You’ve probably heard the terms “Google My Business” and “Google Business Profile” used interchangeably over the years. Even if you didn’t think there was a distinction between the two, you probably still wondered. Google has now made it clear that the Business Profile will take over from My Business as the primary listing option.
In addition, Google is rolling out more tools to make it easier for you to manage your business profile on Google Search and Maps.
Say Hello to Google Business Listing
In an effort to move more profile away from the My Business app and into Google Search, Google Maps, and those specific apps.
Future incarnations of My Business will go by the name “Google Business Profile.” According to Google, which stated that the new name was chosen to “keep things simple.”
And it’s actually quite easy. Except if you’ve been using the Google My Business dashboard, your company or the way you manage your listings won’t be significantly affected.
Google wants to make it easy for companies to manage their business profiles from Search or Maps. So it’s changing the Google My Business dashboard to accommodate companies with multiple listings.
You only need to look up your company in Google Search to manage your listing. If you’re signed in to the account you use to manage your profile. You should see a menu with options to edit or update your profile above the search results. Any changes in listing can be made there viz adding images, posts etc.
What does the discontinuation of "Google My Business" mean?
In any case, Google encourages companies to manage their listings directly on Search or Maps, either through website or apps. Google says it prefers businesses with single listings manage their businesses in Search or Maps and not in the outdated My Business console. Yes, for a long time now, Google has allowed to manage individual listings directly in the search results or directly in Google Maps.
Google announced that it will rename the current “Business Profile Manager” to focus on supporting larger businesses with multiple locations. In fact, I still use google.com/places to go to google.com/business right now.
You will still use an interface like before, now known as Business Profile Manager. Going forward if you oversee multiple locations for your company or if you are a local SEO who oversees a number of businesses. In the coming months, the Business Profile Manager might undergo changes.
What's Next
Along with this announcement, Google also revealed some new features. The updated attributes include:
- Utilize Google Search and Google Maps to directly claim and validate your Google Business Profile.
- With Google Search and Maps, you can now maximize your interactions with customers. There will be a call history for calls that you receive from Google. You can view the incoming calls that originated from your Business Profile using the call history feature. In order to improve your customer engagement, you can also review the analytics on the performance of incoming calls.
- Direct messaging is possible from Google Search. Reading messages is yet another fantastic feature. Last year, Google added the option for direct customer chat on Google Maps. You can now view and reply to messages as a small business owner directly from your Google Search Business Profile. Google is also including a read-receipt to the process to add accountability so that you and your clients can track when and whether the messages have been seen.
- Google Search and Maps both let you control message read receipts.
- Start establishing your business profile in time for the holiday shoppers. As the holiday shopping season picks up after Black Friday, Google wants you to connect with your local consumers. Your customers can find you online more easily if you have a business profile. Google’s local holiday guide will help your company stand out so you can connect with customers. Your customers can now view your inventory on Search thanks to a new “in stock” filter. By registering for Pointy from Google, which is free and located directly on your Business Profile on Search, you can make your products appear. By connecting directly to your current POS, you can automatically upload every item in your in-store inventory..
How does Google My business operations managed?
The business you have already claimed and verified can be found by simply searching for it by name in Google Search, Google Maps, or “my business” in Google Search.
Performance Planner
Along with this information, Google Ads now lets you use the Performance Planner to plan the budgets for your local campaign. With the aid of a tool called the Performance Planner, you can plan out your advertising budget and examine how altering campaigns may impact important performance indicators. You can use this tool to see forecasts for your campaigns, investigate results by changing campaign settings, comprehend seasonal opportunities, and manage budgets across accounts and campaigns.
There is no denying that Google has an impact on how and if customers find you if your company provides local customers with services at your location or in their homes or businesses. As of September 2021, Google accounted for about 86% of all global search traffic. Online searches are a popular way for customers of all ages and demographics to find products and services.
Fortunately, by setting up a GMB profile, the majority of businesses can freely list detailed and extensive business information on Google.
But Why So Serious Google?
New Access Options
A more significant change is the decision to discontinue support for the My Business app in 2022 and encourage business owners to access their profiles through “an upgraded experience” on Google Search or Google Maps. It’s actually possible to do this for a while. Aall you have to do is perform a search for your company name (or, if you’re logged in, the phrase “my business”) and select the first profile that comes up. This might be a more typical method of accessing your profile already for businesses with a single location.
Changes to Support
According to Google’s post, the current GMB web portal will “transition to primarily support larger businesses with multiple locations.” Professionals in digital marketing and search engine optimization have reacted to this in different ways. Some claim that Google is ceasing to support small and medium-sized businesses, while others assert that little will change for the majority of small businesses because agencies and multi-location companies already dominate desktop usage. We’ll all have to wait a little while to see the actual result since Google has only stated that “more details on these changes will be provided in the months ahead.”
The business profiles that Google has in Business Profile are a major driving force behind local search in Google. With the exception of branding, the web interface is not changing much at the moment, but over the next few months, you can anticipate that more and more of the features in the previous Google Business web interface will function properly in Google Search, Google Maps, and the related apps.
Remember that the rebranding will take place over the coming weeks if you follow Google Business on social media or in the help forums.
This is incredibly straightforward for small businesses. You get the expected outcome by simply typing your company name into the Google Search or Google Maps box. On the other hand, you can currently edit your company profile, respond to messages from clients, start promotions, and more. You can verify your ownership of your company if that isn’t convenient enough.
Multiple functions being available in one location lowers the barrier to entry for small businesses into the Google ecosystem. Once the profile is verified, one can easily alter the details of the company including its address, operating times etc.
