16 hours, according to Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Journal and PPC Land. It began on September 24, around noon New York time, and applied to all languages, worldwide.

In simple terms: a "spam update" is when Google adjusts its filters to demote or remove from search pages that game the rules, such as mass-produced text made only to rank. If your site follows the rules, the expectation is that nothing changes. If it follows the rules and dropped, it may be a coincidence.

What Google said, and what went unanswered

Google warned that affected sites should review their spam policies. It also said recovery can take months and that there will be periodic updates, which PPC Land called refreshes.

It didn't say what share of searches was affected. It also didn't say which policy was applied. PPC Land listed the rules in force, such as scaled content abuse, expired domain abuse, site reputation abuse and fake reviews or reviews with undisclosed incentives. But the list covers rules that exist, not rules that were used in this update.

There were other updates in 2026. The March one lasted about 19.5 hours, the June one about 2 days and the August one about 2 days and 16 hours. The September one was far longer than all of them.

What Diib's analysis shows

Diib, a company that sells monitoring tools, analyzed 32,569 sites. The median share of visits coming from unpaid Google traffic fell from 34% to 31%. And 10% of sites lost half or more of those visits, versus 5% before.

Read this with care. Diib is a vendor, the sample is theirs and the reading is preliminary. It serves as a hint that the movement was real, not as a verdict on what caused what.

Notice also what isn't in the data: there is no breakdown for Brazil or for local businesses. Saying "I lost traffic because of the spam update" based on this alone would be a guess.

How to check without fooling yourself

Before blaming Google, look at your own data. In Google Search Console (the free tool that shows how your site appears in search), do this:

1. Open the Performance report, under search results.
2. Choose the period from September 24 to October 8.
3. Compare it with the two weeks before.
4. Look at impressions (how many times your site appeared) and clicks.
5. If there was a drop, see which pages dropped, not just the total.

If impressions stayed stable, the update probably didn't affect you. If they dropped on only one page, the problem is with that page. A drop across the whole site, right in the update window, deserves investigation.

Another variable that muddies the comparison: seasonality. Working days versus holidays, or promotion season, change traffic without any Google involvement.

And if I really did drop?

Google asked for a review of the spam policies. Read the official page and ask yourself honestly: is there text mass-produced just to show up? Are there old, abandoned pages with weak content? Reviews that were bought or traded for a freebie without disclosure?

Don't rush to change everything. Since recovery can take months, the plan is to fix what's wrong, improve what's weak and keep monitoring. Changing the site every week out of desperation only clouds the reading.

Automatic promotions in Google Ads: what to do if you advertise?

Starting October 12, 2026, Google Ads turns on automatic promotions by default: the system reads coupons and offers from your site and attaches them to ads, according to Search Engine Roundtable and PPC Land. It applies only to Search and Performance Max campaigns. It isn't confirmed whether it reaches Brazil.

Performance Max, in one sentence, is the campaign type where Google decides on its own where to show your ad: search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail. If you've never advertised on Google, you can skip this section.

The conditions: the account must have location assets linked, and the campaign must not have promotions already set up. Each promotion appears for less than 24 hours and is only renewed while the offer remains on your site. In the dashboard, these items are labeled "Google AI" under Assets.

Google says performance "generally improves significantly", but showed no number. The risk is the reverse: an expired offer, a conditional one or one valid only in a certain region still being on the site and getting pulled into the ad. The notice came seven days in advance, by email to "some advertisers", and that is part of the reason we can't pin down the reach in Brazil.

To turn it off: Assets > Account-level automated assets > Advanced settings > Automated promotions > Off. If you'd rather leave it on, remove any expired offers from the site and review the rules of each coupon.

Restaurants: what are the new "gluten-free" and "lactose-free" labels?

Google expanded the menu dietary attributes in the Business Profile: the API changelog of October 9, 2026 confirms that the DietaryRestriction field now accepts "gluten-free" and "lactose-free" on food items. This section only matters to restaurants, bakeries and the like.

Search Engine Roundtable, on October 13, also mentions halal and kosher, alongside vegetarian and vegan, which already existed. But the official log confirms only the first two. Treat halal and kosher as unconfirmed.

How to mark them, item by item: Edit menu > choose the dish > dietary labels. Only mark what is true. "Gluten-free" on a dish made on the same griddle as the bread can be a serious problem for a celiac customer. If there's cross-contamination, honesty is worth more than the label.

The September bonus: Post views are back

Outside the window of these two weeks, but useful to know: according to Search Engine Journal on September 10, 2026, the Post view count is back in the Business Profile dashboard. The numbers cover 18 months and combine views from Search and Maps.

Two limitations: the number comes summed, without separating Search from Maps, and it isn't available through the API. If you use third-party reporting tools, you may not see this data there.

Tying it to the rest: since time-limited offers should now go in Posts, this count becomes your way of knowing whether anyone saw the poster. Test two different Posts in the same week and compare.

