How to remove thumbtack book links in Google Business profiles

There are new reports that a booking/appointment system from Thumbtack, a local search service, is automatically adding its booking links and services to Google Business Profiles. Well, you can opt out if you don’t want that. But I’m sure most businesses will have no idea that this has been added to their local listings on Google Search and Google Maps.

To unsubscribe you need to fill out this form. It’s from the Thumbtack help page. Check there if the form no longer works. There may be an updated link.

The “Book Now” button looks like this:

As Colan Nielsen reported to me on X and posted in the Local Search Forum, this company doesn’t want the book link to go to Thumbtack, but it does go to this one – at least as of this writing.

Colan wrote: “Looks like Thumbtack automatically adds booking links to Google Business profiles.”

We’ve seen this happen frequently over the years and have even called it appointment link hijacking in Google – including on Postmates.

The Thumbtack help document states: “We’ve automatically added a Thumbtack booking option through your Google Business profile. There’s nothing else you need to do.” So it’s not an opt-in thing, it’s an opt-out thing – which is not good.

Please note this and watch for changes to your booking link.

Forum discussion in the Local Search Forum.