Google Business Profile Manager Dashboard Is No Longer Available
If you've recently tried to log into your Google Business Profile Manager (GBP) (formerly Google My Business) and update your listing, you may have been surprised to be redirected to Google Search. Google officially rolled out the New Merchant Experience (NMX) on November 9, 2022.
What has changed? GBP is still there, but the ability to edit a listing in the interface has disappeared. Google Business Profile has to be modified from the Search Engine Results (SERP).
The New Merchant Experience (NMX)
It is no longer possible to modify your information on the old Google My Business dashboard. Google noticed that most of the businesses with GBP have only one location. Because of that, Google is pushing to get single-location businesses to use Google search to manage profiles instead of the old dashboard.
To access the New Merchant Experience, make sure you're signed into the Google Account you use to manage your Business Profile. The next step is to search for your exact business name as Google will show you all the profiles you manage. Then, after selecting what you want to update or change, You can now edit your business profile. However, be aware that some old features are no longer available.
Photo Insights Are No Longer Available
According to Google reports, uploading pictures is really important to boost your local visibility: ‘Businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions to their location from users on Google, and 35% more clicks through to their websites than businesses that don’t have photos.’
We have always encouraged clients to upload photos into their Google Business Profiles. Stand out with original and quality photos (at least three exterior photos, three interior photos, photos of the most popular products and services you sell, and three management and team photos)
In the old dashboard using the photo insight feature, you had the possibility to analyse how many times each photo on your profile had been viewed compared to your competitors. However, Google decided to stop with Photo insights. This data was often criticised for being inaccurate and unreliable.
Joy wrote on Twitter ‘If you liked the photo insights that existed in the Google My Business dashboard, this is NOT going to be moved over to the new dashboard that is rolling out right now to everyone.’
Other GBP changes
The chart ‘how customers search for your business’ is no longer available – whether it’s discovery, direct, or branded.
The Location information map (when customers ask for directions to a business) is also no longer available.
Google ‘posts’ in the dashboard are now labelled as ‘updates’ in the NMX. Please do not forget that duplicate content in posts is now considered spam.
‘Users’ is now labelled ‘managers’.
Summary
Despite the new changes, it is the perfect time to jump on and invest in local SEO optimisation in order to give you an edge over your competitors.
Get in touch with MindArc to learn more about our local search SEO services and help you reach growth and hit set business goals.