Google Business Profile (Formerly My Business): The 2026 Overview

You run a business, its marketing or its SEO, and you want to know what Google's business listing (Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business) changes for your visibility? This page covers the whole topic: what the profile is, where it appears, how much it weighs in local search, on Maps and in generative engines, and which indicators to track.

It helps you choose your first workstream (create, claim, optimise or measure) and points to the guide that covers each one in detail.

What Google Business Profile is, and where it appears

The search term "Google My Business" is still widely used, but it is no longer the product's name. Google now calls it Google Business Profile: the public presence of a business in Search and on Maps, and its administration. It brings together practical details (opening hours, phone number, directions, services) and trust signals (reviews, photos, attributes) that shape the decision before anyone even visits your website.

The table below maps the old names and features to what they refer to at the time of writing.

The profile is an information record; several surfaces display it and provide context:

• Google Search: a business panel for local queries ("service + town", "near me") and brand searches.
• Google Maps: discovery, comparison and directions, driven by proximity.
• Local pack: the three results highlighted for certain local searches, and heavily contested.
• Knowledge Panel: the brand panel, which you control as part of your e-reputation on Google.
• Generative engines: AI Overviews, ChatGPT or Perplexity draw on the profile to answer local queries.

People often confuse Google My Business with Maps. Maps is the navigation and discovery product; the profile is the source that powers both Maps and Search.

What you control, and what Google decides

Display is free: Google's interface states that "with a Google business listing, your business appears on Google for free". You capture local demand without a media budget, with three structural limits:

• Dependence on Google: rules, moderation, formats and priorities can change.
• Partial control: users suggest edits, upload photos and shape perception.
• Imperfect attribution: some conversions happen within Google (calls, directions), outside your website.

You control data quality and consistency, content freshness and internal organisation: who updates, who replies, who approves. The design, the weight of modules and how local results are assembled are Google's call, and Google also fights spam (fake businesses, misleading categories, virtual addresses, keyword-stuffed names). For a legitimate business, the strongest lever is accurate, verifiable data, not a trick.

What it does for your visibility

Local ranking rests on three factors, relevance, distance and prominence, covered in our guide to local SEO with Google Business Profile. The profile mainly acts on relevance, through categories and the offer described, and on the quality of local signals; distance cannot be gamed.

The profile is also a shortcut to action, on a largely mobile journey. From the profile, users can:

• call without visiting the website;
• request directions;
• check services or products;
• confirm opening hours, including special hours;
• reach the most relevant landing page.

A local searcher wants an immediate answer: the clearer the information, the more likely they are to act.

An optimised profile won't compensate for a weak website. If your offer is poorly explained, if local pages are missing or contradict the profile, or if the mobile experience is weak, you lose part of the demand despite good Maps visibility. The profile meets the immediate need (where, when, what, how to get in touch); the website explains, proves, converts and measures.

On the paid side, Google Ads campaigns can display the profile through location assets; the role of each channel is covered in our SEO vs SEA comparison.

What you decide

Depending on the state of your presence, the first decision differs:

Claiming and NAP consistency

A profile sometimes already exists, auto-created or added via contributions: you need to claim it, because a duplicate muddies local visibility. The rule is one profile per real-world location; if you relocate, update the address on the existing profile so you don't fragment its history. Name, address and phone number (NAP) must be identical on the profile, the website and the other sources Google cross-checks. The step-by-step walkthrough is in our guide to a Google My Business listing.

Access governance

Access is tied to a Google account, and governance is what protects ownership of the profile. Define:

• a company-level owner, on a central account rather than a personal one;
• local managers, with limited rights if needed;
• an update process: who changes what, when, and with which approval.

With an agency, keep ownership and delegate management rights: changing supplier doesn't cost you the profile. For a multi-location network, Google's APIs centralise administration and change tracking.

Optimising your profile

A complete, accurate profile reduces ambiguity at the moment users compare. The optimisation levers are:

• primary and secondary categories;
• description and attributes;
• opening hours, including special hours, and service area;
• photos and videos;
• products and services;
• posts, at least one a month, more when news justifies it.

The field-by-field method, for a single location as well as a network, is detailed in our guide to optimising Google My Business.

Reviews

Reviews play a dual role: a prominence signal for local ranking and a visible conversion element (rating, volume, recency, highlighted terms) at the moment of the click. Google's rules are simple: ask every customer for a review, with no incentive and no review gating, and reply to every review, within 48 hours for negative ones and within the week for the others. Collection, replies, display on your website and the effect on generative engines are covered in our guide to Google reviews.

E-reputation beyond the profile

Your reputation isn't only played out on the profile: third-party review platforms, brand results and social media also shape how your business is perceived, and generative engines read them. The profile is its most visible shop window, not the whole picture. Definition, governance, diagnosis and indicators are brought together in our method for managing business e-reputation.

Profile KPIs

The table below is the reference for tracking the profile, reviews and reputation; each specialist guide picks up its own indicators.

