Google My Business is now Google Business Profile

If you want to get your business on Google maps, the way to do it until recently was through Google My Business, Google’s local SEO tool. On November 4, 2021, Google announced a name change to Google Business Profile.

Google rolled the announcement into a blog article that was mostly about 2021 holiday shoppers and how to connect with them online. There are not tons of details on what—if anything—the rename actually means.

Let’s look at what we do know and what we can learn from other changes Google has made in the past.

Inconsistent naming

If history is any indicator, it will take a while for documentation to catch up. Google changed the name of Google Adwords to Google Ads back in 2018, and to this day, you can still find documentation that refers to it as Adwords.

As of the writing of this article, Google was still sending out emails that said Google My Business, both in the “from” field and the email itself.

Less confusing

If their goal is less ambiguity, this new name makes much more sense than the previous name. I often had to explain to clients that Google My Business was the tool where they managed their listing that shows up in Google in various places, most notably Google Maps.

Now, I can refer to all of that—including the tool itself—as Google Business Profile. People are already used to similar terms on social media.

Easier claiming

Google is putting forth an effort to make claiming a business profile easier. They say you can now “claim and verify your business profile directly on Google Search or the Google Maps app.” It’s still unclear how exactly the process is any different.

More call data

In a separate but related article about conversations with your business profile, Google also shared that they will be providing a call history for calls placed through your business profile, including who called, calls answered, and calls missed. You’ll have the ability to filter by time period.

Responding to messages

At the end of 2020, Google added the ability to message customers who message your business. Now, they’ve also added the ability to respond to messages directly from your business profile, providing you’ve turned messaging on.

Could they have made all these changes without the name change? Of course, but if anything is consistent with Google, it’s change.