Can AI write your Google Business Profile posts and review replies? We tested it

What we asked for, and what came back

The business is Northside Plumbing Co. in Springfield, Missouri, the fictional company on our plumbing sample site. It covers six towns and six services, and promises a clear quote before work starts. The site says nothing about licenses, prices, hours or discounts, so anything like that in a draft was added by the AI.

We typed each request the way a busy owner would, in a fresh session, and kept the first answer. The four reviews we asked it to answer were written by us for the test.

The good news first. It kept every fact we did give it: the $40, the October dates, the "can't be combined" rule, the six town names. None of the four review replies tried to sell anything, and all four used the customer's name. The problems were additions, not mistakes in what we supplied.

The draft that made up an offer

Asked for "4 Google Business Profile posts I can publish one per week in November" and nothing else, the model filled the gaps itself. Week 1 said Northside "offers free pipe insulation checks this month". Week 4 told customers "we'll be closed on Thanksgiving Day". Neither is true for this business. Posted as written, the first promises free work to anyone who calls, and the second tells customers you're closed on a day you might be open.

These are the claims that hurt, because customers act on them. A made-up adjective like "fast" is sloppy. A made-up free offer is something a caller will ask for by name.

Then we ran the same request again with five lines of facts: the towns, the services, the clear quote, "We have no special offers or discounts in November" and "Our hours don't change for Thanksgiving week". We added rules too: under 80 words, no emoji, no hashtags, no dashes, add nothing that isn't in the facts. The invented offer and the invented closing were gone. It even picked the Call now button for every post, which is the button Google's policy page suggests.

It still wasn't perfect. It slipped in "for homes" and "homeowners", which our facts never limited. It used dashes in its own headings after being told not to. And all four posts repeated the same six-town list word for word, which reads like a template when they sit side by side on your profile. Those are two-minute fixes. The difference between the two runs is the whole lesson: the AI writes from what you give it, and makes up the rest.

Copy this before your next post

This is the version that worked in our test, cut down. Replace the bracketed parts with your own details:

1. Write a Google Business Profile [update / offer / event] post for [business name], a [trade] company in [city, state].
2. Facts you can use, and nothing else: towns we cover: [list]. Services: [list]. [One true thing about how you work, like "clear quote before work starts"]. [The offer, word for word, with dates and terms, or "We have no offers this month."] [Anything about hours, or "Our hours don't change."]
3. Rules: under 80 words, no emoji, no hashtags. Don't add any claim, offer, price, hours or service that isn't in the facts above.
4. Tell me which button to attach.

The line that says "no offers" matters. Leaving a topic out isn't enough, because the model treats a gap as room to invent. Say the negative out loud.

Our earlier test on ChatGPT for five everyday small business tasks found the same thing with a different model, and has a longer checklist of what to feed it.

Review replies: where AI did well, and the line to check

The replies were the stronger half of the test. For a detailed review ("Called at 7am with water coming through the ceiling. They were here by 9..."), the model thanked the customer by name and repeated her details back: the ceiling leak, the same-day fix, the cleanup. That's what Google's own reply tips ask for: "Address the reviewer by name and acknowledge their specific feedback".

Two things need a human every time:

• Promises. For a 4-star review that complained about a slow callback, the draft said "we're working on tightening up our scheduling response times". That's a fine sentence if it's true. If you haven't changed anything, you've just made a public promise the next customer can check.
• Small invented facts. One reply said a job was done "quickly" when the customer wrote "on time". Another called a town in the service area "a bit of a haul", which tells anyone reading that you don't really like going there.

None of the four replies had a personal sign-off. Google's tips suggest one: "A personal sign-off with your name or initials shows that their experience matters to you". Add your first name and "owner" at the end yourself.

The reply to a stars-only review was fine as written, and generic by nature: "Thanks so much for the 5 stars, Tom!" Google asks you to avoid sending the same "thank you" to everyone and to focus on reviews where you can share a helpful update or answer a question. So if AI helps you clear a backlog of short replies, spend the saved time on the reviews that say something. Replying to reviews is on Google's list of ways to improve your local ranking.

Negative reviews are a different job. Read how to respond to a negative Google review before you let any tool draft one.

What Google says about posts

Before deciding how much time posts deserve, here's what Google's help pages say, checked on September 24, 2026:

• Three types. Updates, Offers and Events. An offer needs a title and dates, and gets a "View Offer" button automatically. You can add a coupon code and terms.
• Where they show. In the Updates or Overview tabs of your profile on phones, and in the "From the owner" section on computers, on both Search and Maps.
• They expire. "Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set". You can schedule posts and set them to repeat.
• Don't type your phone number. Posts with a phone number in the text "might get rejected" if Google can't verify it's yours. Its policy page says to attach a Call now button instead, which uses your verified number.
• Google names auto-generated text. Its tips for posts: "Avoid misspelled words, extra characters, text that adds no value, and auto-generated or distracting content".

That last line doesn't ban using AI. We read it as a warning against filler that could be about any business, which is what our no-details November posts were. A post about a real job in a real town, with your own photo, isn't that.

Also worth knowing: posts aren't on Google's list of ways to improve your local ranking. That list covers verifying, complete business info, reviews and replies, and photos. Post when you have something real to say, like a seasonal reminder or a genuine offer. Our Google Business Profile checklist puts posts after the things that do move the needle.

Google's own AI inside your profile

You may not need a separate AI tool for some of this. Google's Business Profile already has an AI option for your business description: click Edit profile, then Edit next to "Description", then Suggest description. It's available in select regions and languages. Google's own warning on it matches our test: "This AI feature writes creative text. You should review it for accuracy and update as needed".

For review replies, Google has been testing a "Reply to reviews with AI" option. Search Engine Roundtable reported it on March 24, 2026, quoting the prompt shown in the dashboard: "Use Google AI to create personalised replies that build trust". It was showing for some businesses only. We couldn't find a Google help page for it on September 24, 2026, so treat it as a test that may or may not reach your account. If it does, the same checks apply: promises, small invented facts, and your name at the end.

Test setup, and what it can't tell you

We used Claude Sonnet 5, a model made by Anthropic, through Anthropic's Claude Code tool. Each request ran in a new session with no earlier conversation, no web search and no files, and was told to answer the way it would in an ordinary chat. One run per request, first answer kept, no follow-up corrections. We did not use ChatGPT or Google's built-in AI for this test.

The business is fictional, and so are the four reviews. That's on purpose: we could check every draft against a known list of facts. Another model, another day or a longer prompt could give different results. Our earlier test with ChatGPT produced the same kind of problem, an added claim in a service description, so we don't think it's specific to one model.

What to do this week

Write down your towns, your services, one true thing about how you work, and this month's offer (or "no offers"). Paste that list above every AI request. Then post one update about a real job with your own photo, and answer every review from the last month, signing each reply with your name. If your profile still needs the basics, start with the Google Business Profile checklist. If you want the reviews working on your website too, see how to add Google reviews to your website.