Google Clarifies That Phone Numbers Aren’t Allowed in Google My Business Posts and is Now Known as “Phone Stuffing”

For a while, Google has discouraged businesses from adding phone numbers to Google My Business posts but today Google officially added this to their help guidelines with a new name – phone stuffing. This new content policy is meant to “avoid the risk of abuse” and instead encourages businesses to add a “Call now” button to any GMB messages with customers.

The new section in the help center article for Google My Business states the following:

Phone stuffing

To avoid the risk of abuse, we do not allow your post content to include a phone number. You can make your phone number available on your Business Profile or website.

Instead, you can attach a “Call now” button to your post that uses your verified Business Profile phone number.

While this does not technically change anything as phone numbers have always been discouraged in posts, it does give us a new name for the practice and well as provides clarity.