🌴 A Note From The Jungle
The local search landscape is changing at a rapid place and Coconotes are designed to become your field notes to high search rankings and greater maps visibility. Look for tips and updates each week!
🦍 Ask GMB Gorilla
Hey GMB Gorilla…I’m changing the name of my business. Can I just update the name on my profile?
Howdy human! It’s easy to think that you can just update the name of your GBP without having to worry, but that’s not the case.
While the BIG worry use to having to go through the reinstatement process, there’s a new issue with name changes that is causing problems for many businesses.
Google has recently updated their guidelines around rebranding a Business Profile. Their new guidelines provide more detail as to what is an acceptable name change.
Depending on the extent of the change Google may advise you to create a completely new Google Business Profile.
According to their updated guidelines, if the name change is minor, for example no change to nouns or services in the name are changed, and the category stays the same, you should be approved. But if you are changing the name completely or the type of business, you’re more than likely going to have to create a new profile.
This is because Google views the profile history, images, and reviews, to be part of a unique entity tied to the name and address. When you make a large enough name change or switch the category of the business, the data is no longer relevant.
It’s a big change in how Google handles business name changes and something to be aware of if you’re considering changing the name of your business and think you’ll be able to keep your current business profile.
🌴 Jungle Watch
Google pushed a major update the GBP Posts UX
🗂️ 𝗔 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 "𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀" 𝗛𝘂𝗯: The "Add Update" button has been replaced with a new management screen where you can easily see and manage all your posts in one place.
📝 𝗔 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: The post creation experience is now streamlined into a single dialog, allowing you to quickly create updates, events, or offers from one screen.
🔍 𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄: You can now view key details for each post, such as creation date, status, and post type, making it easier to track and make changes.
🎨 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: We've introduced small visual changes throughout the experience to make it more intuitive and enjoyable to use.
Of course if you’re using GMB Gorilla you don’t have to worry about any of this since the Post creation and publishing process is completely hands off for you!
🍌 Banana Bites
Microsoft Copilot, formerly Bing Chat, is using Google Maps reviews for its local AI results. Search Engine Roundtable
Forbes had a nice article on how small businesses can survive Google’s AI Overviews. Forbes
Yext published some in-depth data on citations and their impact on local search rankings. Yext
🆘 Need GBP Help?
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Did You Know? We publish over 40,000 updates to Google Business Profiles every month!
Till next time,