Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week, I’m sharing some shocking breaking news: Google My Business is no more!
Ok, yeah, that intro was a little click-baity. Google My Business isn’t really gone, it’s just rebranded… again. GMB has been rebranded, and now it’s called “Google Plus Local Places for My Business Profiles on Google Maps by Google”
OK, just kidding…
Seems like every few years, Google decides to change the name of the local listings product. Considering the fact that there are still tons of people who call it Google Places, I’m sure this new name change is going to take a while to catch on.
Back in 2005, Google rolled out the first local listings product under the name “Google Local Business Center”. Google had rolled out the “Google Local” product the year before – that’s what we now call “Google Maps”.
But when Google launched the Google Local Business Center a year later, it was confusing to have that AND Google Local, so they renamed Google Local to Google Maps.
But then in 2009, the Google Local Business Center was rebranded to “Google Places”. That name only lasted a few years, ‘cause in 2011, the name changed again. This was right in the middle of the big failed Google Plus experiment, so they rebranded the local listings to “Google+ Local”
After a few years, Google Plus wasn’t going so well, and Google rebranded the local listings product yet again. In 2014, the name changed to “Google My Business”.
At the time, most of us rolled our eyes at the name, talking about how awful it was, and how it didn’t sound right to refer to the profiles as “Google My Business” listings. But the name stuck, and the acronym “GMB” rolls off the tongue naturally now.
So here we are in 2021, and Google has decided to rebrand again. The new name for local listings is “Google Business Profiles”
And of course, everyone is up in arms making the same complaints they made 7 years ago when the name changed to Google My Business. Is it annoying? Sure, a little bit. But really, “Google Business Profiles” makes a lot more sense, and is less awkward-sounding than “Google My Business”
Think about it – every time we were talking to anyone about their local listing, we’d call it “your Google My Business” – saying “your” and “my” like that is super awkward.
I do have to admit that I’ll miss the GMB acronym. We’ve all been using it for years and it rolls right off the tongue. Now, we’ll be talking about your GBP, which may not be so bad here in the US, but that’s gonna get super confusing in the UK.
Supposedly the GMB app is going away and businesses will be able to edit and manage their GBP directly in the SERP. No one’s sure what happens with the old dashboard, but apparently, it’s going to be more of a multi-location tool. We’ll have to see when the new features are fully rolled out.
So that’s the news – GMB is now GBP. That’s all the time we’ve got for today’s episode, so you know what that means.
Put your hand on the screen right here.
We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.
