Google My Business: What It Is and How It Works

Google My Business is the former name for the free tool businesses use to manage how they appear on Google Search and Google Maps, including hours, address, photos, reviews and posts. Google renamed it Google Business Profile in November 2021, but the old name still shows up constantly in search queries and old articles. If you’re looking to set up or claim a listing today, you’ll be working inside Google Business Profile, not a separate app called GMB.

For a local service business, this listing is often the first thing a customer sees before they ever visit your website. It shows up in the local pack, in Maps directions, and in the knowledge panel when someone searches your business name. Getting it right feeds directly into local SEO performance and into whether you show up for \”near me\” searches at all.

How Google Business Profile works

It works by pulling structured data (your business name, address, phone number, category, hours and attributes) into a profile that Google displays across Search and Maps, then ranking that profile using relevance, distance and prominence.

You claim or create a profile at google.com/business, verify it (usually by postcard, phone or video verification, depending on category and location), then fill in details. Reviews, posts, Q&A, photos and messaging all live inside the same dashboard. Google also pulls signals from your website and citations elsewhere to confirm accuracy, which is why NAP consistency across the web still matters.

Why it matters, and what it doesn’t do

It matters because it’s the main input for local pack rankings and Maps visibility, but it doesn’t replace a website, doesn’t guarantee organic rankings, and doesn’t fix a business with no reviews or thin service pages.

A complete, active profile with accurate categories and regular updates competes better in the