Common mistakes this week

When Google changes something, the typical mistake is to react too much or too little. These are the ones we see most in practice:

• Deleting the menu or price list from the profile out of fear. The rule targets time-limited promotions. The question about fixed prices is still open.
• Registering WhatsApp and SMS together. The customer sees only the SMS.
• Looking for the Chat option, not finding it and concluding you did something wrong. The feature may simply not be released in Brazil.
• Putting a phone number, email or social media link inside a Post. The policy lists these items as prohibited.
• Blaming the spam update for any drop. Without looking at Search Console, it's a guess.
• Rewriting the whole site in a panic. Google said recovery takes months.
• Leaving an old coupon on the site with an active campaign. If automatic promotions reach your account, the old coupon may be pulled into the ad.
• Marking "gluten-free" without being sure. Worse than not marking it.

What to do this week: a checklist by effort

Not everything has to be done at once. The list below goes from the quickest task to the most time-consuming. If you only have one hour, do the low-effort items and schedule the rest.

Low effort (up to 15 minutes each)

• [ ] Open the profile and see whether the Edit profile > Contact > Chat option exists.
• [ ] If it exists, register the WhatsApp number, test the link and don't register SMS alongside it.
• [ ] Check that the profile's hours match the real hours of WhatsApp support.
• [ ] If you have Google Ads, decide whether to leave automatic promotions on or turn them off.
• [ ] If you're a restaurant, mark the gluten and lactose labels on the dishes where it's true.

Medium effort (30 minutes to 1 hour)

• [ ] Read the profile's description, services and products looking for prices, deadlines and direct calls to action.
• [ ] Move time-limited offers to Posts, with a photo and expiry date.
• [ ] Review old Posts and remove phone numbers, emails and social media links.
• [ ] In Search Console, compare September 24 to October 8 with the two weeks before.
• [ ] Remove expired coupons and offers from the site.

Bigger effort (plan it carefully)

• [ ] If there was a real drop concentrated in the update window, review the site against Google's spam policies, page by page.
• [ ] Assign someone to publish one Post per week and look at the view count at the end of the month.
• [ ] Come back to the Chat option in a few weeks, if it still hasn't appeared.
• [ ] Review and reply to profile reviews, without offering a freebie in exchange for a rating without disclosure.

Quick questions

Does the WhatsApp button already work in Brazil?

We can't say. Search Engine Roundtable shows the button appearing in search, but Google's help page lists chat as available in selected regions, and Brazil isn't on it. If the Chat option appears in your Contact tab, set it up. If it doesn't, it hasn't arrived yet.

Do I need to delete the prices from my profile?

Probably not. The rule as described targets time-limited promotions, prices and direct calls to action inside the listing. According to Relevant Audience, it's still unclear whether a fixed menu or the permanent price of a service falls under it. Move temporary offers to Posts and wait for clarification on the rest.

Did the spam update take my site down?

Only your own data can tell. Open Search Console, compare impressions from September 24 to October 8 with the two weeks before, and see which pages varied. Diib's analysis shows a median drop from 34% to 31% in free Google visits, but it's one vendor's reading, with no Brazilian breakdown.

Will I have to change my Google ads?

Only if you use Search or Performance Max campaigns with location assets linked and no promotions set up. Even then, the reach in Brazil wasn't confirmed, because the notice was sent to "some advertisers". If you want to be safe, turn it off under account-level automated assets.

Can I put my Instagram in my profile Posts?

Under the policy as described, no. Posts can't contain emails, phone numbers, social media links or links to sites unrelated to your business. Use the profile's own buttons and fields for that, and keep the Post for an offer or news.

Where Diglion comes in

Diglion reviews small businesses' Google Business Profiles field by field: it separates permanent information from time-limited offers, moves the offers to Posts, sets up the WhatsApp channel when the option is available in the account, and builds the Search Console report to find out whether a traffic drop really came from the update or from somewhere else.

Sources consulted

• Search Engine Roundtable, Google local panel WhatsApp button, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Google Help, Add chat to your Business Profile, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Search Engine Roundtable, Google Maps policy on listings or posts, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Google Help, Prohibited and restricted content, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Relevant Audience, Google Business Profile policy bans promotions in listings, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Search Engine Roundtable, Google September 2026 spam update done, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Search Engine Journal, Google September 2026 spam update complete, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• PPC Land, Google's spam update ends after nearly 14 days, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Search Engine Roundtable, Google Ads automated promotions October 12, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• PPC Land, Google Ads will auto-apply website coupons to some campaigns, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Relevant Audience, Google Ads automated promotions default on 12 October, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Google for Developers, My Business API latest updates, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Search Engine Roundtable, Google Business Profiles dietary attributes, retrieved 2026-10-13.
• Search Engine Journal, Google Business Profile post view counts, retrieved 2026-10-13.