There is one cadence: the weekly read is for alerts, the monthly read is for decisions. Compare like-for-like periods, segments and locations; otherwise seasonality, competitive effects and the effects of your own actions get mixed up.

Linking the profile to leads

The biggest challenge is attribution, because some conversions happen without a website visit. To connect the profile to revenue, set three conventions:

• track clicks to the website with UTM parameters where appropriate;
• send those clicks to local pages with tracked forms;
• reconcile profile actions with sales data (CRM, inbound enquiries).

Aim for attribution reliable enough to compare periods and prioritise, not perfect attribution. More calls can be excellent… or signal confusing information on your website: only cross-analysis lets you decide.

Managing a multi-location network

For a network, the challenge is consolidation. Define a few stable segments (region, branch type, category) and alerts on anomalies:

• a drop in views on one location;
• an unplanned category change;
• opening hours that differ between the profile and the website;
• an edit suggested by a third party and accepted.

A consolidated dashboard that links local visibility to business performance helps you catch issues before weeks pass. To set up this framework, start with a local SEO audit that identifies what is limiting visibility and conversion.

Profile, reviews and generative engines

"Near me" and "service + town" searches are particularly exposed to interfaces that synthesise information: local modules, AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT or Perplexity answers. The risk goes beyond reduced traffic: decision-making shifts into the interface, where users compare, call or visit without reaching your pages.

To answer, these engines rely on the profile, reviews and brand pages. Trust signals matter more there:

• Entity consistency: the same identity on the profile, website and directories;
• Verifiable information: up-to-date opening hours, services and service area;
• Concrete proof: recent photos, factual descriptions, recent reviews with replies;
• Aligned local pages: the website confirms what the profile promises.

The website acts as the base of truth: services, covered areas, use cases, FAQs. When several sources diverge, these pages help systems consolidate information. Here, E-E-A-T translates simply: a clear offer, transparent information, and proof that the business exists and delivers on its promise.

Four workstreams protect this presence against interface changes:

• stabilise NAP across the profile, website and other sources;
• keep critical information (opening hours, services, service area) up to date with a clear internal process;
• strengthen proof rather than stacking fragile optimisations;
• track business indicators (calls, requests, bookings), not web traffic alone.

The general method, beyond local search, is described in our guide to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

Depending on your situation

For topics adjacent to the profile, start from your situation:

• A negative review calls you into question: read it, reply, and report it if needed with our method for handling a negative review on Google.
• Your customers rate you outside Google: compare platforms with our guide to website reviews.
• You want to be alerted before your customers: set up e-reputation monitoring.
• A crisis breaks out: follow the 30-, 60- and 90-day plan in our guide to marketing bad buzz.
• Your brand is poorly presented on Google: control brand results and the Knowledge Panel with our method for managing your e-reputation on Google.
• You run a hotel: apply profile, reviews and reputation to your sector with our guide to hospitality e-reputation.

Before launching these workstreams, measure where your website stands in Google and in generative engines with the Incremys 360 SEO and GEO audit.

Google My Business FAQ: common questions in 2026

Does Google My Business still exist, or should we say Google Business Profile?

Google My Business is no longer the product's name: Google now uses Google Business Profile. The term refers to the public presence of a business in Search and on Maps, managed directly from those same surfaces. The old name remains the most widely used search term.

Is the profile free?

Yes, Google Business Profile is free: Google states that with it, your business appears on Google for free. Its real cost is organisational: keeping information up to date, replying to reviews and measuring the actions it generates.

Does a B2B website without a physical outlet need a profile?

Yes, as soon as you receive customers or work at their premises: the profile then works with a service area, without a public address if needed. It presents your core offers, such as audit, support or maintenance, and useful posts. The declared area must match your real capacity to serve it.

What's the difference between a business profile and a local landing page on your website?

The profile helps you appear and convert quickly within Google, through a call, directions or a click. The local page details the offer, proof and covered areas, and carries tracked forms. The two must match: the profile captures immediate intent, the page converts and measures.

How do you manage multiple locations without losing data consistency?

Set a single reference framework (name, address, phone number, categories, opening hours), a central owner and local managers with a clear scope. Every edit follows an approved, traceable process. Beyond a certain scale, Google's APIs and a consolidated dashboard make standardisation and anomaly detection easier.

What should you do if a profile is suspended, verification is refused or the profile can't be found?

First check information consistency (name, address, category), that there is no duplicate, and access to the owner account. Then follow Google Support's procedure and provide what's requested: proof of activity, video, documents. Avoid making many edits during review, as they complicate re-verification.

Do generative engines use the profile?

Yes, AI Overviews, ChatGPT or Perplexity rely on the profile, reviews and brand pages to answer local queries. They can shift the decision into the interface and reduce clicks to your website. The response is to keep data accurate and consistent, and to track calls and requests, not traffic alone.

How long before you see an effect?

It depends on your starting point, local competition and the stability of your data. First stabilise identity, location and contact details, get the profile verified, then enrich it gradually: multiple major changes in quick succession slow processing. Then judge the effect monthly, over comparable periods.