The new name. Google Business Profile will be the new name for Google My Business. Google said the new name is to “keep things simple”, and sometime in 2022, Google will retire the Google My Business app completely.

Another new name, you say? We are now calling it Google Business Profile; it was named Google My Business. Before that, Google Places; before that, it was Google+ Local; before that, it was also Google Places, and then before that, I think it was just Google Local. So, yes, the local business management product has been through many names. I think I even forgot some previous names the product had, and Mobilise Solutions has been part of setting them up and optimising Google Business Profile since the beginning.

Google My Business is going away. So what does it mean that the Google My Business name is going away? Google encourages businesses to manage their single listings directly on Google Search or Google Maps, either via the web interface or mobile apps. For a long time now, Google has let businesses manage their listings directly in the search results or directly in Google Maps. It prefers businesses with single listings to work their businesses in Search or Maps, not in the old Google My Business console.

Google said that the existing Google My Business web experience will transition to primarily support larger businesses with multiple locations or companies that manage various areas, such as Mobilise Solutions, and be renamed “Business Profile Manager.” In addition, Google will redirect and rebrand the Google My Business web interface; in fact, I personally still use google.com/places to be directed to google.com/business right now. Mobilise Solutions is a Google Business Profile Agency partner of Google and will continue to manage our clients and new clients’ Google Business Profiles so that they are optimised and rank highly in Google Search and Google Maps.

Suppose you manage multiple locations for your business, and you are a local SEO that handles several companies like us. In that case, you will continue to use an interface like Google My Business, renamed to Business Profile Manager. However, there may be changes to the Business Profile Manager throughout the upcoming months.

New features. Google also announced some new features with this announcement. The new features include:

• Claim and verify your Google Business Profile directly in Google Search and Google Maps
• Call History is officially launching in US and Canada (more details here)
• Messaging can be done directly from Google Search (more details here). Super important to know if you are not managing your Google Business Profile
• Message read receipts can be controlled in Google Search and Maps

How do you manage your business? You can either search for your business name in Google Search or Google Maps for businesses or search for “my business” in Google Search to see the company you have already claimed and verified.

Performance Planner. In addition to this news, Google Ads enables you to plan your Local campaign budgets using Performance Planner. Performance Planner is a tool that lets you create plans for your advertising spend and see how changes to campaigns might affect critical metrics and overall performance. This tool enables you to see forecasts for your campaigns, explore outcomes by adjusting campaign settings, understand opportunities in seasonal periods and manage budgets across accounts and campaigns.

What it looks like. Here are screenshots of the web interface and mobile app interfaces for these features:

Why do we care? Local search in Google is powered much off of the business profiles Google has in Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business. So, the web interface is not changing much outside of branding. Still, over the coming months, you can expect more and more of the features in the old Google My Business web interface will work directly in Google Search, Google Maps and the respective apps.

The rebranding should have already occurred if you follow Google My Business on social and in the help forums.