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How to manage and edit your Google Business Profile from Google search

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Managing your GBP listing from Google search is the new norm. Here’s an overview of the in-search experience features you need to know.

Want your local company to rank higher in Google search results? Claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the best things you can do to help.

Managing a GBP listing from Google search is not new. People have been able to manage a Business Profile from Google search since 2017.

But now, managing your profile from search is the new norm. This means you must understand how to effectively make the most of your Business Profile in the “in-search experience.”

To start managing your Google Business Profile in Google Search, make sure you’re signed into the Google Account email address you use to manage your Business Profile.

Next, go to Google and search for your exact business name (you may need to add your city), or you can also search for “my business.” (You might need to select View Profile to manage your Business Profile.)

Anatomy of Google’s New Merchant Experience (NMX)

After you search for your business name, you should see the Merchant Panel and your Business Profile (a.k.a., Knowledge Panel) at the top of the search results – right above the organic results.

Geek terminology: You may hear the new Google Search management feature referred to as NMX – which stands for New Merchant Experience. (It’s important you get used to the new lingo.) NMX is the Google Search interface used to manage your Google Business Profile in Google Search.

anatomy of gbp on search

This is the heart of where you will manage your Business Profile. In the Merchant Panel, you’ll see the main menu, three-dot menu, cards, and your Business Profile off to the right.

The menus in your Merchant Panel depend on your business categories. So what you see may look different than another business in a different industry.

You might see a down arrow in your Menu. If you do, be sure to click on it to expand your menu area so you can see even more menu options.

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Explanation of the Google Business Profile menus

Here’s an overview of the main menus that most businesses have available to them.

You can either use the tabs across the top of a menu or just scroll down the menu page to access all available fields for you to update.

Edit profile

This is probably one of the most important because it has the most vital information many customers (or potential customers) are looking for. From the “Edit profile” menu, you can edit your main business information like:

  • Business name
  • Business categories
  • Description
  • Opening date
  • Phone number
  • Website
  • Business address or service areas
  • Business hours
  • Attributes/More information:
    • From the business (You can add attributes like women-owned, veteran-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, etc.
    • Crowd (i.e., LGBTQ-friendly)
    • Highlights
    • Offerings (i.e., drive-through)
    • Planning (i.e., Appointment Required, Accepting New Patients)
    • Service options (i.e., Offers online appointments, Offers online care, Language assistance)

Depending on your business category, you may see other options available like:

  • Check-in and check-out times (hotels only).
  • Hotel information (hotels only).
  • Health insurance (medical categories in the U.S. only).
  • Offers online care (medical categories only).
  • Or other options.

You may see other options available to you depending on your business categories. For instance, the hotel, car dealership and medical industries will find several other options in this section.

Read reviews

Paying attention to your reviews is essential to growing your business.

In this menu, you can see all your reviews, sort them in various ways and see what words people frequently mention in their reviews of your business. (By default, the reviews are ordered by “Most relevant.”)

Messages

Messages are a great way to connect with customers and potential customers. If you have the time and staff to respond promptly to customers looking to chat with you, simply click the “Turn on chat” button and follow the prompts.

Add photo

The “Add photo” menu lets you upload photos and videos to your Business Profile. Here are a few options to choose from:

  • Photo: This is where you can upload photos and videos from your business. Upload pictures of your building’s facade, the inside of your office, your team, the products you sell, the services you offer, etc. Don’t upload stock photos or other marketing material images.
  • Logo: Upload your logo.
  • Cover photo: This image should be a picture that best represents your business. Keep in mind that even though this is your chosen cover photo, Google has the right to select whatever cover image they want to display on your Knowledge Panel.
Performance

“Performance” is the new version of what used to be called “Insights.” This is where you can see the following metrics on your Google Business Profile’s performance, including:

  • Overview of the total Business Profile interactions
  • Calls
  • Messages
  • Bookings
  • Directions
  • Website clicks
  • How your products performed
  • Top products
  • How people discovered you – by platform and device
  • How people found your GBP by keywords

Advertise

This links to Google Ads – just in case you want to spend some money on paid advertising.

