Google’s introduced that it will likely be shutting down the chat and name historical past options on Google Enterprise Profiles in July, because it strikes to streamline its enterprise instruments.

“The what?” I hear you ask.

Yeah, it’s not a extremely used component of the Google Enterprise providing, however proper now, customers of Google Search, Maps and Buying can get in contact with what you are promoting direct from the in-stream listings, by initiating a chat from the show.

Google Enterprise chat is an elective component of your Google Enterprise profile, which you’ll want to particularly activate and/or deactivate for every Google platform, with an essential proviso being that companies need to reply to any messages inside 24 hours.

That gives one other, easy method for customers to make contact, and will, a minimum of in idea, provide help to generate extra leads out of your Google listings.

However evidently, it hasn’t confirmed well-liked.

I’d hazard a guess that the 24-hour time restrict is one obstacle, whereas it’s additionally fairly potential that quite a lot of enterprise homeowners didn’t know that it existed. However both method, it’s not seeing sufficient take-up to maintain supporting it, so Google’s retiring the choice as of July thirty first, 2024.

As reported by Search Engine Land:

“Google will cease permitting new chats to be initiated beginning on July 15, 2024 after which will completely disable the chat and name historical past options on July 31, 2024. You possibly can obtain your chat and name historical past from Google Enterprise Profiles, so you may retailer them someplace. In some unspecified time in the future, Google will delete the historical past.”

Once more, it’s not a significant component, so the impression gained’t be important. However if in case you have been utilizing this function, it’s value noting that it’s going away, and that customers will now not be capable of provoke a chat from Google surfaces.