I take a fair bit of well-deserved ribbing around the office for my track record of going all in on networks or tech that suffered an early demise, such as Google+, the original Four Square, or Windows Phone (still miss it). While I can’t deny any of it, at least my enthusiasm with Google+ (G+ to some) came in handy when Google+ Pages became a thing about a decade ago. We helped a number of clients build out and optimize their pages.

One business in particular, a restaurant, was changing their name, decor, and entire concept, and we needed to find a way to eviscerate all traces of the old name/brand from the website as best we could. Taking over and actively managing their Google+ profile was probably the biggest step we took to make this happen. We refreshed everything, including pictures, descriptions, menus, etc. and started actively posting 1-2x a week on Google. (Yes you can post on Google, more on that later). We could also see from analytics on map clicks and phone calls how much people were using it to connect directly to the business and actually bypass the website while at the same time improving their page authority and relevance. We could also see generally where people were requesting directions from. This was 2014 and not everyone was paying attention to their G+ page. In this case, their #1 competitor, who had been established for some time, had no G+ presence and I believe this all combined to allow our client to catch up and pass them from a search perspective, and ultimately a business perspective as well.

Ultimately, Google+ and their Pages would go away and be replaced by Google My Business. This was better integrated into the Google ecosystem, everything definitely worked more in harmony with Maps and Search. And it allowed business to have more control on how and what was being served up in search results. We continued to assist companies with their management of this oft-neglected channel.

In November of last year, Google announced that they would simplify their naming and move from ‘Google My Business’ to ‘Google Business Profile’ (GBP). This is meant to be an even more seamless way to connect with Search and Maps. The change will take place next month when the “Google My Business” app will go away and businesses will now manage their GBP profile through the Google Maps and Google Search apps.

Hopefully you have previously claimed your business profile, but if you haven’t taken control of your GMB profile (soon to be GBP), you really should. Like today. You can now claim it directly on Search and Maps. If you don’t, Google will do its best to fill in the blanks (which may include user ‘contributions’ which can be good or bad, but still, always better to be in control). All the details can be harnessed here; what things you sell/specialize in, your hours of operation, addresses and reviews. And you can include keywords in your business description. Certain businesses, like restaurants, have enhanced info options like menus, reservation links, etc. Again, this is where you can control the dialogue and give them A LOT of information before they even get to your website. And of course, your Google reviews will show up here as well, so it’s wise to keep an eye on them as well.

In Search or Map results, the information is presented in the form of the ‘Google My Business Card’ (which will probably have a new name soon). Sadly, it is my experience that far too many businesses may have claimed their business profile, but spend no time looking at how their card appears. It’s worth a couple of minutes every month or so.

Why is all of this important? Google suggests that ‘Customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if they find a complete Business Profile on Google Search and Maps’. And while it’s hard to be precise on how much Google search volume has local intent (some say nearly 50%) there is no doubt that it is significant, especially in Maps.

Ok, so now that you have taken a look at your profile, I come to my final point, which is that Google actually allows you to post right on your Business card, which will show up in Search or Maps results. You are creating the content for your social media pages anyway, so this is free real estate! And for many businesses with smaller social media profiles, this space probably gets more impressions anyway. It is extremely easy to post, you can do it on either the Search or Maps app. (fun fact: a Google Post can be 1,500 characters). Think of it this way, you can actually have part of a blog post show up in a Google Search along with your other information.

Good luck optimizing your profile, and hopefully this is a reminder that it isn’t vanity to Google your own company, it’s responsible marketing.

Farewell Google My Business, we hardly knew ye’