Google My Business is a great way for businesses to help local customers find them. It’s linked to Google Maps and offers online users an easy way to find out more information about the business. It’s essentially a free online listing that helps your business appear to users on local Google searches. However, Google My Business (or GMB) has undergone some changes since the autumn of 2021.

What Is Google Business Profile?

To start, Google My Business is undergoing a name change. It will be known as Google Business Profile. The platform has undergone multiple name changes over the years, including Google Local and Google+. Even with the name change, it’s likely that you’ll still see Google My Business, GMB, and even some of the earlier names show up occasionally in Google’s wording.

How Do You Access Google Business Profile?

There used to be a Google My Business app that profile managers could use to make changes to a GMB profile. That app is retired as of 2022, but there are other easy ways to make GMB profile changes. Managers can access their Google business profile either through Google Maps or via a Google search for the business’ name. If you’re logged into a Google account that is linked to that GMB profile, then you can just do a search for “my business” to access the profile.

How Has Support for Google Business Profile Changed?

Google also announced that in 2022, the GMB portal would support mostly larger businesses that have more than one location. This announcement has prompted a mixed response. Some worry that small and medium-sized businesses won’t get the support they need. Others believe that this won’t have any major impact on smaller businesses because GMB is more frequently used by larger businesses already anyway. At the moment, we’re waiting to see the results of this change.

Is Google My Business Still Important?

Despite the changes being made to the platform, its importance for local SEO remains. Businesses of all sizes should have a profile filled out so that users can more easily find the company. The better filled-out the profile is, the more beneficial it is for SEO.

Do You Have to Have a Physical Address to Use Google My Business?

You can use Google My Business (or Google Business Profile) even if you don’t have a physical address. It’s best for local SEO, however, because it’s linked to Google Maps. This means that your business will benefit most from using a Google Business Profile if there’s a specific geographic area that you’re targeting with your products or services.

Do You Have to Pay to Use Google Business Profile?

At the moment, the profile part of Google Business Profile is completely free. You do have to pay to use ads, however. While some have concerns that Google will eventually make a GMB listing a paid one, there isn’t any indication that this is going to change at all, let alone sometime soon.