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Google launches brand profile management tools for select e-commerce retailers

New brand profile features enable e-commerce businesses to manage their Google Search presence with enhanced control over business information and performance analytics.

Luis Rijo

• 5 min read
Google brand profile interface showing Everloom's search presence with insights, images, and shopping features for retailers.
Google brand profile interface showing Everloom's search presence with insights, images, and shopping features for retailers.

Google this month has introduced comprehensive brand profile management capabilities for select e-commerce retailers, marking a significant expansion of business presence control within Search results. The features, documented in recently released support materials dated 2025, provide eligible retailers with tools to claim, manage, and optimize their brand profiles directly through Google Search and Merchant Center platforms.

According to Google's documentation, brand profiles serve as "a quick and informative display of online presence" that enables businesses to engage potential customers by displaying essential details including business descriptions, images, shipping information, and current promotions. The profiles appear prominently in Search results, allowing customers to understand brands without navigating away from the results page.

The new system encompasses several core components that retailers can control directly. Brand images and videos allow businesses to showcase visual identifiers for their brand, while social profile integration provides direct links to official social media pages. According to the documentation, businesses can also "display current special offers" through the promotions feature and provide "concise information about your brand" through brief descriptions.

Access to brand profile management requires super admin privileges and remains limited to select e-commerce retailers. According to Google's eligibility requirements, "only select e-commerce retailers can claim and manage brand profiles," though the company indicates that "eligibility to claim brand profiles will expand in the coming months." The restriction ensures that businesses can only be claimed once, with verification processes in place to prevent unauthorized access.

The claiming process involves multiple verification steps. Retailers must search for their exact business name in Google Search, where eligible brand profiles display a "Manage this brand profile" button. According to the documentation, the system then presents different dialog options based on the retailer's eligibility status and account access levels. Businesses associated with verified Merchant Center accounts can proceed directly to brand content management, while others may encounter access restrictions.

Information sourcing for brand profiles draws from multiple channels to create comprehensive business representations. According to Google's documentation, the system sources information "from your website, Merchant Center account, Search, third-party licensed data, and publicly available sources." This multi-source approach includes products, promotions, and shipping details managed through Merchant Center accounts, alongside brand descriptions and images that businesses can control after claiming their profiles.

The system also incorporates publicly available information from official websites and credible sources mentioning the business, including business names, images, and videos. Licensed data provides additional elements such as store ratings and trust scores from third-party sources, while user contributions allow suggested edits and updates from the broader user community.

Technical implementation includes schema.org markup integration for collecting publicly available information. According to the documentation, businesses should "verify and update the business website's schema.org markup as needed" to ensure information accuracy. The system automatically collects information from public websites and updates brand profiles regularly to maintain current data.

Performance analytics represent a significant component of the new brand profile system. Retailers with claimed profiles can access detailed insights about their brand's reach and audience demographics. According to the documentation, these insights include "metrics about your brand's reach, content performance, and audience demographics" accessible by selecting "Insights" from the brand profile interface.

The analytics dashboard provides five key measurement categories. Reach metrics determine "the number of individuals who search for your brand name and find your brand profile in search results." Age distribution data shows the age breakdown of profile visitors, while gender distribution displays demographic splits of individuals checking brand profiles. Location data identifies geographic regions where brand profiles appear, and language information reveals the languages spoken by the audience.

Access to demographic data depends on traffic volume. According to the documentation, "demographics data like age, gender, location, and language is only available if you have enough traffic to report on." This threshold requirement ensures privacy protection while providing meaningful analytics for businesses with sufficient search volume.

Administrative control operates through Business Manager integration, requiring super admin access for all management functions. According to the documentation, "only super admins can claim the brand profile and update the business info," with these administrators also managing "access to all applications connected in Business Manager." The system allows for ownership transfer by adding new super administrators and removing current ones.

The access management process involves navigating to the brand profile in Search results and selecting "More > Manage people & access" to reach the Business Manager interface. From there, administrators can add people with either "Super Admin Access" or "Individual App Access" permissions, with invitations sent via email to specified addresses.

Businesses can submit feedback for profile information they cannot directly manage through Google Search or Merchant Center. The feedback system allows users to search for specific brand profiles and submit suggestions through menu options or feedback buttons, though the documentation notes that "there's no guarantee that the information will be updated."

The brand profile system includes provisions for content removal under European data protection law and other legal frameworks. According to the documentation, businesses thinking "a brand profile should be removed under the European data protection law" can learn about European privacy requests, while other legal removal reasons can be reported through Google's content reporting system.

AI-generated descriptions represent another technical feature of the system. According to the documentation, "in some cases, AI can use the business' website to create a summary" as part of the multi-source information compilation process. This automated content generation supplements business-provided information to create comprehensive profile descriptions.

The implications for marketing professionals extend beyond basic business listing management. The centralized control over brand presentation in Search results provides direct influence over customer first impressions and purchasing decisions. Enhanced analytics capabilities enable data-driven decisions about brand positioning and customer engagement strategies.

Integration with existing Google advertising and merchant services creates opportunities for coordinated marketing approaches. Businesses already utilizing Google Ads, Shopping campaigns, or other Google marketing tools can now align their organic Search presence with paid advertising efforts through consistent brand messaging and visual presentation.

The gradual expansion of eligibility suggests Google's long-term strategy involves broader business participation in brand profile management. Current limitations to select e-commerce retailers indicate a controlled rollout designed to test system capabilities and gather feedback before wider implementation.

Technical requirements for API integration and Business Manager connectivity indicate that larger organizations and marketing technology vendors will need to adapt their tools and processes to accommodate the new brand profile management capabilities. This creates both implementation challenges and potential competitive advantages for businesses that successfully integrate the new features into their marketing operations.

The timing of this feature introduction aligns with broader industry trends toward centralized business information management and enhanced search result presentation. For marketing professionals, the brand profile system represents a new channel for controlling business representation and gathering customer insights within the Google ecosystem.

Timeline

2025 (Current Year)

2024

2023

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