Google Business Profile vs Google My Business: What Actually Changed

You typed “google my business” into Google and got a page of results about something called Google Business Profile, plus a few tools and agencies still using the old name. Nothing is broken and nothing has been taken from you. This guide explains the rename in plain words, what actually changed for a business owner, what did not, and exactly where to go today to claim, verify and manage the listing that appears when someone searches for your business.

The short answer

Google My Business (GMB) and Google Business Profile (GBP) are the same thing. In late 2021 Google renamed the product; the listing you see on Google Maps and in Search, the reviews attached to it, your verification and Google’s rules did not change. What changed is how you manage it: the separate dashboard and mobile app were phased out in favor of editing the profile directly in Google Search and Google Maps. If you learned “GMB” from a course or a tool, every skill transfers; only the login route is different.

The rename timeline in plain words

The listing has been renamed several times, which is why so many names float around:

• Google Places (from 2010). Google gathered business listings into one product tied to Maps, and owners claimed them through a Places dashboard.
• Google+ Local (from 2012). During the Google+ era, business pages were merged into the social network. Many owners remember creating a Google+ page they never used.
• Google My Business (from 2014). Google untangled listings from Google+ and launched a dedicated dashboard and app for owners. This is the name that stuck, and the source of “GMB.”
• Google Business Profile (announced late 2021). The rename came with a push to manage the profile from Search and Maps instead of the dashboard.
• App retired (2022). The standalone Google My Business app was shut down; the Google Maps app took over on phones.

The pattern matters more than the dates: Google keeps moving management closer to where customers already are, and it renames the product each time. Expect the interface to change again. The fundamentals in the rest of this guide are what stay.

Why everyone still says “GMB”

Years after the rename, “GMB” is still what most agencies, tool vendors and forum threads say. Partly habit: a generation of local marketers learned the product under that name. Partly commerce: tools and courses named “GMB something” did not rebrand, and in many markets the old phrase is still searched more than the official name, so writers keep using it. And partly convenience: three letters beat a five-syllable name.

None of this means those tools or people are out of date. Treat “GMB” and “Google My Business” as synonyms for the current product, and be suspicious only when advice references features that no longer exist, such as the app or the old website builder.

What actually changed for owners

Where you manage it. The dashboard at business.google.com used to be the place for everyone. Today, if you own one profile, searching your business name in Google while signed in shows a management panel at the top of the results, and Google Maps (web and app) offers the same controls. Business Profile Manager remains for accounts with several locations; our multi-location guide covers that side.

No standalone app. Notifications about reviews, questions and edits now come from the Google Maps app or by email.

Features that arrived, and some that left. Under the new name Google added and expanded messaging (chat through the profile), then later removed chat and call history again, so do not build a customer-service process around them. Products and services got their own editors, attributes multiplied (women-owned, wheelchair accessible, online appointments), and Insights was replaced by Performance, a longer-range report of views, calls, direction requests and the search terms that triggered your profile, documented in Google’s Performance help. Our Performance guide explains how to read it.

Verification got stricter in practice. The methods (video, phone, email, occasionally postcard) existed before, but a video recording of the premises and signage is now the default for many new profiles, and re-verification requests are more common.

The free profile websites were shut down. More on that below.

What did not change

• The listing and its history. Reviews, photos, ratings and the Maps pin carried over. Nothing needed re-creating.
• Verification. You still prove you are authorized to represent the business, and Google still chooses the method.
• The guidelines. The guidelines for representing your business apply exactly as before: real-world name, real address, no keywords added to the name, no profiles for ineligible businesses.
• Ranking basics. Google’s own explanation of how local ranking works still rests on relevance, distance and prominence. The levers we see move rankings most, namely the primary category, complete information, reviews and a consistent website, are the same as they were, and our Google My Business SEO guide is written under the old name for exactly the people who still search for it.
• The price. Free before, free now.

A glossary of terms people mix up

Term	What it means
Google Business Profile (GBP)	The current name for your free business listing on Google and the tools to manage it.
Google My Business (GMB)	The previous name, used from 2014 until late 2021. Still said everywhere; same product.
Business Profile Manager	The web dashboard at business.google.com, now aimed at accounts managing several profiles.
Maps listing	Your profile as it appears in Google Maps: pin, card, photos, reviews, directions.
Knowledge panel	The information box shown in Google Search when someone searches your business name. For a local business it is fed by your profile.
Local pack	The block of three map results shown in Search for queries with local intent, such as “plumber near me.”
Local Finder	The longer list you reach by tapping “More businesses” under the local pack.
Place ID	Google’s unique identifier for a place, used in review links and APIs. Look yours up with Google’s Place ID finder.
Verification	Proving to Google that you are authorized to manage the business, by video, phone, email or postcard.

