On a recent search for an apartment in Denver, the listing I found on Google Maps looked like a business that had quietly closed.
Two dim photos. Both years old. No updates. No recent posts. No fresh images of the lobby, the units, the street out front. Nothing that signaled: we’re here, we’re open, we’re alive.
And in the strange way the internet trains instinct, my brain made a leap I didn’t fully intend: maybe this place doesn’t exist anymore.
That moment — small, almost forgettable — is the clearest explanation for why “local SEO” is not just Google Maps, and why Google Maps is not just reviews and photos. It’s a living profile. A social surface. A public stream of proof. A place where customers and business owners interact in plain view.
In 2026, a Google Business Profile isn’t a static listing. It’s closer to a social network page — a feed of updates, media, questions, answers, and signals that reassure a stranger: this is real.
No illusions. Just behavior.
People don’t “search” like they used to. They evaluate. They scan. They look for life.
And Google Maps, quietly and relentlessly, has evolved into one of the world’s most consequential social platforms for local commerce — not because it feels like Instagram, but because it sits at the exact moment of decision. The moment when someone asks: should I trust this place, drive there, call, book, show up?
The old framing of local SEO treated Maps as a pin: get listed, collect reviews, upload a few images, and you’re done.
But Google’s own product design tells a different story.
Business owners can publish updates directly to their profile — announcements, offers, events — that appear on Search and Maps, a feature Google describes as a way to share “latest business updates” to help customers decide to visit. (Google Help)
Google has also leaned harder into fresh, time-sensitive content. In 2025, it began rolling out a “What’s Happening” section for certain restaurant and bar profiles, elevating timely specials and events in a more prominent way — in other words, treating recency as a core part of the experience, not a nice-to-have. (The Verge)
This is not the architecture of a digital phone book.
It is the architecture of a feed.
And feeds, whether we admit it or not, change how people judge credibility.
A listing with constant, recent proof feels safer than a listing that looks abandoned — even if the abandoned one is technically accurate.
The social layer has always been there, hiding in plain sight.
Customers upload photos and videos. They leave reviews. They answer other customers’ questions. They add details, correct hours, update attributes. And many of these contributions are powered by a massive volunteer community that Google itself calls Local Guides — “a global community of explorers” who write reviews, share photos, answer questions and update information on Maps. (Google Help)
That’s a social network, even if it doesn’t look like one.
It’s people building a public reality together.
In 2019, Google even experimented more explicitly with social mechanics like following Local Guides — an attempt, as reporters described at the time, to give Maps the feel of a place where tastemakers shape what others discover. (TechCrunch) And writers at Wired laid out the broader thesis plainly: Maps had become a subtle social tool, complete with profiles, updates, and a kind of discovery feed. (WIRED)
Some of those overt “social” features have been dialed back. Google planned to discontinue the ability to follow contributors, with changes taking effect in September 2025, a move widely interpreted as part of the company’s attempt to reduce spam and low-quality behavior. (Tom’s Guide)
But the social reality of Maps did not disappear with that button.
Because the main social behaviors never depended on “follow.”
They depended on publishing, reacting, comparing, and trusting — the human habits that have always powered local search.
And for businesses, that changes the job.
The job is no longer “get on the map.”
The job is “look alive on the map.”
That means understanding what people are actually doing when they land on a Business Profile.
They are not reading your “About” section like it’s a brochure.
They are scanning for signs:
Are the hours current?
Do the photos look like the place I’m about to enter?
Are there new pictures from customers, not just polished stock shots?
Is anyone responding to reviews?
Do the updates look recent?
Are there fresh posts that confirm normal business activity?
Do the details match what I’ll experience when I arrive?
Google, for its part, has repeatedly signaled that media matters. In a July 2025 Small Business Bulletin posted by Google’s support channels, the company cited a striking statistic: businesses with photos get 42% more requests for driving directions and 35% more clicks through to their websites. (Google Help)
It’s hard to imagine a clearer statement of what Google believes a healthy profile should do: drive action.
And action, in local search, is the whole game — calls, direction requests, website clicks, messages. Industry explanations of local ranking signals often point to these behaviors as engagement metrics Google measures and reports inside Business Profile performance data. (ollyolly.com)
Here is what gets missed when businesses reduce Maps to “reviews and images.”
Maps is where customers bring receipts.
A Yelp review is a review.
A Google Maps review is a review attached to navigation, intent, and immediacy.
It sits beside the “Call” button.
The “Directions” button.
The “Book” button.
The questions from strangers.
The photos that prove what the lobby really looks like.
And increasingly, the short-form media customers use to say: here’s what you’ll actually get.
That’s social proof in its most commercially powerful form.
Because it’s proof at the moment someone is deciding whether to leave their house.
