GMB and GMBL have long been different products with different interfaces and editors. This has caused confusion for our users, many of whom end up using both products.

To simplify the user experience we are taking steps to unify the products so that everyone will use a single GMB interface. There will always be features that benefit users with multiple locations, but we want the navigation and editing experience to be consistent.

A few weeks ago, we launched a navigation experience that is consistent for users with a single location and those with multiple locations.

We are currently in the process of launching a redesigned editor that will make many tasks easier for our merchants, including:

• Style that previews the merchant’s Knowledge Panel
• Updated editor for hours and address
• Improved messages regarding listing states with clear calls to action toguide users
• Clearer UI for Google Updates that clearly shows what’s live on Maps vs what the merchant last provided
• Convenient links to view the listing on Google Search, Maps, and Google+
• Ability to make a business as permanently closed

The improvements are slowly rolling out for the single listing editor. We will eventually replace the multi-listing editor with the same interface; however, that will happen at a later date.

The improvements are slowly rolling out for the single listing editor. We will eventually replace the multi-listing editor with the same interface; however, that will happen at a later date.

Unfortunately the new Insights product still has limited date range and comparison features, no multi location aggregation of data and the data is not yet integrated with Analytics or the Google My Business API. But Google has indicated to me that these are all things that they are looking at. Whether the reliability of the data is greater is also TBD.