Google brand profiles, store panels, Search profiles and your company's knowledge panel

A Google brand profile is the store-style panel that can appear when someone searches an online retailer's exact name. It can carry a store rating, shipping and returns, products and a short description, and select e-commerce retailers can claim it through Merchant Center.^6,7,9 It is different from a company knowledge panel, though both can appear in one box.

We call the box searchers see a store panel (Google calls it a merchant knowledge panel).²¹ This guide sets it beside the other things Google shows for companies, explains who controls each one, and points to the guides that cover the rest in depth.

Four things Google can show for a company

Four Google surfaces can describe a company, and parts of several can appear in one box. Each has its own sources and its own claim route. Other search engines aren't covered here; for Bing, see Bing knowledge panels for companies.

The Business Profile row has its own guide to telling a business knowledge panel apart from a Business Profile. In Google's help, a Business Profile is for businesses that serve customers face to face, a brand profile is for those that sell online, and a business with a shop and an online store is eligible for both.⁸

Store panels: what online retailers see

What a store panel shows

Observed on 2026-11-09: a search for “patagonia” returned the store layout in Figure 1. The numbered markers sit in a margin added beside the screenshot, and the notes under it explain each part.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Observed on 2026-11-09: the panel led with shopping details and showed no founder, CEO or headquarters rows, which our Nvidia and HubSpot captures did. Google announced this layout in November 2023: on certain retailer searches, in select countries, the knowledge panel would show deals, shipping and returns, customer service details, and ratings and reviews.²⁰

Google added that the panel “will also show for more merchants.”²⁰ The Patagonia example takes this panel apart field by field.

Where the store details come from

Google's brand profile help lists five kinds of source: Merchant Center, the business's own website and other credible sites, store ratings and other licensed data, suggestions from users and, in some cases, an AI summary of the website.⁹ It adds that Google reads the schema.org markup on the business's site.⁹

Our interpretation: Merchant Center feeds most of the store layout, so keeping it current is a retailer's main lever. For anything a merchant can't manage there, Google points to the Feedback link and says feedback is reviewed, with no promise of a change.⁹

What a Google brand profile is, and who can manage it

Google describes a brand profile as “a quick and informative display of your online presence” for an online business.⁶ It shows when someone searches only for the brand name, and Google aims it at customers anywhere, while a Business Profile serves a local area.^6,8

Our interpretation: “store panel” and “brand profile” describe one display from two sides. Google's Organization markup guide names the “merchant knowledge panel and brand profile” together, and Merchant Center files its brand profile article under a “Merchant knowledge panel” topic.^21,15 Google doesn't spell out where one ends and the other begins.

As of November 2026, these are Google's rules for managing one:

• Only select e-commerce retailers can claim a brand profile, and Google says eligibility will expand.⁷
• Only super admins can claim it, each business can be claimed once, and the business needs a verified Merchant Center account.⁷
• In Search, the claim starts from the “Manage this brand profile” button; if the button isn't there, Google says you aren't eligible. A verified Merchant Center account can also claim in Merchant Center.⁷
• Access runs through Business Manager. To hand over ownership, add the new person as a super admin, then remove yourself.¹²

Merchant Center also has a brand management page, in beta for invited merchants, for setting images, a description, a display name and a logo. Google reviews names and logos, which can take 5 to 7 business days.¹⁶

What a claimed brand profile lets you change

A claimed brand profile gives a business more direct control than a claimed company knowledge panel, especially over the description and images.

Our interpretation: if your company sells online and sees a store panel, the brand profile is the likelier place to change the description and images, while the knowledge panel claim matters more for company facts. The claim guide's table of claim prompts shows which button belongs to which product.

Merchant details you can mark up

Google documents a markup route too. According to its Organization structured data guide, merchants can influence more of the details in their “merchant knowledge panel and brand profile,” for example the return policy, address and contact details.²¹

The relevant properties are hasMerchantReturnPolicy, hasShippingService and hasMemberProgram, alongside address and contactPoint. Google recommends the most specific Organization subtype, such as OnlineStore for an e-commerce site.²¹

Return and shipping policy markup can appear “in knowledge panels in Search results,” and so can loyalty benefits, which show only in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, the UK and the US as of November 2026.^22,23,24

Markup comes last in Google's order of precedence, though. For return and shipping policies, Google ranks the Content API for Shopping first, then Merchant Center or Search Console settings, then product-level markup, then Organization-level markup.^22,23 For loyalty programs, Merchant Center settings win.²⁴

Search profiles: can a company get one?

Our interpretation: yes, but only through its brand's social following. Google's help describes no other route for companies, and the product is built around content, not company facts.

Search profiles launched on June 4, 2026, for publishers and creators, starting in the US.²⁵ As of November 2026, they are available in Canada, India and the US, and need an owner aged 18 or over with at least 10,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram, X or TikTok.^27,28 Google lowered the threshold to that level on September 16, 2026.²⁶

Brands are named. Google says that “a creator, publisher, or brand with a knowledge panel” may already have an auto-generated profile, and that an account meeting the follower rule can create one from scratch.²⁸

The profile stays separate from the panel. Managing a knowledge panel verifies your identity automatically, but the profile must still be claimed, by one Google Account with no admin roles.²⁸ Edits may show in the panel, which can take a few days to update, and Google says claiming “may trigger” a panel “for eligible publishers and creators.”^29,25

Our interpretation: claim a Search profile with an account the company controls, not an employee's personal account, because Google offers no way to add a second user.²⁸

How these relate to your company knowledge panel

Observed on 2026-11-09: the search “meta platforms” returned the store layout, with a rating, a “Top Quality Store” badge, delivery details and a Chat button. Below them sat a description credited to Wikipedia and seven fact rows, the module shown in Figure 2.

The rows covered founders, five executives and a president, as displayed on 9 November 2026: Knowledge Graph facts inside a merchant layout. The Meta example annotates the full panel.

Our interpretation: the store panel and the company knowledge panel are not rival boxes. In 2023, Google said that on certain retailer searches, the knowledge panel, which had shown facts like headquarters, would add shopping details.²⁰ Meta's panel combined the two.

In our reading, each part keeps its own route: company facts through the knowledge panel claim, store details through the brand profile and Merchant Center.^4,7

Our interpretation: in a mixed panel, the route that controls the description is unclear. A brand profile's default “From the web” description can itself come from Wikipedia, so a Wikipedia line doesn't settle it.¹⁰ Claiming one surface doesn't hand you the others; the only documented link is the identity check for Search profiles.²⁸

Which one to look at first

Start from the company's situation, not the look of the box. None of these routes creates a company knowledge panel on request: Google generates panels automatically and says it doesn't create them by hand.^2,3

A company that already has a panel can try to claim it and suggest changes, though not every panel is claimable.^1,4 If no panel appears at all, start with how a company gets a knowledge panel.