When Google rebranded from Google My Business To Google Business Profiles, the search company said it would push businesses to manage their listings directly in Google Search and Google Maps. But it also said the Google Business Profile Manager tool will stick around for larger businesses with multiple locations, and will be renamed “Business Profile Manager.”
Well, that might not be the case. When you now login to the Google Business Profile manager, even if you manage many locations, you will get a notice that says “from early 2022, you can no longer manage your business here.”
What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of the notice that says:
Managing your Business Profile is moving to Search and Maps. From early 2022, you can no longer manage your business here. Google Business Profile Manager is changing to make management easier. You can now access everything directly on Search and Maps
Stay here. What happens when you click on “stay here.” Well, you are taken to a short poll asking you if you tried to manage your business listings in Google Search or on Google Maps. If you say yes, it asks you if you want to continue to use Google Business Profile manager or not – in which I said yes, please.
Why we care. Using Google Business Profile manager to maintain and update your business listings is much more efficient and straight forward than doing so directly in Google Search and Google Maps. We do suspect that Google will improve the user experience for maintaining your business directly in Google Search and Google Maps. But there is something to be said about having a list of all the businesses you manage in a single location without having to search for the listing in Google Search or Google Maps.
Will this feature go away soon? I suspect for many it will but hopefully there will be a new portal for larger businesses with many locations and local SEOs that manage many locations to use going forward.
Postscript. Google has reached out to tell us that this notice was removed and should not have come up in the Google Business Profile manager. Google explained to us that business with multiple locations and those who manage multiple listings, like local SEOs, “will continue to have access to Business Profile Manager.”
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About The Author
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.