Google Business Profile: A Free Listing With Review Features

Google Business Profile, previously known as Google My Business, is a free listing for businesses. The profile brings together several ways for a business to communicate and for people to share or seek information, including reviews, questions and answers, and posts. For marketers, the listing is a place to consider how those different types of content fit together.

The name change is worth noting when planning or discussing a profile. Someone referring to Google My Business may be talking about what is now called Google Business Profile. Using the current name in internal documentation can help teams keep their references consistent, while recognizing the older name can make existing discussions easier to follow.

Reviews represent one part of the profile. Marketers can examine them as a source of feedback and consider the themes that appear in what people write. A review should be read on its own terms: a single comment is not necessarily representative of every customer’s experience. Where feedback raises a question, teams can decide whether it calls for further attention elsewhere in the business.

The questions-and-answers feature serves a different purpose. It centers on information people want to know, rather than their assessment of an experience. Marketers can look at questions alongside other customer communications when deciding which topics need clearer explanations. Answers should be accurate and direct, with any uncertainty acknowledged rather than filled in with assumptions.

Posts provide another format to consider when planning profile content. A useful editorial approach is to give each post a clear subject and check that its wording is consistent with other business communications. Reviews, questions and posts do not all serve the same purpose, so they should not be treated as interchangeable. Together, however, they give marketers several types of material to review when assessing the listing.

What this means for marketers

Start by identifying who is responsible for the business profile and its content. Then establish a practical process for reviewing feedback, recurring questions and posts. The profile is free, but the work around it still benefits from clear ownership, accurate language and coordination with the rest of the business.