Google can now book a plumber for you
One business owner turned on WhatsApp for their Google listing and within 48 hours eight people were posting fake 1-star reviews and demanding money to remove them. Google also started booking home service jobs straight from its AI answers.
Read the whole week in one goAI answers cut clicks at some sites, not all
Getting into AI answers
Google's AI answers can now book home service jobs
Google added direct booking links for home services inside AI Mode (its chat style search answer) in the US, through partners including Angi, Thumbtack, Housecall and Jobber. Google's Robby Stein says he described a plumbing emergency to AI Mode and it compared local pricing, checked reviews and recommended someone. ServiceTitan is coming soon.
I'm sure sponsored listings will be there soon within the recommendations (marked as sponsored but weaved in)
Who this affects: Plumbers, electricians, cleaners and other home service businesses in the US.
- Check whether your listing on Angi, Thumbtack, Housecall or Jobber is current.
- Our take: keep reviews and pricing accurate, both feed these picks.
Do not do this
Turning on WhatsApp for your listing may invite extortion
One business owner says that within 48 hours of enabling WhatsApp on the phone number attached to his Google Business Profile (the free listing on Google and Maps), scammers started messaging him. Christian Bello says eight people demanded payment to remove fake 1-star reviews they had posted themselves. This is one report, not a confirmed pattern.
8 people from Pakistan extorting us to remove fake 1 star reviews that they just posted themselves.
Who this affects: Any business that lists a phone number on its Google Business Profile.
- Never pay anyone who offers to remove reviews from your listing.
- Report fake reviews to Google instead of replying to the sender.
Facebook is ranking with millions of bulk AI pages
Facebook has over 6 million AI-written pages indexed in a /fb-answers/ directory, and they rank for millions of searches, including inside Google's AI answers. Glenn Gabe flagged it as "Scaled content abuse," citing a post by Saul Westbrook who found the directory started filling up in July 2026, with over 180 English pages on padel tennis alone.
There seems to have been no editorial oversight for this content.
Who this affects: Anyone competing for searches a giant site can flood with bulk pages.
- Our take: keep writing pages that answer one real question properly.