In case you’ve been managing your Google Business Profile with the DigitalMaas Platform, you might not have noticed some new changes rolling out over the past few weeks. Google Business Profile is yet again going through a bit of an interface overhaul and honestly, not everyone is happy about it.
Based on what we’ve gathered so far, this is what’s been going on.
1. New Merchant Experience (NMX)
Don’t worry, this is not another name change.
While this is nothing new, Google recently made several changes to the in-SERP GBP editor. If you try to access the original Business Profile Manager, you will be redirected to the first page of search results.
This move is collectively called the New Merchant Experience, or NMX. To access the Profile editor, just type your business name on Google. For the US and Australia at least, this change has been fully rolled out. On the other hand, some of us are still seeing the old interface even if we try to type in business.google.com.
However, others have found a loophole, like Reuben Yau:
Copy and paste https://business.google.com/locations to access the old interface. Before hitting “Enter,” change the word “locations” or “dashboard” to “edit.”
Other than what we’ve seen on social media, there’s not much news about this, as Google has yet to make a statement about the release.
2. No more Photo insights
We’ve always encouraged our customers to upload photos of their establishments, products, services, and teams. That’s why it came to us as a surprise that Google decided to do away with Photo insights. We’re still waiting for more news about this as well – particularly about whether they’ll be creating more sophisticated metrics for visuals on GBP or just doing away with the insights altogether.
3. Other metrics may have disappeared
A bit more unfortunate news regarding data insights: some performance metrics are going away. What you have now, when you click the Performance icon on the in-SERP editor, is an overview along with data of major actions on your Profile such as calls, messages, bookings, directions and website clicks.
Notice that you no longer have the pie graph that shows how people search for your business – whether it’s discovery, direct, or branded. What you have instead is a device and platform breakdown next to what keywords users typed in.
We’re not sure if Google temporarily took it down for some tweaking or if this will be permanently removed.
Heavy Google Business Profile users are frustrated
Suffice to say, many local SEOs are downright frustrated with the new changes, especially if they’ve heavily relied on the data to put direction on their local marketing efforts. BrightLocal even put out a poll on Twitter asking the overall sentiment of these new changes – and some 83% of respondents said that it’s difficult to use, that “it’s a mess.” One reply stated that they “Kind of like it, but of course [it] takes some getting used to.”
If you feel that managing a Google Business Profile is overwhelming for you, you can always rely on the DigitalMaas Platform to have a consistent and user-friendly interface and all-in-one dashboard. And you can even do more with the Platform:
- From creating posts and editing information in bulk, save time and energy updating a few or all your locations. Perfect for multi-location businesses.
- Stay on track with our in-Platform performance metrics that show you all the information you need to ace the local marketing game.
- Get the ability to schedule your posts (for certain subscription packages only).
- Find out what you need to improve with our location audit tool. Get updates regularly to know where you stand in local SEO.
- Monitor and respond to reviews in a timely manner. See unread reviews across all your locations on just one screen.
Stay on track with your digital marketing success with the DigitalMaas Platform. Sign up today to learn more.
