Google My Business is out, and Google Business Profile is in!

GMB being discontinued

Google has recently announced that they will be renaming Google My Business as Google Business Profile and that in 2022 they will be retiring the Google My Business App.  So what does this mean for the small business owner?

The vast majority of businesses will manage information from Google Maps and Google Search, which even includes setting up and verifying your business.  Larger businesses with multiple locations will still have support from the web version of Google My Business.  It isn’t exactly clear what this will look like for bigger businesses, but Google says more details will be shared soon.

”The existing Google My Business web experience will transition to primarily support larger businesses with multiple locations, and will be renamed “Business Profile Manager.”

Messaging

With this update, business owners will be able to use the messaging function on their Google Search listing, which was originally exclusive to Maps.  This offers potential customers the option to more easily contact your business without even having to leave Google.

“You can now message customers directly from Search, and merchants in the U.S. and Canada can use call history to see which inbound customer calls came from their Business Profile on Google.”

Mark your products “In Stock”

Google has also announced their “in stock” filter on Search that is being implemented along with all of these changes.  Google states that over half of all US holiday shoppers check online to see if an item is in stock before they actually go out and buy it.  Business owners can quickly upload their inventory by using Google’s free program “Pointy from Google” which connects with their point of sale system and uploads their inventory to their Google listing.
These are updates that should not be overlooked.  Google My Business has been a source of essentially free SEO for years, and that will continue to be the case after these updates are implemented.  Google loves businesses that utilize their platforms, and their new Google Business Profile platform will continue to help you improve your local SEO.

Should you give up on Local SEO?

Not at all. There are some things you can do.

First, Speed is SEO

Check out how you are doing here https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights

Second, start working on your local SEO today. SEO changes can take months to start to take effect.

If you need help, get in touch with us.