Edit products

Google has been emphasizing more on showing local businesses that sell products. If you’re one of them, be sure to take advantage of the “Edit products” feature in Google Business Profile. Simply click the “Get started” link.

Edit services

If you are a service-based business, here is where you will list the types of services that your company offers. First, you will want to set up business categories.

For example, if you’re a lawn care company, you might choose categories like grass cutting, lawn care, yard cleanup and snow removal. Then under each category, you would include each service that falls under those main categories.

Booking

If you use an online booking or calendar tool to schedule appointments, then you’ll love the “Booking” menu. This feature allows you to add a special URL where people can schedule time on your calendar to schedule an appointment with you.

So if you use tools like Calendly, YouCanBookMe, SquareUp or one of Google’s booking partners, you can click “Add a link” to get started.

Calls

“Calls” is a way to keep track of phone calls you get from customers on Google Search and maps with call history. Right now, this feature is only available to a select group of businesses in the U.S. and Canada.

If you’re interested in turning this feature on, it will give you information on what calls came in – what calls were answered and what was missed.

Q&A

The Q&A feature is a great way for customers and potential customers to ask you questions about your business – and for you to answer them.

Remember, though, that anybody can ask and answer those questions. So it’s best that you stay on top of them and be the first to respond.

Add update (a.k.a., Posts)

Updates are actually GBP Posts. To create one, just click on “Add update” and you can create an update, offer or event.

Ask for reviews

We mentioned earlier how getting reviews was an important part of your local SEO strategy.

When you click the “Ask for reviews” menu, you’ll be given a short URL that you can give to your customers so you can ask them to leave a review for you.

Three-dot menu

The three-dot menu is often overlooked because, well, it is off to the right-hand side of the main menu and a little hard to see.

But it contains some very important advanced features necessary to effectively manage your Business Profile.

In the three-dot menu dropdown, you’ll see:

  • Business Profile settings
  • Notifications
  • Add a new Business Profile
  • Your Business Profiles
  • Help & support
  • Send feedback
  • Terms and Service
What are cards?

You will also see various “cards” in Merchant Panel. Cards let you do various other things to help improve and optimize your profile.

Your cards might look different than another merchant’s cards. Look at the various cards available to you and see what they allow you to do.

For instance, if you click on the “Add exterior photo” card, you’ll be able to easily upload a photo of the exterior of your storefront or office building.

Cards also give you alerts, like they will let you know when you have a new review or if you should add specific information to your Business Profile to make it more helpful to potential customers.

Cards give you info to add

Use these cards to maximize and optimize your Google Business Profile.

What if Google changes your Google Business Profile information?

Google gathers information from a variety of sources:

  • Third-party sources they have contracted with.
  • User-suggested edits.
  • AI.
  • Other online resources (e.g., government databases, online directories/citation sites, the business’s website, info from people who answer “Do you know this place?” questions).

Google often cross-checks the information on your Business Profile and compares it to what they find online. If they find discrepancies, they may decide that your information is incorrect and will change the information on your Google Business Profile.

If Google changes information in your Business Profile, you’ll receive an email alerting you that information has been changed.

Hours updated

If the changed information is correct, you can simply click the “Accept” link.

Did Google mess up? If the changes are wrong, click on the section you want to edit (or correct), and you’ll see the pencil icon. You can then edit the information. Remember to click the “Save” button.

Sometimes, you’ll be given an edit option if changes were made to your Business Profile.

Google changes in blue

If the information is incorrect, you can simply click on “Edit” and, in this instance, uncheck the services you don’t offer and click “Save.”

Keep in mind that Google may need to manually review your edits, so it could take up to a day (or sometimes longer) for your changes to be made to your Business Profile.

Edit Google changes

Because Google’s changes go live right away, it’s important that you frequently check your Business Profile to make sure no incorrect changes were made to your profile.

Managing your profile from search is the way to go

Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve. But once you get used to this interface, you will likely enjoy the ease of use and functionality.

Getting used to managing your Google Business Profile in Google search is a must. There’s no avoiding it anymore.

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