Google is rolling out AI-powered messaging for Google Business Profiles. Customers can now text your business straight from Search and Maps, and a free AI agent answers the routine questions for you. Should you turn it on? Yes, but only after you train your new employee, because this AI only knows what you've told Google. Skip that step and you've hired a receptionist who has never set foot in your office, answering questions about your business for people who are ready to buy.
What Google Actually Launched
When someone finds you on Search or Maps, they can tap Message and text you from their phone's own messaging app. Google's AI agent answers routine questions on the spot: your hours, what you offer, whether you serve their area, how to book.
If the AI gets stuck, it hands the chat to you. Your inbox splits into two piles: the conversations the AI handled, and the ones that need your attention.
A few things to know before you get excited:
It's still rolling out. Not every profile has it yet. Look for a red dot on Messages in your profile.
It only works on RCS phones. If a customer's phone or carrier doesn't support RCS, their text skips the AI and goes straight to your phone.
It's free. For now, anyway.
You need a verified profile. If you haven't done that yet, start with how to claim and verify your Google Business Profile.
Why This Matters More Than It Looks
Someone searching "realtor near me" or "plumber in Garden City" isn't browsing. They have a question and they want the answer right now. Whoever answers first usually gets the call.
That's always been true. What's new is that Google now answers for you, so your speed doesn't depend on whether you're at a showing or asleep.
The flip side matters just as much. When the AI hands a conversation to you, that customer has already waited once. If you take three hours to reply, they've already messaged the next business in the Map Pack, and that business probably has the same AI. Speed to lead still wins. (More on that in How Many Times Should You Follow Up With a Lead?)
The AI only knows what you wrote down
This is the part most people will miss. Google's agent builds its answers from your Business Profile, your website and your reviews. That's its whole training manual.
If your profile lists two services and you actually offer nine, the AI tells customers you offer two. If your hours are wrong, it tells people you're open when you're closed. A thin profile used to just cost you rankings. Now it costs you conversations.
It's the same information Google and other AI tools use to decide whether to recommend you in the first place, so this work pays off twice.
How to Train Your New Employee
Before you flip the switch:
List every service on your Google Business Profile. Name it, describe it, and add pricing where it makes sense.
Fix your hours, service area and contact info. Holiday hours too.
Post regularly. Updates and offers give the AI current information to work with.
Build a real FAQ page on your website. Answer the questions your phone already rings with. If you've answered "do you work with first-time buyers?" 47 times, write it down once.
Make your service pages specific. What you do, who it's for, where you do it.
Set up a fast handoff. Turn on notifications and decide who answers when the AI passes a chat over. A CRM that pings you the second a lead comes in makes this easy. It's exactly what we built My Market Tools to do.
Then test it. Text your own business from a friend's phone and ask the questions your clients actually ask. If the answers are vague, so is your profile. (Not showing up at all? Start with Why Isn't My Google Business Profile Showing Up in Local Search?)
What If You're a Real Estate Agent?
Agents need to be more careful than a pizza shop. "Is 42 Maple still available?" is not a routine question. If your listing info is stale, the AI might answer confidently and wrongly.
Keep your profile focused on what doesn't change every week: the areas you cover, your services, how you work with buyers and sellers, and how to book a call. Let anything about a specific property come to you. And read the chats the AI handled every week, so you know what it's telling people in your name.
Hootie's verdict: a great receptionist, as long as somebody hands it the employee handbook first.
Here's the takeaway. Google just gave every local business a free front desk. That's great news for businesses with complete, current profiles, and bad news for the ones that look empty. The AI can only be as good as the information you give it, so fill in your profile, build your FAQ page, and be ready to jump in fast when it hands you a lead.
Rather have someone set this up for you? That's what we do at Ask8. Or send your profile in here for a second set of eyes.
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All The Best To Your Success.
