Most people know that in order to gain brand awareness, not only do you need to invest a lot of time into Social Media or potentially Advertising, but you should probably have a local profile on Google – the top search engine. Google My Business is a widely known FREE tool that allows you to manage your online presence on Google’s platform, and when you build your brand awareness, this profile is oftentimes the most clicked way to get into a website or call a business.
Recently Google My Business announced that they’d be changing their longstanding name to Google Business Profile in an effort to enhance features like search and maps (sounds a lot like Facebook’s transition to Meta?). With this announcement, Google also said they’d likely be retiring their Google My Business app in 2022, which means you should probably get used to editing your information on a Desktop!
What Does a Google Business Profile Look Like? See it live:
The change also means changes to the way Google expects you to interact with your Google Business Profile (GBP). Google said that the existing web experience will transition to supporting larger companies with many locations and be named “Business Profile Manager,” while the Google Business Profile experience will support smaller businesses and (hopefully) will be managed directly in Google Search or Google Maps (so long as you’re logged in to a Google account that owns your profile).
Google also announced new features to the GBP platform, which includes:
- Claiming and verifying your GBP profile directly in SERPs and Maps
- Call history is officially launching in the US and Canadian markets
- Messaging can be done directly through search
- Message read receipts will be controlled via search and maps
While there won’t be many huge interface changes, we want you to know that the name change is officially underway and the ways we interact with our Google Business Profile may enhance your local presence. Questions? Reach out!