Google Killed Business Profile Chat. Here's What Australian Small Businesses Are Using Instead.

In July 2024, Google permanently removed the chat feature from Google Business Profiles. The on-site chat widget stopped working, and Google told businesses and developers to remove it.

If you had set up Business Profile chat as a way for customers to contact you from Google Search or Maps, that channel is gone. What a lot of businesses have not figured out yet is what replaces it.

What Google Business Profile chat was

Google Business Profile (GBP) had a built-in chat function that let customers message you directly from your search listing or Google Maps entry. When someone found your business on Google and clicked "Chat," it opened a messaging thread directly linked to your profile.

For small businesses, it was a useful zero-cost enquiry channel. Customers could reach you without calling, you could respond via the Google Business Profile app, and you could manage enquiries without giving out a personal number.

Google shut it down on 31 July 2024. All existing chats and message history were deleted.

Why Google removed it

Google cited low usage and slow response times from businesses. The company said it wanted to focus on other features that help businesses connect with customers. The specific mechanic - a walled chat inside Google's own app - was hard to integrate into existing workflows and rarely matched how small business owners actually operate.

The gap it left

For businesses that used GBP chat actively, it removed a specific capability: the ability to capture an enquiry from someone who found you on Google but did not want to make a phone call.

That use case did not disappear when Google shut down the feature. Customers still want to enquire without calling. The channel changed, the behaviour did not.

The common replacements businesses have moved to:

Phone number only: most searches still result in a phone call. This works fine when you answer. When you miss the call, the lead is gone.

WhatsApp Business link: adding a WhatsApp link to your GBP listing lets customers start a chat. This requires the customer to have WhatsApp and click through to a separate app. The friction is higher than a direct chat.

SMS click-to-text widget on your website: the closest functional replacement. A customer clicks the button, their SMS app opens with your number pre-filled, they send their enquiry. It works without any app, it goes to your phone as a normal text, and you can reply from wherever you are.

What the SMS replacement looks like in practice

A widget on your website that says "Text Us" does the same job GBP chat was doing: it captures an enquiry from someone who found you but did not want to call.

The mechanics:

• Customer clicks the button on your website
• Their native SMS app opens with your dedicated business number pre-filled
• They send their enquiry as a normal text
• You receive it on your phone like any other text message
• You reply when you are ready

No separate app needed. No logging into Google. Your personal number stays private.

For businesses that had GBP chat set up and lost it, this is the closest like-for-like replacement.

Setting it up

If you want to replicate what GBP chat did, the steps are:

1. Get a dedicated Australian business number separate from your personal mobile
2. Put a "Text Us" widget on your website that opens an SMS to that number
3. Make sure missed calls to that number trigger an automatic text-back, so you also capture callers who did not want to text first

That last part matters because GBP chat captured people who preferred not to call. A Missed Call Text-Back handles the inverse: people who tried calling but got no answer.

What to update on your GBP listing

With chat gone, the best thing you can do on your Google Business Profile is:

• Make sure your website URL is correct (your "Text Us" widget lives there now)
• Add your business phone number and keep it current
• Respond to reviews - this is the engagement signal that replaced chat in terms of algorithm weight

The enquiry mechanism moved. Your GBP listing is still the front door.

TapText replaces GBP chat with a dedicated AU number, a website text widget, and automatic missed call text-back. See how it works.