Store locators are now essential if you want to manage your Google Business Profile properly

Google has updated its link policy for Google Business Profile (GBP) listings, with significant impacts on businesses operating multiple branches or establishments. Will this shift make store locators the most dependable source of information for your various outlets? We’ll clarify these changes, explore Google’s stricter stance, and outline what you must do to avoid slipping through the search engine net.

Local business links: The new rules you must follow

Evolving trends in local online searches have led Google to tighten rules on the links businesses provide in their Google listing. These new rules will particularly affect companies with various branches or establishments, and aim to provide users with reliable, relevant information.

So, what are local business links?

Local business links allow customers to complete actions (for example, visit a website, make an appointment at a branch, or purchase an item online).

Local business links allow customers to complete actions (for example, visit a website, make an appointment at a branch, or purchase an item online).

A dedicated landing page for each Google listing

This is probably the biggest upheaval for companies with multiple branches. From now on, every establishment, shop, or branch location must have a website, or at the very least a dedicated landing page.

What Google says:

“Local business links must lead to a dedicated landing page for your business. For businesses with multiple locations, action links must lead to a website for a specific location. Avoid general landing pages or a landing page for another location of the same business.“

So, whether your company has 10, 50, or 200 establishments or branches, each one will need its own landing page, correctly entered in its respective Google listing.

Links must match the indicated action

Links should not send internet users elsewhere or prompt them to do anything. Google is clear here again:  “Local business links must allow customers to complete the designated action.”

For example, if a user clicks on an order-type link, they must land on a page or be directed to an app where they can place an order.

Local business links cannot be:

• The address of a social network (Instagram, Facebook, etc.)
• Messaging links (WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc.)
• App store links (App Store, Google Play)
• A link reducer (AKA URL reducer – TinyURL, Bitly …)

Links must be valid and explorable

Google will be closely monitoring this, so forewarned is forearmed. The web giant has made it clear that it will validate all the links you provide on your business listings. Its crawlers will regularly check (once a day max) that the link directs users to “a valid and relevant webpage”.

So you’ll need to make sure your pages are valid AND that your links work. Google continues, “If a link cannot be accessed by our crawlers, we cannot verify it, which may lead to the removal of the link.”

So to make sure Google’s crawlers can validate your links, you must:

• Make sure Google’s bots can access them freely: no blocking (IP, user-agent, CAPTCHA, etc.) or content concealment techniques (cloaking).
• Ensure the links function: they must return a success code (like “200 OK”), not an error code (like “404 Not Found” or “500”).
• Check the page loads completely: all resources (images, CSS, JavaScript) must be accessible.
• Not use geo-blocking: the page should not be restricted according to the user’s location.

Google is leveraging AI: the shifting search engine landscape

Google’s sending businesses a clear message with this tightening of the rules; the company is getting prepped for AI-generated search results.

This isn’t the first time Google has changed the way Google Maps works regarding AI. In early 2025, Google replaced the Q&A’s section with an “Ask Maps” prompt for its US users.

Instead of displaying answers submitted by a business owner or internet users, this feature leverages AI to respond to questions, which in turn will get its information from photos, customer reviews, and above all, information available on the company’s website.

This means Google needs to ensure that its AI can access structured (AKA easy to retrieve), official, and fully up-to-date information.

And it’s the reason why Google Business Listings is being tweaked – it’s preparing for the decommissioning of the Google Business Profile Q&A API, scheduled for 3rd November 2025. This decision means moving from manual information management to full AI automation.

Make your store locator the official source of information for all your business’s different locations

By insisting that every establishment has a dedicated landing page that bots can easily explore, Google’s new policy means store locators are no longer just a “where’s the nearest branch?” tool, but a reliable “source of truth” that the web giant can use.

While Internet users are increasingly abandoning traditional websites in favour of AI tools (ChatGPT, etc.), these web pages remain a central source of information for traditional search engines and GenAI search engines. By requiring a unique link to each of your business locations, Google can ensure that its artificial intelligence will be able to continually access clear, structured, official information.

This approach solves a crucial problem for AI: data reliability. Unlike information scattered across third-party sites, social networks, or even customer reviews, store locator pages are Google’s most trusted data source. Companies must therefore manage their store locators to make sure their information is consistent, relevant, and error-free.

Your store locator will now be feeding AI the data it needs when processing search queries, meaning it’s going to be a major marketing pillar that could make or break your brand’s visibility.

3 best practices for “Google and LLM-friendly” store locators

1. Well-structured data

You’re going to need some solid tech in place if your store locator pages are to be correctly indexed by Google and understood by AI systems. You’ll need hierarchical and readable URLs (for example: yourwebsite.com/country/town/store) to help search engines understand the structure of your business’s network of stores, branches, establishments, outlets, etc.

Google favours JSON-LD markups. They allow you to add, clear semantic information (name, address, opening hours, telephone number, etc.) for each establishment that will be directly picked up by systems to complete your GBP records and improve AI search engine responses.

2. Relevant and comprehensive content

An effective store locator is more than a simple list of addresses. Each establishment’s page must provide unique, relevant, and location-specific content to avoid duplicate content that could harm your SEO as well as the viability of your links on your Google Business Profile.

You should include practical information such as the unique services offered by your shop or branch, photos of its interior and outside, testimonials and reviews from real customers, as well as nearby points of interest or landmarks, so search engines and users know its exact location.

3. Pages designed to be cited by AI

Having content on your website’s pages is no longer enough; AI must be able to read and understand it. Content needs to be structured in a specific way for large language models (LLMs) like Gemini to easily pull information from your pages.

The best approach is to use a Q&A format, such as a local FAQ, that allows AI models to copy entire sentences without needing to rephrase them.

Make sure your content has a natural, conversational tone, and avoid jargon, as these models are trained to understand this type of language. Finally, if you want to up your credibility even more in the eyes of AI, you should post authoritative content, such as case studies or original data.