Google Business Profile AI Messaging: What We Know So Far

2026-11-03

Some business owners now see a red dot on Messages in their Google Business Profile. It leads to a new feature called AI-powered messaging: customers can text your business from Search and Maps, and an AI agent answers the routine questions for you.

Important: As of November 3, 2026, Google has not published a help page for this feature in the Business Profile Help Center. Everything below comes from industry reporting and from screenshots that people have shared. We say who reported each detail. Treat it as an early look, not as Google's final description.

What has been reported

Search Engine Roundtable reported on October 29, 2026 that "Google seems to be rolling out access to the Google Business Profile AI-powered messaging feature to more businesses."

The report is based on two posts:

Barry Schwartz, who wrote the Search Engine Roundtable article, said he does not see the feature in his own account yet.

What the setup screen says

Search Engine Roundtable also published a screenshot of the screen you see when you turn the feature on. It is titled "Turn on AI-powered messaging" and lists four points:

The small print on the same screen matters most:

"*Your agent is available to customers on participating mobile networks with RCS-supported phones. Otherwise, the agent won't reply and texts go directly to your phone. Standard text message rates may apply."

The screen also says that when you select Accept and continue, you confirm that you have read and accept the "Additional Terms for RCS for Business".

So, according to that screen, some customers get the AI agent and some do not. Customers whose phone or network doesn't support RCS text your phone directly, and nobody answers them unless you do.

In the example on the screen, a customer asks about a restaurant's specials and gets menu items with photos and prices. Then the agent offers reservation times. Tomina gives similar examples, and adds her advice, as quoted by Search Engine Roundtable: "before you turn it on, make sure your menu, hours, and services are up to date. The agent can only answer as well as your profile does."

What Google has published

We found one Google page that mentions this kind of feature. Google's help page About the Business Home beta lists, among the beta's features: "Set up AI-powered messaging with RCS for Business so that customers with questions can easily get answers." Business Home is a separate, closed beta. We wrote about it in Google Business Home beta: what owners should know.

That page does not explain how the agent works, which businesses can turn it on in their Business Profile, or in which countries. The Business Profile Help Center has no page for the feature yet.

What we don't know yet

None of the sources answer these questions:

There is also history here. In June 2026, Search Engine Roundtable reported that a Messages button, with a section for messages handled by an AI agent, was live in the Business Profile dashboard for a few hours and was then removed. And Google ended the old Business Profile chat on July 31, 2024, according to its help page about that change. Features like this can change or disappear.

What you can do now

These steps help whatever Google decides, because they only depend on what your profile shows today.

  1. Check Messages in your profile. Go to your Business Profile and look for a red dot on Messages. If you see the setup screen, read the small print and the "Additional Terms for RCS for Business" before you select Accept and continue.
  2. Bring your profile up to date. Check your hours, special hours, menu or services, and prices. Google's help page on editing your Business Profile shows where each one is. Google's guidelines for representing your business ask you to represent your business accurately. As Tomina puts it, the agent "can only answer as well as your profile does."
  3. Know which number gets your texts. The setup screen says that texts from customers without RCS go "directly to your phone." The screen doesn't say which number that is. Check which of the phone numbers on your profile can receive texts, and make sure someone reads them. If you already offer text or WhatsApp chat, see Google's page on chatting with customers from your Business Profile to check which option and number customers see.
  4. Decide who takes over. The agent hands off the questions it can't answer. Choose who on your team will reply to those, and how quickly.
  5. Read the conversations. If you turn the feature on, read what the agent tells your customers, especially in the first weeks. If an answer is wrong, check whether your profile shows the correct information, and take over the conversation.
  6. If you get an invitation email, you can also open your profile directly and look for the red dot, instead of using the link in the email.

If you run a restaurant, also check which delivery apps show on your profile. Our guide on how to control delivery apps on your Google Business Profile explains how.

Messaging helps the customers who already found you. To see where you show up on Google Maps in the first place, the free check from LocaloCare searches Google Maps from 25 points around your business and shows the 3 places Google shows instead of you.

Sources

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