Google Updates Its Business Profile Posts Content Policy

Google’s Business Profile posts content policy offers guidelines for content a business can share through its business profile.

These policies are in place to ensure that the customers have a positive experience, which ultimately benefits the business in several ways, including increased conversions.

It’s a business’s responsibility to ensure that all the posted content adheres to these guidelines. Google frequently updates these policies to offer businesses and their customers a better experience.

One of the recent updates includes an addition to the ‘Avoid Spam’ section of the Business Profile Posts Content Policy.

We have shared a screenshot of most of the guidelines included below the Avoid SPAM section. It also includes the new addition: duplicate photos, posts, videos, and logos.

By doing this, Google is putting all businesses with a Google Business Profile on notice to share only unique content instead of re-publishing the same content with no additional value.

But the newest addition to the business profile content policy is still a bit vague and could mean numerous things. It could include duplicate stock photos or oversharing posts with the same logo.

In the case of duplicate logos, a business that uses the logo on every photo might have trouble sharing content with its customers. Businesses can test this hypothesis by sharing content with their logo and see if they are affected by this content policy.

Then there are the exact duplicates of graphics, videos, or logos that are sometimes uploaded mistakenly. Of course, some businesses reuse old content when going through tough times.

For example, if a gym owner with a Google Business Profile frequently reposts the same graphics with discounts, it may be flagged as a duplicate post and removed.

While posting duplicate content may not get your listing suspended, it will result in the removal of the post.

Many digital marketing experts and SEO companies consider this update to be the cause of the recent spike in the rejection of new business profile posts. Unless Google further clarifies the update, the only way to get ahead of this hurdle is to publish original and unique content on business profiles.