Google My Business

Google's official rebrand from Google My Business to Google Business Profile happened in November 2021. But five years of SEO articles, vendor documentation, agency guides, and forum discussions all used the term GMB. Google's own historical pages link to GMB content. Because the rebrand was a name change only — not a feature overhaul — all that old content remains factually accurate and ranks for searches like "Google My Business for local SEO" or "GMB optimization tips." Searchers looking for GMB guidance will find either the rebranded GBP pages or pre-2021 articles using the old terminology. Both point to the same tool.

Google's public reasoning for the rebrand was clarity — "Business Profile" better describes what the tool is. Technically, nothing changed. You still claim your business, verify ownership, add hours and photos, respond to reviews, and manage your Place ID through the same interface. Your NAP data lives in the same backend. The Knowledge Panel pulls from the same source. Agencies still use the Google Business Profile API (formerly the Google My Business API) to automate listing management. The rebrand was cosmetic. The structure and function remained identical.

This creates a searchability gap. Someone searching "Google My Business best practices" might find a 2019 guide that's still valid, but the page title and URL use "GMB" while new articles use "Google Business Profile." Google's algorithm treats these as the same entity, so both tend to rank. However, if a searcher explicitly wants current documentation, Google might prioritize pages with the newer term. Local SEO professionals still use GMB as shorthand in private conversations and industry forums — it's faster than "GBP" — so the old terminology won't disappear from search behavior any time soon.

Whatever you call it — GMB or GBP — it remains the canonical listing that drives your local search presence. It powers your Knowledge Panel appearance, feeds AI Overviews business recommendations, supplies Local Pack rankings, and provides the authoritative NAP data Google uses to build your business's knowledge graph. The platform's role hasn't changed. If you're building a local SEO strategy, your listing management workflow is the same whether you call it My Business or Business Profile. The tooling and API remain the same. The ranking signals remain the same. Only the marketing name changed.