Google My Business (GMB) – What You Need to Do Now

For about a month now, Google My Business has been officially available worldwide. This marks the first time the company offers small businesses a user-friendly unified solution that brings clarity to the previous confusion surrounding names and necessary steps.

Google My Business is a unified dashboard for managing local profiles and Google+ business pages. It replaces the previous Google+ Local dashboard, aiming to provide clear management, updates, and analysis to help small and medium-sized enterprises increase their visibility in search results, on Google Maps, and on Google+. Local SEO experts responded to Google My Business with very positive feedback from the start.

What has changed?

The new unified dashboard can be accessed at www.google.com/mybusiness. It is important to know that Google My Business is just a dashboard update and does not involve any algorithmic changes. Local ranking factors remain unchanged.

Google aims to enable small businesses to optimize their information more easily, improve discoverability, connect with customers, and build relationships. The statistics also help understand how customers find and interact with the business. All business data, including the number of followers, photos, recent posts, Insights, Google Analytics, YouTube, AdWords Express, notifications, and reviews are clearly visible at a glance.

One of the most useful new features is the ability to preview business information in Google Search, Google Maps, and on Google+. Convenient mobile management of business information and content creation is available via the Android and iOS apps.

Interestingly, as Mike Blumenthal noted, Google+ is indeed closely linked to Google My Business. However, it is no longer marketed as a separate product but rather positioned as a feature that supports businesses in their communication efforts.

What should you pay attention to in Google My Business?

Since the old business information has been carried over, companies that already have fully completed and maintained profiles need only to check out the new dashboard and enjoy the more intuitive operation.

For those who haven't engaged with local SEO and business profile optimization on Google before, Google My Business provides a much simpler entry into this domain. Information entered once is unified and used across various profiles.

Aside from that, the same recommendations apply when creating or enhancing your listing: Address data should be consistent, the business name should match the official name found on the website (especially in the imprint) and other high-trust internet sources. Additionally, there is an option to specify the industry under "Description" if it is not clear from the business name. The entry title is derived from the business name and possibly from the description term. The primary category continues to play an important role and should be chosen carefully.

It still holds true: The business profile should be filled out as completely as possible. A progress bar in the new dashboard indicates which steps are still missing, such as profile verification, opening hours, or uploading images. Once filled out, the information should always be kept up-to-date. Companies with more than 10 locations can manage them via "My Business Locations." It is also recommended to create a post for each important product or service, as these may be shown in Google Search results if relevant.

Google My Business benefits not only local businesses that receive and serve customers on-site. Services or products sold directly to the customer are not an exclusion criterion. However, it is important to hide the business address in the profile and indicate the appropriate area of service.

Who is Google My Business suitable for and who is it not?

Unlike Google+ Local, Google My Business is explicitly not just for local businesses. When creating a new profile, three options are shown:

1. Storefront: Businesses that receive customers on-site. For example, cafes, restaurants, or retail stores

2. Service area: Local businesses offering products or services directly to customers. For example, craftsmen or delivery services

3. Brand: Companies or brands with no local attachment. For instance, products, organizations, or artists

Google My Business is not designed for large companies with many branches. The focus is on businesses with a single location. Even though multiple locations can be managed through "My Business Locations," managing several profiles through one dashboard becomes uncomfortable once a higher number of profiles is reached. It remains to be seen whether Google will provide a solution for this in the future.

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