How to find and manage your profile today

The logged-in search method

1. Sign in to the Google account you believe owns the profile.
2. Search your exact business name, or the phrase “my business.”
3. If the account owns the profile, a panel appears above the results with buttons such as Edit profile, Read reviews, Add photo and Performance. You are in.
4. If you see the normal public listing with “Own this business?” instead, the profile exists but this account does not own it. Click through to claim it, or ask whoever set it up to add you as an owner.
5. If nothing appears, the business has no listing yet. Search “add my business to Google” and follow the flow, which creates a profile and starts verification.

The Maps method

On the web or in the Google Maps app, find your business and open it. If your account manages it, the card says “You manage this Business Profile” and shows the same editing controls. In the app, your profile picture leads to “Your Business Profile” for every profile the account holds.

Several locations

Sign in and open business.google.com. Accounts with more than one profile land in Business Profile Manager, with a list view and spreadsheet import and export.

Common confusions

Google Ads, Local Services Ads and “Google Guaranteed”

The profile is free. The listings marked “Sponsored” at the top of Maps and the local pack are Google Ads, paid per click. Local Services Ads are a separate paid program for home and professional services, paid per lead, and the “Google Guaranteed” or “Google Screened” badge comes with that program after background and license checks. It is not something you earn through your profile, and salespeople who call offering to “get you Google Guaranteed” are selling ads. In our experience a complete, well-reviewed free profile regularly outperforms a thin one with ads behind it.

The Business Profile websites (and Google Sites)

For years Google offered a free one-page website generated from your profile. Those sites were discontinued in 2024 and their addresses stopped working. If your profile’s website field still points at one, or you printed the address on cards, fix it now: use your own domain, even a single page, with your name, address, phone and hours matching the profile and LocalBusiness structured data behind it. Our schema markup guide walks through it, and the Schema Markup Generator prefills the code from your listing. Google Sites, the general page builder, still exists; it is a different product and not what was shut down.

Suspended is not deleted

A profile that vanishes from Maps is usually suspended, not gone. The reinstatement process is in our suspension guide.

Where to go next, by goal

• Fill and fix the profile: the pillar guide on how to optimize a Google Business Profile, with the checklist for the recurring tasks.
• Rank higher on Maps: how to rank on Google Maps.
• Get and handle reviews: the reviews pillar guide.
• Show up in AI answers: AI search optimization for local businesses.

Worked example: a new café owner looking for “the app”

Marta opens a twelve-seat café in Tacoma, Washington. A friend tells her to “set up Google My Business,” so she searches “google my business login,” lands on articles about a rename, then searches the App Store for the app, which does not exist. She nearly pays a listing service that promised to “create your GMB” for a monthly fee.

What she did after a phone call with us: she signed in to a Google account the café controls (a hello@ address on the café’s domain, not her personal Gmail) and searched the café’s name. Google had already created an unclaimed listing from map data and customer photos, with “Own this business?” under it. She claimed it, and Google asked for a video walk showing the street sign, the door with the name on it, the interior and the espresso machine. It was verified within a few days.

From the panel in Search she set the hours, added the menu as products, chose “Coffee shop” as the primary category with “Cafe” as a secondary, and uploaded fifteen photos. She ran the Google Business Profile Optimizer, which flagged reviews as the only failed check, so she generated a review QR code and put it by the register. Total spend: nothing. The friend still calls it GMB.

Common mistakes

• Creating a second profile because you could not find the first. Search Maps for your business name and phone number first, then claim the existing listing.
• Signing up under an employee’s personal Gmail. Own the profile from an account the business controls, with recovery details stored safely.
• Installing a third-party “GMB” app and handing it your Google credentials.
• Paying to “get verified” or to “get Google Guaranteed.” Verification is free; the badge is an ads program.
• Leaving the website field pointing at a dead Business Profile site.
• Ignoring emails and Maps notifications about suggested edits, which can change your hours without you noticing.
• Believing robocalls that your “Google listing will be deleted.” Google does not call you about that.

Do this now

1. Sign in to a Google account the business controls (create one on your own domain if needed) and search your business name.
2. Claim the existing listing or create one, and complete verification the way Google asks, usually by video.
3. Check name, address, phone, hours and primary category against your signage and website.
4. Run the free Google Business Profile Optimizer and fix the failed checks first.
5. Create a review link and printable QR code with the Review Link and QR Code Generator and put it where customers pay.
6. Replace any link to a discontinued Business Profile website with a page on your own domain.
7. Bookmark the pillar guide and work through it one section a week.