Google started a core update on Tuesday, and it may still be rolling out the week of Thanksgiving. Here's the deal: if your Google traffic jumps or dips over the next two weeks, don't start rewriting pages yet. Also this week: a Message button on Google Maps, a way to remove offers you never approved, and a free AI workshop in Evans.
The short version
- Google's November 2026 core update started November 10 and may take up to two weeks. Note the date and hold off on big site changes.
- Customers can now tap Message right next to Call on your Google Maps listing. Link a chat channel someone actually answers.
- Some profiles are showing a "Book online" button the owner never set up. Tap yours and see where it goes.
- Changing a Google Ads budget or target doesn't put Smart Bidding back into "Learning," per Google. Holiday budget changes are safer than you think.
- Free Grow with Google AI workshop in Evans on Wednesday, November 18. Registration required.
Around the CSRA
Free "Make AI Work for You" workshop in Evans, November 18
The Columbia County Chamber is bringing Grow with Google's "Make AI Work for You" tour to Evans on Wednesday, November 18, 11:30 am to 1 pm, at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center, 1000 Market Street. The chamber's event page says it's free to attend, registration is required, and you need to bring your own laptop. It's in person and built for small business owners who want a practical AI plan.
What to do: Register at g.co/grow/ColumbiaCounty and check the date and time in your confirmation email.
A one-hour LinkedIn webinar from the Georgia SBDC, November 17
The UGA Small Business Development Center's LinkedIn That Works runs Tuesday, November 17, 9 to 10 am. It's a $29 webinar from the SBDC's Rome office, so it's online, not in Augusta. It covers each section of your profile, keywords that help the right people find you, and posts that turn into actual business.
What to do: If your customers are other businesses, register through the "Register Now" link. The access link comes in a separate email.
Google Search
The November 2026 core update started November 10
Google's Search Status Dashboard says it released the November 2026 core update on November 10 at 10:07 am Pacific, globally and in all languages, and the rollout "may take up to 2 weeks to complete." That could run to about November 24, two days before Thanksgiving. Google's core updates page says these changes are broad and don't target specific sites or pages.
Rankings bounce around during a rollout. Change your site in the middle of one and you won't know what caused what.
What to do: Write "Nov 10 core update" wherever you track traffic. When the dashboard says it's finished, open Search Console, go to Performance > Search results, and compare the two weeks after with the two weeks before.
Moving to a CDN? Don't let bot protection lock out Googlebot
On November 11, Google's Search Central blog explained why crawling spikes right after a site moves behind a CDN, a content delivery network that keeps copies of your pages on servers around the world. Faster responses tell Google's crawlers your site can take more traffic, but a new CDN starts with an empty cache, so those requests still hit your own server. Google's warning: turning on blanket bot protection to stop the spike also blocks Googlebot, and your pages start dropping out of Search.
What to do: If your site sits behind Cloudflare or your host's CDN with bot protection on, make sure the setting that allows verified bots is on. If crawling is genuinely overloading your server, Google says to answer with a 429 or 503 status for a short window (a few hours, or a day or two at most), not a block.
Google Business Profile
Customers can now tap Message right next to Call in Google Maps
Search Engine Roundtable reported on November 6 that Google's monthly Small Business Bulletin, posted by Google's Lisa Landsman, says the Maps app on Android and iOS now shows a Message button right next to Call. Before, chat was buried deep in the profile. Messages go to whatever you've linked: WhatsApp or text.
Google's help page on chat has the setup: Edit profile > Contact, select Edit next to "Chat," pick WhatsApp or Text message, and enter the link or number. If you add both, only text shows.
What to do: Link a number someone actually watches. A Message button nobody answers just turns a missed call into a missed text.
Google explains how to remove offers you never approved
Google's help page on offers on your Business Profile says discount chips (percent off, BOGO, reservation perks) can show on your listing in Search and in AI Overviews. They come from your own Offers posts, deals Google finds on your linked social profiles, or third-party partners, who are only allowed to submit offers for businesses they have a signed agreement with. It's only available in select regions and languages.
What to do: Search your business name and look for offer chips. If one comes from a provider you don't work with, contact Business Profile support, type "Remove Offers," choose Fix Posts, and include the provider's name and a screenshot. Google says providers must remove it within 5 business days of your request.
Some profiles are sprouting a "Book online" button
Search Engine Roundtable reported on November 9 that a "Book online" button is showing on some Business Profiles in Search and Maps, including businesses that never set up booking software. Some of those buttons led to an error page on Google. The report doesn't include a comment from Google, so treat it as something people are seeing, not an announced feature.
What to do: Search your business on Google and in the Maps app, and tap any Book button yourself. If it goes somewhere wrong, fix or remove the booking link in your profile.
Google Ads
Budget and target changes don't reset Smart Bidding's "Learning" status
Google's bid strategy status help page says the "Learning" status never lasts more than 7 days and shows up for only three reasons: a new or reactivated bid strategy, campaigns, ad groups or keywords added to or removed from it, or a significant change in conversion goals. Changes to budgets, targets, creatives or targeting settings, it says, never remove your historical data or trigger "Learning."
If you've been scared to touch a budget before Black Friday because it would "reset the algorithm," that's not how Google describes it.
What to do: Raise or trim holiday budgets and targets as you need. Save new bid strategies and conversion-goal changes for after the peak days.
One thing to do this week
Pull up your own business in the Google Maps app on your phone and tap every button on the listing: Call, Message, Book and any offer chip. Each one should go somewhere you'd be happy to send a customer. Five minutes, and you'll know what shoppers see before the holiday rush.
If something's off, our Google Business Profile checklist covers what to fix first.
Related reading
- Is Google punishing you? The truth about algorithm updates
- Website traffic dropped suddenly? What to check first
- Google Business Profile checklist: 10 updates that get you more calls and leads
Originally published November 2026.
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