Your Google Business Profile Just Changed. Here’s What to Do About It. 

Your law firm’s Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly known as Google My Business, is the business listing that appears in Google Search and Google Maps. It shows your firm’s name, address or service area, phone number, hours, Google reviews, photos, a description of your services, and, of course, a link to your website. 

Your Google Business Profile is free, but it’s also one of your firm’s most valuable digital assets. Once something you could “set and forget,” your GBP now needs regular, targeted attention to keep you from losing ground amid the evolving search landscape and recent Google policy changes. Let’s explore what’s changing, what it means, and how you can respond to keep getting the most out of your GBP.

Why Your Google Business Profile Matters More Than Ever 

Your Google Business Profile matters because of how people are searching for law firms now. AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini have entered the chat (pun intended), and they pull local recommendations straight from GBP data. Firms whose profiles are thin, inaccurate, stale, or have a weak or unfavorable review history don’t get traction—and getting surfaced by AI is increasingly important to lead generation. 

Reviews have always been an important trust signal, and they influence traditional search as well as AI-powered search. But it’s no longer just about what searchers think when they see your star rating; it’s about whether your firm shows up in their search at all. Google reviews aren’t the only game in town, but they’re a primary player: according to Birdeye’s State of Online Reviews 2026, Google generated 79.4% of all reviews per location.

What Has Changed With Google Review Policy?

Reviews are most helpful when they reflect a user’s genuine, unbiased experience. Fake reviews and manipulation (like workplace contests to gather the most reviews mentioning employees by name) diluted the usefulness of reviews and tainted the information AI was relying on for its recommendations. Here are some of the specific changes Google made in its April 2026 review policy updates:

Employee Name Mentions

Google now bans businesses from soliciting reviews that name specific employees. If a customer or client happens to reference an employee by name in a review, that’s acceptable, but requesting that they do so is a violation of Google policy.

No More Review Quotas 

Giving employees a monthly review quota, forcing them to compete in contests to get the most reviews, or tying bonuses to reviews collected unsurprisingly leads to fake reviews and manipulation, so Google has banned these actions.

Location Proximity Filtering for Reviews

Google is more carefully scrutinizing reviews from users who have no physical connection or proximity to a business, or whose accounts have little prior engagement history.

Moderation of Responses to Reviews

Rather than publishing them automatically, Google now assigns one of three statuses to review responses: approved, rejected, or pending. To be approved, responses need to sound human, and not offensive.

Automated, Enhanced Enforcement

Just as AI has made it easier to generate fake reviews, it’s made it easier to detect them, too. Google deployed its Gemini-powered enforcement tools on April 16, 2026, according to Launchcodex. 

What happens if a review is found to violate Google policy? At a minimum, it can be blocked or removed. Google’s 2025 Trust and Safety Report clocked 292 million removals in just one year. Serious or repeat offenders can face profile restrictions or even full suspension from Maps and local search. 

It’s worth noting that not every review disappearance stems from enforcement of the new policies. In July 2026, Search Engine Journal reported that some firms are seeing their Google dashboards falsely report zero reviews. The profile may still display the total number of reviews, but clicking on the Reviews section to read them yields a “You have no reviews yet” message. This glitch appears to be unrelated to policy violation issues, and Google hasn’t yet fully explained why it’s happening. 

What Do the Changes Mean for Law Firms Asking for Reviews? 

Google’s policy changes aren’t designed to deter businesses from asking for reviews, just from asking in a way that could lead to a review that is manipulated, coerced, or fake. In practical terms, here’s what that means for your law firm: 

Request reviews after the close of a legal matter. 

By sending a direct review link to a client in an email at the close of their matter, you also allow clients to leave reviews organically on their own devices and networks. If a client leaves a review while in your office, Google may flag and remove it, especially if multiple reviews have come from the same IP address.

Use neutral language.

The more it feels like you’re putting words in the client’s mouth (or keyboard) when requesting a review, the more likely the resulting review will be flagged as suspicious.

Don’t name drop.

Your clients know who they worked with. If they want to mention an attorney or staff member in a review who was particularly helpful, they will. Never ask for a mention by name.

Ask all clients for feedback. 

Being even-handed when requesting reviews is important. “Review-gating” is selectively soliciting reviews only from clients you expect to respond favorably, perhaps routing less-happy clients to an internal feedback channel. Google frowns on this. 

Remember to update website testimonials.

