Google has changed the local enquiry journey

Before assuming your Local SEO has stopped working, check where the enquiries are now going.

A small change in Google’s local search results has caught my attention recently. It may help explain why some businesses are still ranking well in the Local Pack but receiving fewer direct phone calls.

If your Google Business Profile visibility looks steady while calls have fallen, it is easy to assume the SEO has stopped working. That is one possibility, but there is now another practical thing to check before making major changes.

The Call button is missing from some local results

In desktop local results I have checked in Australia, Google is no longer showing the direct Call button on the initial list of businesses. Website and Directions remain, and the phone number may still be displayed as text, but the obvious click-to-call action has gone from that view.

The example below is a search for “plumbers Chadstone”. The businesses are still visible, along with reviews, opening hours and phone numbers. What is missing is the Call button that previously sat alongside the other actions.

A similar layout appears in the standard Google search results. Some listings have Website and Directions buttons, some only Website, and the phone number is shown separately as plain text.

Google changes its layouts regularly, and the exact result can vary by device, search, location and business category. I would not treat this as a universal change affecting every profile in exactly the same way. People can still call a business after opening the full profile, visiting the website or dialling the number shown. The shortest route to a phone call has simply become less obvious in the results I am seeing.

An extra step can reduce direct calls

Every extra step creates a small amount of friction. Local service searches are often quick, particularly when someone needs a plumber, electrician, locksmith or other urgent service. A prominent Call button makes the next action obvious. Remove it, and some people will click the website, open another listing or move on.

This means a business can hold its local rankings and continue appearing in front of searchers while recording fewer direct call clicks from its Business Profile.

Google defines the Calls metric in Business Profile Performance as the number of times a customer clicked the call button on the profile. Google’s Business Profile Performance documentation also lists website clicks, directions and bookings as separate interactions.

This is useful when reading the data. A fall in recorded GBP calls only tells you that fewer people clicked Google’s call action. It does not capture someone who clicked through to the website and called from there, copied the number, submitted a form or made a booking.

Check the whole enquiry journey

Before changing your SEO campaign, compare a few signals over the same period.

• Local visibility: Are your Local Pack rankings, profile views and relevant searches broadly steady?
• Business Profile actions: Have direct calls fallen while website clicks, directions or bookings have held up or increased?
• Website enquiries: Are people clicking the phone number on your website, submitting forms or booking online?
• Overall demand: Could seasonality, competition, advertising changes or a quieter market also be contributing?

No single metric proves the cause. The useful pattern is steady visibility combined with fewer direct GBP call clicks and more activity elsewhere. That points you towards the enquiry path and tracking before you start rebuilding pages or chasing a ranking problem that may not exist.

Check the website contact path

If Google is sending more people to the Website button, the website has to do more of the conversion work. For a local service business, I would check the following first:

• Show the phone number clearly near the top of the page, especially on mobile.
• Use a proper tel: link so the number opens the phone dialler when tapped.
• Add a clear Call, Book or Request a Quote action without making people hunt through the page.
• Check that the mobile page loads quickly and the important contact options are easy to use.
• Make sure the website link on the Business Profile lands on a page that accurately represents the business and gives visitors a clear next step.
• Track website phone clicks, forms and bookings so a change in enquiry behaviour does not look like a complete loss of enquiries.

For appointment-based businesses, Google’s booking action may also be worth considering where it is available and works cleanly with the existing booking system. I would treat that as an additional option rather than complicating a setup that already works.

Start with the simplest explanation

A fall in phone calls deserves investigation, but it does not automatically call for a complicated SEO fix. First check whether the business is still visible, then look at how people are moving from Google to the website and into an enquiry.

If rankings and visibility have also fallen, there may be a wider SEO or demand issue to address. If they are steady, improving the website contact path and tracking is the more sensible first move.

Google has changed the local enquiry journey. The job now is to make sure customers can still take the next step easily, wherever Google sends them.

Not sure where your calls have gone?

Rankwell’s Free Initial SEO Check looks at your website, Google presence and tracking to identify the issues most likely to be holding enquiries back.