Table of Contents
The Missing Button Behind Your Missing Calls
The rest of the week, in bite-sized pieces
"Someone told us we should be listed on more than just Google. With everything moving to Google anyway, is that still worth the trouble?"
Epic Web Studios
Epic Insights
Edition 36  ·  Sep 8, 2026

Nothing Left to Tap

Google's local results have started showing two businesses where they used to show three, and plenty of them arrive with no call button attached. Somebody finally measured what that does to a small business, and the number is worse than the rankings suggest.
The Big Story

The Missing Button Behind Your Missing Calls

Sterling Sky and Jepto went through 179 Google Business Profiles looking for where the phone calls went. What they found is more specific than anything Google has said out loud: the AI-built local packs frequently show two businesses instead of three, often with no click-to-call button on them at all, and they surface only 32% as many unique businesses as the old Map Pack did.

Their read on it: the drop wasn't happening to businesses, it was happening to a button.

It's the difference between being in the phone book and being in the phone book without the number. Your listing is right there. The customer just has nothing to press.

The portfolio numbers line up. GMBapi found US calls down 11.9% year over year in Q2 and website clicks down 12.5%, while direction requests climbed 21.1%. Directions are the action that survived, and that isn't a coincidence. It's the button Google kept on the screen.

Worth noting who's saying this. Search Engine Land stood on stage at BrightonSEO in April and declared local SEO was dying, based on Q1 data showing actions down by roughly half. They rechecked, found the numbers were off, and published the correction last week. "We were wrong about the scale." We'd rather quote the people who print the retraction.

Which buttons Google draws isn't yours to control. Being one of the two businesses it draws them on is. That still comes down to proximity, relevance and prominence on the map side, and to accurate profile data and real reviews on the AI side.
What this means for your site
A falling call count can mean your customers had nowhere to tap, not that they picked somebody else. Direction requests deserve the same attention you give the phone, because right now they're the action Google still puts on the screen.

Your move: Search your main service on your phone, the way a customer would, and look at what Google actually renders. Count the businesses it shows you and check whether any of them carry a call button. That layout is what your customers are working with.
Quick Hits

The rest of the week, in bite-sized pieces
Your Analytics Has a Hole in September 1
A processing bug left a lot of Google Analytics accounts showing zero traffic for September 1. Search Engine Land confirmed it was a reporting failure and not reality, so no, your site didn't lose every visitor that day.
Your move: If you spot the gap in a monthly report, mark it as a known Google bug and don't change anything because of it.
A Popular SEO Plugin Was Handing Out Keys
Rank Math shipped a support feature on August 26 that created WordPress Application Passwords without clearly asking first. Rank Math says the access was read-only and has pulled the feature in 1.0.277.2, but credentials it already created are still sitting on sites.
Your move: On WordPress with Rank Math? Update to 1.0.277.2 or later, then check Users → Profile → Application Passwords and revoke anything starting with WAP. If we maintain your WordPress site, this one's already on our list.
Google Says Recovery Takes Months, Not Weeks
John Mueller said sites hit by a major algorithmic change can need several months to come back, even after the underlying problems are fixed. He also warned against pinning a sudden drop on a small disavow edit when a spam update or a real technical fault is likelier.
Your move: If somebody promises to have you recovered in 30 days, that's a sales timeline, not Google's.
Google Is Testing Photo Verification for Business Profiles
Google is trying an option that lets owners verify a Business Profile by submitting a photo instead of recording a video. Early requirements are strict: your business name on a permanent fixture, and the whole storefront in one frame.
Your move: Adding a location or facing re-verification this fall? Take that photo on a clear day, sign fully readable, before you need it.
Ask Epic

"Someone told us we should be listed on more than just Google. With everything moving to Google anyway, is that still worth the trouble?"

Worth it, yes, but for a different reason than the one you were probably given.

Nobody should be selling you other listings as a traffic play in 2026. Hardly anyone browses a directory anymore. What those listings do now is feed the machines that don't read Google.

SOCi's 2026 index found profile accuracy averaging about 68% on ChatGPT and Perplexity, against 100% on Gemini. Gemini scores that well because it reads Google Maps directly. The others are assembling you out of whatever they can find, and when they can't find much, they fill in the gaps themselves. That's how a tool ends up telling somebody you close at five when you close at seven.

So it's an accuracy job, not a volume job. Apple Maps, Bing, and the two or three that actually matter in your trade, with the name, address and phone identical on every one. Then stop. If a vendor pitches you a 200-directory package, that's the 2014 version of this and you can skip it.
What Epic's doing for you this week
This week we're pulling direction requests alongside calls and clicks in local reporting, because on a lot of profiles that's the number that's actually moving. We're sweeping the WordPress sites we maintain for stray application passwords. And we're flagging the September 1 analytics gap anywhere it lands in a report, so nobody reads a Google bug as a bad day. All of it shows up in your Client Center.
Your 15-minute self-audit

Follow Your Own Directions

Directions are the number that's growing, so spend fifteen minutes making sure that trip actually works.

  1. Tap Directions on your own listing from your phone, standing somewhere other than your building. Watch where the pin drops. If it lands on a back lot, a neighbor, or the middle of the road, fix it in your profile.
  2. Check this week's hours, including anything unusual. Somebody driving over on your say-so and finding a locked door is a review you don't want.
  3. Put your photos next to the real thing. If the sign, the entrance or the paint has changed, the photos should change too.

Thanks for reading! Got questions? Ideas? I'm all ears. Share your thoughts with me and help shape future editions of Epic Insights.

— Kristy Freeman
Epic Web Studios
k.freeman@epicwebstudios.com
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