Google Business Profile: What to Know About the Google My Business Rebrand

Your business is unlikely to go far without a healthy online presence in 2022. With 87% of customers beginning their product searches online, establishing your business online is no longer a luxury. Google’s business listing platform, Google My Business, has for a long time been a key tool for businesses that are trying to get found online by a local audience. The platform allows you to include your business’ contact information on your profile and other important details like your opening hours and business pictures. You can also receive reviews from customers and even respond to their messages. It has simply been an essential tool for any business looking to thrive during the pandemic and beyond. That’s why any information on the changes made to Google My Business should matter to you. The company recently rebranded the site to Google Business profile.

Here is what to know about this rebrand and how it will affect how you manage your business profile:

What Changes are Coming With the Rebranding

Ideally, Google wanted to rebrand Google My Business into Google Business profile to make it simpler for businesses to manage their profiles. With the rebranding, you will be required to manage your profile directly from Google Search or Google Maps. You can do so both on the respective apps and a browser. Business owners have for a long time been managing their business’ profiles on these two platforms; it’s just that Google now prefers it moving forward. Google also added a few new features into the Google Business Profile, including:

  • The ability to claim and verify your profile directly in Google Maps and Google Search.
  • Ability to see your call history on both platforms.
  • Ability to message directly through Google Search.
  • The ability to control message read receipts on Google Search and Google Maps.

Claiming and Managing Your Google Business Profile

You can now directly claim your profile directly on Google Search or Maps. You just need to search your business name on either of the two platforms to claim your business. Once you claim your business, you can proceed to edit different aspects of your business profile.

For instance, you can start responding to client reviews and messages. You can also include business details like your contact and location details. Once you claim your profile, you just need to search ‘my business’ on your device to access, view, as well as edit your profile. Remember, the more optimized your business profile is, the better it establishes your online presence and attracts customers.

Managing Single Vs. Multiple Location Businesses

Google Search and Google Maps are the best platforms for managing your business profile on Google if you only have a single location. However, if your business has multiple locations, it could be tedious to manage every location separately. That’s why Google has renamed the old Google My Business interface to Business Profile Manager. This will act as a single dashboard where you can see multiple profiles for the different locations you manage. It can be beneficial to both multi-location businesses and agencies that run multiple Google Business Profiles for their clients. In fact, you will simply need to log in to the dashboard to access it.

Focus on Optimizing Your Profile

Your Google Business profile will work wonders for your business if you can commit to optimizing it. This includes updating your business details, from working hours to address to location details. You should also be keen on customer reviews by responding to them promptly. Positive reviews can act both as a trust signal to new customers and create engagement with existing ones.

If you need help managing your Google Business profile, feel free to reach out to us. We can help walk you through managing the profile to optimize it for your business customers.

Positive Review Response Tips

Responding to reviews is a metric that Google keeps track of.  When you log into your Google Business Profile, they have implemented a sorting feature to see all of the reviews that are still awaiting a response.  When you respond to a review, the customer gets an email from Google with your response, so a short response with “thank you” is fairly lame.   Here are tips for writing better positive review responses via the Google My Business platform.

Positive Review Response Tip #1 – Be Quick

We suggest responding to reviews within 24-48 hours.  Part of our management service includes logging into each business portal 3-4 times per week to check for and respond to reviews.  When the customer gets an email with your response it will reinforce that you actively care about your business and online presence.

Positive Review Response Tip #2 – Be Personal

Address the response as if you are sending an email to a client or customer (because you are).  Address the person by their name or user name.  You can also be more personal by including a reference to the date of their review.  A response example may start out… “John thank you for leaving us an excellent review yesterday…”

When potential customers read through your responses they will find comfort knowing that your business responds to both positive and negative feedback quickly.

Positive Review Response Tip #3 – Be Precise

Too many businesses respond with a quick “Thank you” to positive reviews.  This gives the impression that the owner is just checking items off a to-do list.  If your customer takes the time and effort to share their experience with your business, you should make the effort to write more than two words.

Promote your brand

Use the review response to reinforce your mission statement or company culture.  Potential customers are reading your review responses so consider this part of your sales process.

Positive Review Response Tip #4 – Be Grateful

A positive review is one of the best compliments your business can receive.  Thank them for their time and support.  Showing appreciation for a positive review encourages other customers to do the same.

Positive Review Response Tip #5 – Promote Positive

positive review response poster

Positive reviews on your Google page don’t need to end there.  Share them on social media or at your storefront.  A great example of this is restaurant printing reviews and displaying them in their waiting area.  A review or testimonial that gets displayed in your business or shared as part of your email newsletter, encourages others to leave a review also.  People are used to seeing testimonials on websites so we don’t find it as productive, but it’s a great start.  It is against Google’s terms to offer discounts or freebies for positive reviews so don’t cross the line, but gratitude can be more effective.

Free Promotional Materials

Google will help you print some posters and get some marketing materials FOR FREE.  Just check out their website – marketingkit.withgoogle.com