If Google hasn’t already sprung enough surprises in the year 2021, a new bombshell has been dropped with the reveal that it will be changing the name of its local SEO platform Google My Business to Google Business Profile. We’ve got the latest on the change.
The name
Google has justified the changing of the name with the increased efforts to bring business profile management away from the Google My Business app and directly into the Search and Map results. This attempt to ‘keep things simple’ will see the retirement of the Google My Business app entirely in 2022.
This change will impressively be the fourth name change for the platform in the last 16 years starting at Google Places, then Google+ Local, back to Google Places and finally to Google My Business.
Bye-bye Google My Business
So does this mean the end of the beloved Google My Business that the industry knows and loves? Well… kinda.
If you are a small business with one location…
If you currently only use Google My Business for only one location then Google will be encouraging you to manage your listing directly from the search results and not in the old Google My Business console.
The picture below is how things will start to look.
If you are a company with multiple locations…
If you are a larger company or local SEO agency with multiple locations, you can still use the Google My Business interface but it will also be changing its name to Business Profile Manager.
New features
It’s not all stress and change as Google has announced some new features to complement the changes of the name. These include:
- Claiming and verifying your Google Business Profile directly from Search and Maps
- Messaging directly from Google Search
- Searching ‘mybusiness’ into Google to see listing performance analytics.
Summary
Google My Business has been at the forefront of local SEO strategy in its rising popularity. Will this new name be adopted by the industry or will we still be hearing the echoes of Google My Business for many years to come?
Make sure you keep an eye out for the rebranding over the next few wells but in the meantime, you can download our free eBook on the how-to completely optimise your Google My Business listing?
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