Google My Business Is Now Google Business Profile

Probably you already heard/read that Google has announced the renaming of Google My Business to Google Business Profile, amid a number of additional developments within the local business management tool:

“Moving forward, we recommend small businesses manage their profiles directly on Search or Maps. To keep things simple, ‘Google My Business’ is being renamed ‘Google Business Profile,’” wrote Matt Madrigal, VP/GM Merchant Shopping, in the official announcement.

Ok… here we go again… Since it was introduced as Google Local Business Center in 2005, this is the fifth rebrand!

I will not bore you with a detailed analysis, I will give you a quick personal view and go straight to the changes announced.

In my personal opinion, I will just say the new name “Google Business Profile” makes sense but removing dedicated tools (GMB Web dashboard and GMB App) probably was not the best idea as the new Google Search Merchant Dashboard is, for the moment, confusing UX, disorganised with too many clicks to access certain features.

Changes Announced

• Single listings should be managed directly within Google Maps and Google Search, and it will be the default for new profiles.
• The option to edit your Business Profile information from Google Search has been around for several months, but now you can claim a profile, complete verification or resolve other issues with your Business Profile directly from Google Search or Google Maps App.
• To do this, just do a search for your company’s name or search for “my business” into Google Search or Google Maps, check here for instructions.
• The Search and Maps interfaces for business profile management do not yet have all of the functionality of the Google My Business dashboard, but Google says it will address that gap between now and next year.
• If your business has multiple locations or you are an agency that manages multiple client locations, the best way to manage your profiles is to continue to use the “Google My Business ” Dashboard that will be renamed “Business Profile Manager” and perhaps get different features and UX.
• Sometime in 2022, Google plans to retire the Google My Business mobile app, further encouraging small businesses to switch to the Search and Maps App interfaces.
• Businesses can interact with customers via the Messages tool from the Search interface.
• Google will also be adding as-yet-unspecified tools to Search and Maps “to help you understand how your business is performing and how you can enhance your online presence.” At least some of these tools will be brand new, as opposed to being ported over from GMB.
• The Google My Business API will continue to function as before but will be called the Business Profile API.
• Call History is officially launching in US and Canada, it has been in beta testing for some businesses in the US for about a year and finally launched to all US and Canadian Businesses.

In the next few months, we will see how the changes will pan out, so interesting 2022 for Google My Business…Sorry Google Business Profile and Local SEO.

All the best