It’s common for attorneys to republish favorable Google reviews on their own website; you may be doing that, too. Users sometimes update reviews, perhaps in response to a notification about the review from Google. If they do, and the content changes, it may no longer match what’s on your site. Periodic audits should catch those inconsistencies, as well as any older reviews that reference employees by name.

What’s the 30-Day Rule for Google Business Profiles?

Local search results reward Google Business Profiles that show that the business is active; one way to do that is by keeping your GBP updated on a regular basis. Profiles that have no activity for more than 30 days could experience reduced visibility in local search results. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of things that your firm can do to keep your GBP active. Each one gives readers, human and otherwise, a deeper sense of your practice. 

Publish blog posts.

If you’re already creating blog posts for your website, link to them from your GBP, along with a two or three sentence summary or takeaway. Prioritize topics relevant to your practice area and your clients’ searches, but avoid posts that read like ad copy; they get less engagement.

Promote firm news and events. 

Sharing webinars, speaking engagements, and firm news on your GBP is a great fit for law firms because it generates E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals, as well as keeping your profile active.

Post pictures.

Photos on profiles can help drive actions like website clicks, calls, and requests for directions. Avoid stock photos or AI-generated imagery, and aim for real photos of your team in the office, or at community events that humanize the firm.

Respond to reviews.

Even though responses to reviews are no longer posted instantly, it’s still important to respond promptly and professionally, without discussing case specifics or anything that could violate confidentiality.

Taking one or more of these actions every month helps Google and AI systems understand what your law firm is and does; that “entity optimization” helps AI trust and surface your firm.

Take Control of the Services Section of Your GBP

One of the fields in your Google Business Profile is the Services section. Google doesn’t give every type of business the option of describing its services, but law firms can, and they should. The Services section conveys more specifically what you do than your category (“law firm” or “family law firm”) alone. That helps Google surface your firm for searchers who are looking for the services you provide.

A profile that’s present in Google’s index but not built out with service descriptions competes at a disadvantage against competitors with profiles that are fully optimized. What’s more, if you don’t build out your Services section, Google may populate it for you with AI. As we all know, AI can get things wrong, and inaccurate listings can confuse your prospective clients and the AI platforms that might direct them to you. 

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix: regularly audit your GBP’s Services section, and manually correct anything that is not accurate.

Reviews, Your GBP, and AI Visibility: The Big Picture

Your Google Business Profile is your law firm’s home on Google, and making the most of its various components is what gets your firm noticed in an increasingly competitive landscape. Reviews are still an important trust signal for your prospective clients, but more and more, they are also a credibility signal for AI platforms recommending law firms to those clients. 

It’s not just the number of positive reviews you have that matters, but how consistently they appear, how authentic they are, and how recently they have been posted. Whitespark’s 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors identifies review volume and recency as strong local ranking signals. Likewise, the more robust, accurate and active your overall GBP is, the more likely AI platforms are to surface your firm to people searching for the services you provide. 

Ongoing review collection, monitoring, and response is no longer optional for law firms; it’s essential for AI visibility and local search visibility. The more consistently you manage your reviews and reputation online, the greater your advantage against competitors. 

What Should Your Law Firm Be Doing Right Now? 

Here’s a checklist of actions your law firm can take today to keep your reviews and Google Business Profile in top shape. Some can be done in minutes; others require a greater investment of time. 

• Review Services section on your Google Business Profile and manually correct inaccuracies or omissions.
• Confirm the testimonials on your website still match the Google reviews from which they came.
• Respond to any new reviews with language that sounds professional and human, not AI-generated or formulaic.
• Make sure any review request templates you use don’t violate Google’s updated policies. 
• Build review collection into your workflow for closing a case so that it gets done regularly and consistently.
• If your review dashboard suddenly displays “no reviews yet” while your public listing looks normal, check the live listing before assuming reviews were removed due to violations, and contact Google if needed.
• Set a reminder on your calendar to post an update to your GBP at least monthly, if not more often.

For law firms that don’t have the bandwidth or staff to manage these tasks on a consistent basis, The Modern Firm can help. Our Fundamentals+ service includes review collection, monitoring, and reputation management services built specifically for law firms, as well as Google Business Profile assistance. Contact us to learn how we can help your firm.

A Word of Encouragement

Local search is a primary source of leads for many smaller law firms; the practices that perform the best in local search are the ones who see their Google Business Profile as a living asset and update it accordingly. 

Google’s April 2026 updates aren’t another hoop for law firms to jump through; they’re actually an affirmation of the things good lawyers do already. You build relationships with your clients, demonstrate your credibility, and show up consistently. Bringing your GBP in line with that lets the algorithm reward you for it.