Our latest blog post is some advance notice about changes to Google My Business which will start to take effect and that people will soon notice. What is this change and how will it affect me? Read on to find out more.
A name change
The first thing to note is a name change that will be occurring, and therefore, Google My Business will no longer be called so. Instead, the name will be changed to ‘Google Business Profile.’ The reason for this is that Google wants to expand and move forward by integrating all of its business profile platforms into search and maps, so things are more organised and tidier.
Many of you will rightly think and point out that Google My Business has been through many name changes before – Google Places, Google+ local for example, so it can be hard to keep up with another alteration. This time however, it is not just a name change that is occurring as we will see in a moment. This change will finally occur sometime during 2022 and the Google My Business app will cease completely at that time.
Why is Google My Business going?
As mentioned above, it is mainly for integration purposes, but it is also about more. The aim of the change is also thought to support and benefit larger businesses who use the my business / map platform. This is because the new business profile will be rebranded with many changes that will benefit users.
Some of these changes include the following:
- Ability to claim your profile and account much quicker and easier in Google Search and Google Maps.
- Ability to be able to message directly from Google Search.
- View message read notifications which will be visible from the Google Search area.
- A trial of call history information (which will initially only apply to the US and Canada, but may be rolled out further in the near future.)
Worried that you won’t be able to find your profile during or after the change?
Google say the solution to this is simple, and all users will need to do is to search for the business name in either Google Search or Maps and your company will be able to be found.
Additional feature announced
In addition to what has been announced above, Google have also used this news update to state that they are going to add a new feature to AdWords called Performance Planner. This metric will allow users to plan their advertising spend and give them projections on how this might affect their metrics. This can allow account owners to really experiment with different situations and possibilities and this is a feature which is likely to be welcomed by many.
Why does this change matter?
Apart from a few additional features, it does seem true that this change is merely a cosmetic change in terms of a name alteration. The whole local search market is a very big area which brings in streams of revenue each month and year. If things suddenly change without explanation or evolution, then it can cause disruption in many ways. Keep in mind that many people do not like change and are of the view that if something is working and popular it should be left alone. A change of name is symbolic but can prove very controversial. We know this platform has changed many times before, whether there will be any negative impacts this time and whether this will affect individuals will remain to be seen.
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