When did Google My Business start using MSA metro for service areas?

[berto]

We noticed recently that the number of service area entries we used was cut down to 20. But we just noticed that you can now use an MSA which cuts down the need to maintain a large county list. I just either missed that news or it wasn't broadcast, but I was curious how long it's been out there. Ex: "WASHINGTON-ARLINGTON-ALEXANDRIA, DC-VA-MD-WV"

 

[JoyHawkins]

I don't recall seeing this before either.

 

[Justin Mosebach]

This is really helpful, because I had been adding counties. When you add cities (ex. suburbs), Google interprets the city boundaries as literally the service area. The city boundaries aren't always perfectly adjacent.