Summary
- Google Business Profiles will lose call and chat features, to be deleted by August.
- Google continues to bury its products, with Google Podcasts being the latest sacrifice for YouTube Music integration.
- Google Chat has seen increased focus recently by newly adding email integration and voice messages.
It’s no industry secret that Google’s business philosophies change direction way too frequently for some people. The graveyard of Google products grows every year, and most recently, Google Podcasts was thrown to the wayside in favor of YouTube Music’s podcast integration. In 2023 alone, products like Google Domains, Google Stadia and Photo Spheres were killed, while in 2022, Hangouts, Google Chrome Apps and Duo met their demise. Podcasts will soon have a new friend in the afterlife, as Google Business Profile chat and call history features will be disabled in the coming months.
Here’s what Google killed in 2023
All the consumer services Google pried from our hands this year
In an email sent to SEO news website Search Engine Land, Google will be shutting down a somewhat crucial feature for some businesses that have Business Profiles found via Google Search and Google Maps. On July 31, Business Profiles’ call and chat history will be completely deleted, and the feature will cease to exist from August onwards. No new chats will be able to be created starting on July 15, so there will be a 16-day stretch where existing chats can continue. Businesses will be able to download their call and chat history to store by their own means.
The rebirth of Google Chat
While intra-company conversations have certainly taken a hit through Google’s decision, intercompany discussions have seen a bigger focus from the tech conglomerate in recent months within the Google Workspace. Google Chat, which is Google’s variation of a workplace chat platform (like Slack or Microsoft Teams), recently enabled the ability to send emails directly to a Chat space. In March, Chat added voice messages, which basically every other messaging app had for years already.
While some companies that have Google Business Profiles will most likely find this news to be disheartening, chatting virtually with customers has evolved over time, with many groups opting to communicate through Facebook messages or direct messages on X. Many companies have live chat features on their sites, and if all else fails, old-fashioned emails or phone calls are perfectly viable and widely-available ways to get in touch with consumers and businesses alike. It won’t keep us from adding it to the upcoming 2024 Google Graveyard article at the end of the year, though. We’re still thinking about 10 of our favorite products that were killed off prematurely by Google, and yes, the misunderstood and poorly-marketed Google+ is one of them.
