You Can Now Remove Phone Numbers From Google My Business LIstings

Recently, there have been a few threads on the Google My Business forum where business owners cannot figure out why Google won’t allow them to add a phone number to their Google My Business (GMB) listing.  It turns out there is a new setting that allows businesses to disable the phone number from appearing on their listing.  Mike Blumenthal commented that this might be useful for business types like farmers’ markets that don’t really have a phone number that people can contact for help.

This feature could use some improvements because even if you select you don’t want a phone number on your listing, Google still prompts users to add one via Suggest an Edit.

Jason Brown, however, pointed out that if you try to add the phone number, it gives you an error and doesn’t actually add it:

How to remove your phone number from your Google My Business (GMB) listing

To remove your phone number from your listing on Google My Business or Google Maps, do the following:

  1. Sign in to the Google Account you used to sign up for Google My Business.
  2. Go to Google and search for your business name & address
  3. Click on the three dots to the right of the “Your business on Google” box.
  4. Click “Business profile settings”, then “Advanced settings”, and scroll down until you see the phone number section. There should be an option to select to not show the phone number.

Joy Hawkins

Joy is the owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the industry since 2006, writes for publications such as Search Engine Land, and enjoys speaking regularly at marketing conferences such as MozCon, LocalU, Pubcon, SearchLove, and State of Search. You can find her on Twitter or volunteering as a Product Expert on the Google My Business Forum.

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This Post Has 19 Comments

  2. We have a client who disabled his phone number and I was going nuts trying to find this setting, looking on mobile through the app etc. because the manage profile options would not appear on SERP. I got credentials and apparently that menu is only accessible by the Google account that created the listing (management/owner privileges don’t seem to matter) and the option to disable/enable phone number is only accessible through that menu at the moment.

    Reply

  3. Someone is using my client phone no. in their listing, what should I do to remove the phone no.? I go to suggest an edit option and removed the phone no. but seems this method won’t work. Plz help

    Reply

  5. I can’t change my phone number from Google business,it’s showing pending for reviewing,i want to delete previous owner’s phone number and add my new number.but could n’t update, please someone can help me solve out this issue!?

    Reply

    1. In some regions, like India, Google has taken extra steps to make sure a phone number is accurate. These steps help guard your Business Profile’s integrity. 

      Starting last year, Business Profile owners and managers can submit additional information to verify phone number edits. Note, your edits are pending while we review them and we cannot confirm all phone numbers. Edits may be rejected or undergo automated Google updates. 

      First, business owners should confirm that your number follows Google’s quality guidelines. Learn more about our guidelines. Then, submit a phone number edit. Learn how to edit your profile. Finally, submit additional information by visiting the “Learn more” link located on the task card where you provide your phone number edit. This process is the recommended approach for editing and having your phone number reviewed. Merchants who reach out to Google My Business support will be asked to complete the same process. 

      Reply

  6. Hi, any idea why my primary phone number is now not showing, I contacted google on Friday but still wainting, I have confirmed the Don’t show number is off, I tried to add it but exceed attempts, a bit stressed as i have just come back live from a 3-week suspension any ideas, please?

    Reply

  8. When you pull up my google business profile on a mobile device and hit the call icon, a google call forwarding number pops up, when selected it then forwards to our number. How do I disable that as it’s confusing to clients because it shows they are calling a different city.

    Reply

  9. Hi, i disabled one of “Dont Show” or “Automated Calls” or “Booking from Customers” and my phone numbers got deleted from GMB. I immediately post the same numbers. But GMB is showing it will take 30 days. Dont know what to do. Kindly advise.

    Reply

  10. How do I remove the Google phone number from my business account? When people click “call” it calls a different number. My customers need to text me sometimes and that’s the number they think they should text because that’s what shows in their call history on their phone from when they called.

    Reply

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