How to manage your Google Business Profile.

Last updated: July 2026

Where you manage the profile now

The old “Google My Business” standalone dashboard is gone. Today you manage a verified profile directly from Google Search and Google Maps while signed in to the Google account that owns it. Search your business name (or “my business”) while logged in and Google shows the merchant panel with buttons for Edit profile, Promote, Customers, and more. On mobile, the Google Maps app has a dedicated Business tab for the same controls. If you don’t see the panel, you’re either signed in to the wrong Google account or the profile isn’t verified yet — the panel simply doesn’t appear for unverified listings.

Edit your core business information

Open Edit profile and keep these accurate: business name (match your real-world signage — no keyword stuffing), category, hours including holiday hours, phone, website, address or service area, and the description. Every edit to name, address, or category can trigger a short re-review before it goes live, so batch changes together rather than editing the same field repeatedly, and expect a short delay before an edit appears publicly.

Change your address, hours, or phone number

These are the fields customers hit first, and the ones a schedule change or a move makes stale overnight. From Edit profile, update the address, service area, hours (including holiday hours), or phone directly. A few specifics worth knowing:

Changing your address is treated more cautiously than other edits — if the new address is far from the old one, or if it happens alongside a name or category change, Google may re-run a verification check before the new address goes live. Moving locations within the same metro is usually fast; relocating to a different city can trigger a fuller review.

Updating hoursis the single most common edit and the one most likely to go stale. Wrong hours are the top complaint that quietly costs businesses walk-ins — a customer who shows up to a “closed” sign because Google still says you’re open doesn’t come back to check again. Set special hours for holidays and known closures ahead of time rather than editing on the day.

Changing your phone numberis usually instant, but if you’re relying on phone verification for a different profile, keep in mind Google weighs how long a number has been associated with your business — a brand-new number resets some of that trust signal even though the listing itself stays verified.

Manage services, products, and attributes

Below the core fields, add your services with descriptions, products with prices, and attributes (parking, accessibility, service options, identity attributes). These are relevance signals and they populate the rich sections customers see. Owners routinely skip them — completing them is free rank. See the full field-by-field pass in the optimization checklist.

Add managers and owners

Never share the account password. Instead, from the profile settings open Business Profile settings → Managers and invite people by email. Roles: an Owner controls everything including adding and removing users; a Managercan edit the profile and respond to reviews but can’t remove owners or delete the listing. Give agencies and staff Manager access, keep at least two Owners inside your own company, and remove people promptly when they leave. This is how you avoid the classic disaster of losing the listing when a former contractor owned the only account — a recoverable but slow situation, since Google’s “request access” flow requires waiting out a response window from the existing owner before access transfers.

Handle reviews and messages

From the merchant panel you can read and reply to reviews and, if enabled, receive customer messages. Reply to every review, positive and negative; reply rate and recency both feed local rank. If you turn on messaging, you have to actually answer — slow replies show a visible response time that deters customers. If keeping up is the problem, that’s exactly what an AI receptionist and automated review replies are for. For the specific mechanics of asking for and responding to reviews, see how to get more Google reviews.

Keep it active

A managed profile isn’t a set-and-forget listing. The profiles that hold the map pack are the ones that post weekly (see Google Business Profile posts), add fresh photos, answer reviews, and keep info correct. Cadence is the signal. Doing that by hand every week is the chore most owners quit after a month — which is the whole reason Aaptly exists: it posts on a schedule, syncs your info across directories, and drafts your review replies so the listing stays alive without the weekly login.

If you can’t access the profile

Locked out? Someone else may hold the primary ownership. From the business panel choose “Request access,” verify your identity, and Google notifies the current owner; if they don’t respond within the stated window you can be granted access. For duplicate or suspended listings, see how to fix a suspended Google Business Profile — resolution runs through Google’s in-product appeal flow, not a phone line.

Frequently asked questions

Where did the Google My Business app and dashboard go?

Google retired the standalone app and dashboard. You now manage your profile directly from Google Search or Google Maps while signed in to the Google account that owns the listing — search your business name and look for the merchant panel.

How do I edit my Google Business Profile?

Sign in to the owning Google account, search your business name, and select Edit profile from the panel that appears. From there you can update hours, address, phone, services, photos, and every other field.

Can I add someone else to manage my profile without giving them my password?

Yes — invite them as a Manager or Owner from Business Profile settings using their email address. Never share your login credentials directly.

How do I change my business hours on Google?

From Edit profile, update your regular hours and add special hours for holidays or known closures ahead of time. Changes typically appear within a short delay, not instantly.

What happens if I don’t update my profile regularly?

Stale hours, no recent posts, and no new photos all signal an inactive business, and inactivity is a negative input to your local ranking. Profiles that update weekly consistently out-rank ones that go quiet for months.

I lost access to my Google Business Profile — how do I get it back?

Use the “Request access” option from the business’s Maps listing. Google verifies your identity and notifies the current owner; if they don’t respond in the stated window, access can be granted to you.