For years this was not something you could do. Your social profiles either appeared on your listing or they did not, Google decided which, and the only thing you could do was hope it worked out. Plenty of owners gave up and stuck an Instagram link in the website field instead, which was the wrong field and did nothing useful.

That changed, and most owners have not noticed. As Dalton Luka's walkthrough documents, Google Business Profile owners can now add social profile links directly, covering Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter (X), YouTube, and Facebook, with the feature having moved from select regions to appearing broadly available. It is a small field that takes five minutes, and it is empty on most listings, which is exactly the kind of gap Optuno looks for on a profile that has otherwise been well kept.

What the feature gives you

There is a Social profiles section in your Business Profile's contact information, sitting just below the website field. You add a link per platform and it appears on your listing.

The rules are simple. One link per platform, so one Facebook, one Instagram, one YouTube. You cannot add two Instagram accounts, which matters if you have a personal account and a business one and have been sloppy about which is which.

The same link can be used across multiple Business Profiles, which is the answer for a business with several locations and one brand account.

There is a second effect worth knowing about. Google has been surfacing recent posts from linked social profiles directly on Business Profiles in some regions, which means the link is not always just an icon. It can pull your actual content onto your listing. Whether that is happening for you depends on the region and the rollout.

Google may also add social links to eligible profiles on its own, based on what it can work out. That is worth checking, because a link Google guessed at may be an account you abandoned in 2019.

How to add them

Sign in to the account that manages the business and search your business name in Google, or open the Maps app.

Open Edit profile, then the Contact section. Scroll past the website field and you will find Social profiles. Select the option to add a social profile, choose the platform, and paste the full web address of your account. Repeat for each platform you want, then save.

Use the full URL rather than a handle. Google expects a specific format per platform, and a bare username is the most common reason a link will not take.

Expect a short wait. The links may take a few minutes or a few hours to appear on the listing.

Then look at your listing as a customer sees it, signed out, and click every link. A link to a dead account or the wrong profile is worse than no link, since it sends an interested customer to a page that makes you look inactive.

If you would rather see what else is missing from your listing before you start filling in fields, Optuno's free local SEO report gives you a snapshot of your rankings, listings, and reviews.

Which links to add, and which to leave off

The instinct is to add all seven. Resist it.

The rule is to link only the accounts you are still posting to. Every link you add is a door, and a customer who walks through it and finds three years of silence learns something about your business you did not want to teach them. An empty Twitter account with eleven followers and a last post from 2021 is an argument against you.

Two or three live accounts beat seven dead ones by a wide margin. If you post to Instagram every week and have not opened LinkedIn since you set it up, add Instagram and leave LinkedIn off.

Pick by where your customers are rather than where you feel you should be. A restaurant, a salon, or a florist belongs on Instagram. A B2B service business may get more from LinkedIn. A tradesperson with a following on Facebook should link Facebook and ignore the rest.

Check what Google added on your behalf. If a link appeared that you did not set, confirm it is the account you want representing you, and replace it if it is not.

What it does and does not do

Be clear-eyed here. This is not a ranking play. There is no good evidence that adding social links moves you up the map pack, and social signals sit low in the local ranking research.

What it does is give an interested customer another way to look at you before they commit, and it puts your active content in front of them at the moment they are deciding. Somebody who is on the fence, scrolling your listing, is exactly the person who will tap through to see your recent work.

There is a quieter benefit worth having. Linking your official accounts helps Google associate them with your business rather than guessing, which is the same entity-consistency logic behind keeping your name, address, and phone identical everywhere, covered in Optuno's explainer on what NAP consistency is.

Keep it maintained. Accounts get abandoned, handles change, platforms fall out of use, and a link you set today can be pointing at nothing in two years. A quick check once or twice a year alongside the rest of the work in Optuno's guide to Google Business Profile optimization is enough. If you would rather have someone keeping the listing current, Optuno's plans cover Business Profile management and local SEO, with no long-term contracts, no setup fees, and a dedicated contact.

If the Social profiles field is not there

Not everyone sees it, and the reasons are worth running through before you conclude the feature has passed you by.

Check that you are in the right place first. The field sits under Edit profile, in Contact, below the website field, and it is easy to miss because it looks like part of the address block rather than a section of its own.

Check that you are signed in to the account that manages the business. Viewing your listing while signed out, or signed in to a personal account, shows you the customer's version, which has no edit fields at all. This is the most common explanation and the most embarrassing one.

Then consider the rollout. The feature started in select regions and has expanded broadly, but Google ships changes unevenly and a profile can be behind. If the field is truly not there, waiting is the only option, since there is no setting that turns it on.

In the meantime, do not put a social link in the website field as a workaround. That field is for your website, and filling it with an Instagram URL costs you the website link that a customer is more likely to want.

Frequently asked questions

Which social media platforms can I link on Google Business Profile?
Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter (X), YouTube, and Facebook. You can add one link per platform, so a single Facebook page and a single Instagram account rather than several of each.

Where is the Social profiles field on Google Business Profile?
Under Edit profile, in the Contact section, just below the website field. If you have been putting a social link in the website field, that is the wrong place and this is the field you were looking for.

Why is my social media link not working?
The most common cause is pasting a handle instead of the full web address. Google expects a specific URL format per platform, so use the complete link to the profile and save again.

Does adding social links improve my Google rankings?
There is no good evidence that it does. The benefit is conversion and clarity, giving a customer another way to check you out and helping Google associate your official accounts with your business.

Google added a social link I did not set. Can I change it?
Yes. Google may add links to eligible profiles on its own, and you can replace one by adding your preferred link for the same platform. It is worth checking, since a guessed link may point at an account you abandoned.

Should I link all seven platforms?
No. Link only the accounts you actively post to. A link to a dormant account tells a prospective customer that your business may be dormant too, which is a worse outcome than not linking it at all.