Google Local Business Phone Support Shuts Down

If you’re a local business or agency running local SEO for clients, you may have noticed the Google local business phone support is no longer available.  I was working on a client issue the other day and, as I normally do, went to request a call from local support.  But after going through the normal URL path, I quickly realized the “Call Me” page was no longer available.

Here’s what I see now in its place:

I’m assuming Google decided to shut down the call me support because it simply wasn’t scalable.  You can’t hire people to work 24 / 7.  And with the growing volume of mobile phone usage and local business page adoption, the volume had to be substantial

Or perhaps Google was running a short time campaign with phone support in order to build up a database of issues.  And then, after they had enough data, they pulled the plug.

Nonetheless, I was a definitely a fan of the Google call me support and used it periodically.  The most useful thing I found with their call service was the verification of business pages.  But over the last few months, even that was whittled away as to they would no longer – under no circumstances – verify a business over the phone.

Long live Google My Business phone support!