Manage Google Business Account - Google forcing businesses with multiple locations to manage on Search

[seaniaaa]

Hello all. I very very clearly remember multiple sources confirming that GBP users with multiple locations would NOT be forced to manage businesses on Search or Maps. I very specifically combed through all the information coming out around the shutdown of the GMB app to make sure, since this would greatly impact how we do business. We are now being automatically redirected to Search whenever we select a listing on the GBP manager. Our locations are ungrouped. Any tips for getting this to stop? Is the only choice to set up an agency account? Do location groups stop it? Any feedback is appreciated. This was an overnight switch that hit us out of nowhere in the last few days. And we have over a thousand individual verified listings in our account. Many are individual businesses but there are plenty with multiple locations.

 

[Annika Neudecker]

There is an ask for reviews link.

The URL provided in the Ask for Reviews link and the URL from the View on Maps button are different, but @seaniaaa's recommendation for using GatherUp works perfectly!

 

[SaraGarrison]

Here's an additional "hack" though I doubt any of these hacks will last for long... but from list view, if you click on the add photos icon on the right, you're taken to the original photos interface. Then you can switch into the "Info" tab and edit the listing from there like usual.

 

[seaniaaa]

Here's an additional "hack" though I doubt any of these hacks will last for long... but from list view, if you click on the add photos icon on the right, you're taken to the original photos interface. Then you can switch into the "Info" tab and edit the listing from there like usual.

Quick, delete this before Google sees lol.

 

[mblumenthal]

@JoyHawkins I can't find a way to edit a Google website. There's something I need to change on a site that a client has, and there doesn't seem to be a way either in the dashboard "pencil" option or in search to access the Google website. Am I missing something? Thanks.

You can edit the website by going to edit info/contact/click pencil/manage

 

[Niki]

@JoyHawkins from what I can tell "Insights" has taken a massive downgrade with the visually appealing pie charts no more available. Similar stats can be downloaded in a report but just on an excel sheet.

Also, I can't seem to find anywhere to get "Photo views". Prior to this change it would even give you stats for "Businesses like you"

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Sherry Bonelli shared an awesome tip for how to still use posts and have the crop photo functionality.

@JoyHawkins from what I can tell "Insights" has taken a massive downgrade with the visually appealing pie charts no more available. Similar stats can be downloaded in a report but just on an excel sheet.

Also, I can't seem to find anywhere to get "Photo views". Prior to this change it would even give you stats for "Businesses like you"

Yes, photo insights are gone (not coming back).

Ah, this also means we probably can't see the old metric that showed where directions requests were coming from either.

Correct, these are gone as well and aren't coming back.

 

[bluetech2003]

@JoyHawkins I can't find a way to edit a Google website. There's something I need to change on a site that a client has, and there doesn't seem to be a way either in the dashboard "pencil" option or in search to access the Google website. Am I missing something? Thanks.

I'm able to edit Google Website this way.
On the search page interface:
1. Click "edit profile".
2. Click "Business information"
3. Click "about" or "contact" tab.
4. Click on "website".
5. Click "manage" button that will display below it.

 

[seaniaaa]

I'm finding if I click on the Home button it take me to search page. If I only right click open new tab on a section it stays on dashboard. (for now)

I wonder what the drop off rate will be by forcing this change. Will it put many people off from regular updates and DIY business owners will focus elsewhere?

After my last post, I'm finding it varies listing by listing. But they're definitely working on shutting this workaround down sadly. Use it while you can!

 

[Orlando Sydney]

After my last post, I'm finding it varies listing by listing. But they're definitely working on shutting this workaround down sadly. Use it while you can!

Ohhh. Thank you for the follow up.

 

[PropelMike]

I see as of this morning for us, all of the workarounds to use the profile manager are gone. A few things like switching to primary owner are not very user friendly. With thousands of profiles to manage, this is slowing our team down substantially.

 

[JoyHawkins]

The agency dashboard is still a thing and if you want a list of businesses, visit Update your browser to manage your Business Profile - Google Business Profile Help

 

[seaniaaa]

The agency dashboard is still a thing and if you want a list of businesses, visit Update your browser to manage your Business Profile - Google Business Profile Help

Hey Joy, thanks for chiming in. So unfortunately, it gives us the list of businesses as normal, but then re-directs us every time we try to open a listing from GBP Manager. Have you heard anything about this? Like I said, from what I remember, Google very clearly said they wouldn't do this for businesses with multiple locations.
I guess we might have to got to the trouble of setting up an agency account and migrating everything over. If anyone has any feedback on ways to avoid that, we'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[seaniaaa]

Just to validate myself a bit and establish that this is a major about face on Google's part: Google Business Profile Manager Is Going Away Early 2022 (Updated: Not Going Away)

 

[SeoSaur]

"You'll have access to the dashboard" but you just won't be able to do much of anything in there. I know Google is bad at communicating but that messaging is so misleading it's comical.

Agreed Sara, it's an absolute nightmare trying to do anything from the search window. I can't even imagine trying to do this as a business owner! It took me 15 minutes to find out where the post option had gone. And now the metrics and analysis is more cumbersome than ever before. We also have limited post photo editing options. It's a real downgrade to the service so I'm hoping this gets resolved in the next day or two. As you said, makes managing more than one account almost impossible.

 

[Annika Neudecker]

Use right-click and select open in a new tab.

That's what I'm doing. I mean that it would be nice if it opened in a new tab by default rather than having to right click. A really minor complaint in the grand scheme of things!

Here's an actual question: How do we pull the link to our business from the new dashboard? I'm looking specifically for the one which looks like "google. com/maps?cid=######". You used to be able to grab that by clicking "View my business on maps" in the dashboard but I'm not seeing anything like that now, just the Share button, which doesn't produce the same type of URL. We use the clean URLs for internal reference to specific listings.

 

[Matt Chauhan]

I can't see the old photos published within the dashboard, nor can I see my old Google posts. This change really sucks!

 

[Mark Mitchell]

Bravo Google for taking something that worked well and making it a stupid list that does nothing helpful, reviews, updates, and user management are all gone as far as I can tell.

 

[keyserholiday]

There is an ask for reviews link.

 

[seaniaaa]

@JoyHawkins, I work with veterinarians, optometrists, dentists, and other healthcare providers. I'm not seeing any way to edit their appointment link with this change. I'm guessing this is an oversight since the appointment link is still showing on their profile. This may be worth mentioning to Google.

Oh lord, I hadn't noticed that yet. That's a major problem for the legal marketing space as well.

 

[seaniaaa]

@JoyHawkins from what I can tell "Insights" has taken a massive downgrade with the visually appealing pie charts no more available. Similar stats can be downloaded in a report but just on an excel sheet.

Also, I can't seem to find anywhere to get "Photo views". Prior to this change it would even give you stats for "Businesses like you"

Ah, this also means we probably can't see the old metric that showed where directions requests were coming from either.