Businesses can respond to that social layer — or ignore it.
Ignoring it is not neutral. It communicates absence.
A profile with no updates for months can feel like a store with the lights off.
A profile with fresh photos, recent posts, and visible activity feels like a store with open doors — even before you arrive.
This is where local SEO becomes more than a map pin.
It becomes reputation management, yes — but also presence management.
And presence management is, in practice, social publishing.
Consider what “posting” actually means on Google Business Profile.
Google’s official documentation describes posts as a way to share announcements, offers, updates, and event details “directly with your customers on Search and Maps.” (Google Help)
That language matters.
“Directly with your customers” is not directory language.
That’s platform language.
And it’s a hint at why certain businesses are beginning to treat Google Maps as a primary channel rather than a neglected afterthought.
In local marketing case studies, the outcomes are often measured not in likes or comments, but in high-intent actions: calls, direction requests, website clicks. In one property management case study, for example, the publisher reports call clicks increasing substantially over a comparison period. (propdata.net)
The details vary by industry and by operator — and not every case study is created equal — but the pattern is consistent: profiles that are actively managed tend to generate more measurable actions than profiles left idle.
There are also emerging strategies that treat Google Maps visibility as something that can be amplified socially from outside the platform. A case study published in January 2026 examined whether adding Google Business Profile “Get Directions” links into social captions could increase high-intent behavior for apartments — effectively bridging traditional social media and the Maps decision point. (Digible)
Again, what’s notable is not the tactic itself.
It’s the assumption behind it: that the Google Business Profile is not just an identity card, but a conversion surface — a place where people take action.
When you view Maps this way, the Denver apartment problem becomes obvious.
Two old photos weren’t a cosmetic issue.
They were a trust issue.
A lack of recency is interpreted as a lack of reality.
If you want a modern definition of local SEO, it might be this:
Local SEO is the discipline of removing doubt.
Removing doubt that you’re open.
Removing doubt that you’re legit.
Removing doubt that you’re the right choice.
Maps is where doubt gets tested in public.
That includes the parts everyone talks about — reviews, photos, Q&A — but it also includes the part many businesses ignore: updates.
A steady stream of posts, new images, short videos, and visible responses creates a feeling that is hard to fake and even harder to outcompete: momentum.
Not hype. Momentum.
In the past, businesses tried to manufacture this feeling on social platforms and then hoped customers would click out to a website.
But many customers never leave Google.
They search, decide, and act without ever visiting your homepage.
Which means the Business Profile is increasingly your front door.
And in a world where the front door is digital, maintenance is marketing.
This is where the old local SEO checklist starts to look outdated.
“Claim your listing” is step one, not the finish line.
“Get more reviews” matters, but it’s incomplete.
“Upload photos” matters, but stale photos can backfire.
The question is not whether you have content.
It’s whether you have current content.
Google’s own guidance reinforces this emphasis on visuals and freshness, and its product rollouts have steadily elevated timely updates into more prominent spaces. (The Verge)
And the customer’s behavior does the rest.
They are trained, by years of digital disappointment, to look for decay.
A closed restaurant with an active profile feels open.
An open business with a dead profile feels closed.
That is the new reality of local search.
So what does it mean, practically, to treat Google Maps as a social network?
It means you stop thinking of your profile as a badge and start thinking of it as a newsroom.
Not a place for hype, but a place for evidence.
New work completed.
New inventory.
Seasonal updates.
Short clips of what it looks like to walk in.
A quick video of a team member explaining what’s happening this week.
A post answering a common question customers keep asking.
A photo that shows the real environment today, not three years ago.
And yes, it means responding — publicly — to the human layer that surrounds your brand.
Because customers are not just consuming information on Maps.
They are participating.
Local Guides contribute.
Customers upload media.
People answer questions.
Businesses respond.
That interaction itself is a signal of life — and life, in local search, is the currency of trust. (Google Help)
There is a final irony here.
For years, small businesses believed they needed to compete on social media by becoming entertainers.
But Google Maps doesn’t require entertainment.
It rewards usefulness.
It rewards accuracy.
It rewards clarity.
It rewards proof.
In a time when attention is expensive and trust is fragile, Maps is one of the few platforms where being real is still a competitive advantage.
No illusions.
Just showing signs of life, where life matters most: at the moment someone is about to choose you.
And if you’re wondering why this matters beyond Google Maps itself, the answer is simple.
Your Business Profile doesn’t sit in isolation.
It touches Search.
It influences click behavior.
It shapes the way people interpret your brand before they ever meet you.
And it can decide, in a single glance, whether you feel alive — or like that Denver apartment listing with two old photos, quietly fading into the background.
In 2026, local SEO isn’t a pin.
It’s presence.
And presence is social.
Even on a map.