Is Google My Business the same as Google Business Profile?
Short answer
Yes. Google Business Profile is the current name of the product that used to be called Google My Business. It's the same free listing that puts your business in Google Search and Google Maps. The name changed, and so did where you manage it: mostly inside Search and Maps, not in a separate app.
Google Business Profile is the current name for what used to be called Google My Business, so yes, the two are the same thing. Google announced the rename in late 2021. The listing itself carried over with its reviews, photos, categories and verification. If you set up a Google My Business listing years ago, you didn’t lose it and you don’t need to create a new one. People shorten the two names to GMB and GBP, and both refer to the same listing.
What changed besides the name
Google moved most of the editing out of a separate dashboard and into Search and Maps. Where you manage the listing is the main difference.
| Question | Google My Business (old name) | Google Business Profile (current name) |
|---|---|---|
| Where you edit it | A separate dashboard and a dedicated mobile app | Mostly in Google Search and Google Maps, signed in to the account that manages the listing |
| What it costs | Nothing | Nothing |
| Your reviews and photos | Stored on the listing | The same ones, carried over |
| The rules | Google’s guidelines for representing a business | The same guidelines, updated from time to time |
To find yours, sign in to the Google account that owns or manages the listing and search Google for your business name. The editing controls should appear on the results page. The layout changes often, so if what you see doesn’t match a guide you’re following, Google’s own help pages for Google Business Profile have the current steps.
Why you still hear the old name
Habits outlast product names. Many people who work in search still say GMB, and plenty of older articles use it. Some software menus were never updated. If a proposal offers “GMB optimization”, it means the same work I describe under Google Business Profile optimization. The old name isn’t a warning sign by itself.
Old advice is a different matter. A guide written in the Google My Business years may describe features Google has since removed. The simple website Google once let you build from the listing is one example of a feature that has been retired. This was also not the first rename: the same product was known as Google Places before it became Google My Business.
What the rename didn’t change
A listing ranks the way it did under the old name. Google still describes local ranking in terms of relevance, distance and prominence, and the profile still feeds the map pack in the same way. Your category, your service area, your reviews and your photos do the same jobs they did before.
It’s also still free to create and manage, within the limits of what a free Google Business Profile includes.
A caution about calls that mention “Google My Business”
Some phone calls use the old name to sound official. A common version says your Google My Business listing is about to expire or be removed unless you pay a fee. Google doesn’t charge to create or keep a listing, so a caller asking for money to keep it active isn’t describing a real Google charge. The safe response is to hang up, then sign in and look at the profile yourself.
If you can’t find or open your listing
If you set the listing up long ago, the usual problem is access, and the rename isn’t the cause. The listing may sit under an old email address. It may also belong to a former employee’s account or a past agency’s account. Start by trying every Google account your company has used. If someone else turns out to control it, Google has a process for requesting access to a profile someone else owns. Don’t create a second listing to get around a lost login, because a duplicate causes its own trouble.