Google Opens Business Home, and Text Opt Out Rules Get a Date

On Monday, Oct 26, 2026, the FCC's new opt out rules were published in the Federal Register. They take effect Nov 25, 2026. That is the day before Thanksgiving, and less than a month away.

The same week, Google did two things that touch how customers find a painter, plumber or electrician. It opened a closed beta called Business Home. And it started testing AI written blurbs for the sites it cites in AI Overviews.

Here is the plain version. If you text customers, check your opt out line before Thanksgiving. If a Business Home invite shows up in your inbox, try it, but read every AI draft before it goes out. And make the top of your service pages say exactly what you do and where, because Google may now be describing them in its own words.

What happened, in order

1. Oct 21. An SEO consultant spotted AI Overview source cards showing text that Google wrote, not text taken from the cited page, per MACCUS.
2. Oct 22. Search Engine Roundtable got an invite to Google Business Home and published a tour, per Search Engine Roundtable and OnlyaClick.
3. Oct 23. Search Engine Roundtable saw the AI written source summaries in its own tests, on some searches but not all, per Search Engine Roundtable and SERP Mentor.
4. Oct 23. Screenshots also showed Google testing a rebuilt performance report inside Business Profiles, with sections for engagement, reviews, audience and search trends, per Search Engine Roundtable and Maps Agent.
5. Oct 26. The FCC order was published in the Federal Register with an effective date of Nov 25, 2026, per the Federal Register text. The law firm Kelley Drye had already noted the rules start 30 days after publication.

The texting rules now have a date

I covered the FCC vote when it happened: New FCC STOP Text Rules: What Trades Shops Must Do. What changed is the calendar. Before, the start date waited on publication. Now it is Nov 25, 2026.

Here is what the rules say, per the Federal Register and Kelley Drye.

1. You can pick one way for customers to opt out. The choices are a reply with a standard word (stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe), a key press on an automated call, or a website or phone number you name.
2. You have to say how in the message. The method has to be disclosed clearly in the text or on the call. If a reply text is your method, naming one word, like STOP, is enough, but you still have to honor all seven words.
3. If you pick one, other routes do not count. A business that names an exclusive method does not have to process requests made some other way.
4. If you pick none, the old rule stays. You still have to honor a request made by any reasonable means.
5. A stop on reminders is not a stop on everything. Opting out of one kind of informational text does not cancel the others. Opting out of marketing does cancel all your marketing texts.
6. You still get up to 10 business days to honor a request.

The FCC is not done. It is also asking whether that 10 day window should get shorter, for example to 7 business days, and whether every business text should allow replies, per Kelley Drye and the FCC's proposed rule. Those questions are still open, so the rules could tighten again later.

My take: for a shop that sends appointment reminders, on the way texts and the odd seasonal promo, this is a good change. A customer who stops your promos can still get the text that says the crew is 20 minutes out. But only if your texting tool keeps those two kinds of texts apart, and most shops have never checked. This is not legal advice. If texting is a big part of how you sell, ask a lawyer to read your setup.

Google Business Home, my take

Business Home is a new dashboard from Google. It pulls your Business Profile, Google Ads, YouTube and Merchant Center into one place, and Google says it is built with Gemini models, per Google's help page and GEroundtable.

What you can do in it today, per the same help page and OnlyaClick:

1. Create posts and content with AI help, with your logos and brand images kept in one place.
2. Update hours and respond to reviews from inside Business Home.
3. Get suggested next steps based on your data across the connected tools.

The fine print matters. It is a closed beta for select business categories in the US and the UK, and you get in by email invite. You need a verified profile with fewer than 10 locations. You can link one YouTube channel, one Ads account and one Merchant Center account. Your normal Search and Maps tools still work alongside it.

Plenty of shops have a Business Profile, a half used YouTube channel and an Ads account someone else set up. Seeing all three in one place is useful. The suggested next steps are the part to watch. Google sells ads, so a dashboard that tells you what to do next will sometimes tell you to spend. Treat those suggestions like advice from a salesperson. Some will be good. Check the math on each one.

The same goes for AI written review replies. OnlyaClick notes the assistant can draft a reply and post it after you confirm. Read every one before you hit confirm. A reply with your name on it should sound like you.

The new performance report test is worth knowing about too. If it rolls out, you would see reviews, search terms and audience data in one view. Google has not announced it, and Search Engine Roundtable says its editor had not seen it on his own account yet.

Google may describe your site in its own words

When an AI Overview cites a page, it shows a small card with the site name, page title and a few lines of text. Until now, that text came from the page. In this test, Google writes it.

The consultant who spotted it noticed the card text used wording that was not on his page at all, per MACCUS. Search Engine Roundtable found the same thing on some searches and not on others. Google has not commented, per MACCUS and SERP Mentor.

Why a trades owner should care: if a homeowner asks Google about water heater repair near them and your page gets cited, the line under your name may be Google's summary of your page. No documented setting lets you edit that sentence, per MACCUS. You can block your site from AI features, but then you lose the link too.

My take: you cannot write the card, but you can control what Google reads. Give it clean facts near the top of each service page. Your trade. The towns you serve. Licensed and insured. Hours. Phone. Plain sentences, no slogans. This is the same advice I gave in AI Search Visibility for Small Business, and this test makes it more true.

What I would do next

Here is the short list, in order of deadline.

1. Read your last reminder text and your last promo text. Check that each one has a clear opt out line, like "Reply STOP to opt out."
2. Ask your texting software one question. Does it treat reminders and promos as separate lists, and what happens when someone replies STOP to one of them?
3. Put Nov 25 on the calendar. Fix anything you find before then.
4. Check your inbox for a Business Home invite. If you get one, link your profile first and leave ads for later.
5. Rewrite the first two lines of your top three service pages. Trade, towns, licensed, hours, phone.

To be fair

Two of these three stories are tests. Most shops will not see Business Home or the new source cards soon, and Google may change or drop either one. The FCC rule is the only one with a firm date. If you only do one thing from this post, do the texting check.

Related: Google Is Putting More Links in AI Answers and New FCC STOP Text Rules: What Trades Shops Must Do.