Google My Business is a free platform by Google where businesses can create a digital presence. It has tons of features to make managing your online presence easier. One of the best tools available is Google My Business Insights, but it does come with its curbs.
In this blog, we will explore Google My Business Insights and everything it covers under its umbrella while also looking at its limitations.
Table of Contents
What are GMB Insights?
Google my Business Insights is a tool that helps businesses track their online presence, like how users search for you, what actions do they take while looking at your listing, etc.
To access your Google My Business Insights, log in with your GMB account using your credentials and click on the ‘Main Menu’ > ‘Insights’ tab.
Don’t forget to read our blog on the “Top 7 ways to optimize your Google My Business profile.”
What does GMB show?
You will see the following pointers in the Insights page:
- How customers search for your business
- Where customers view your business on Google
- Customer actions
- Directions requests
- Phones calls
- Popular times
- Photos
How customers search for your business
The first data that will appear before you is how your customers search for your business. You can look for data dating from 1 week to 1 quarter ago. You will have three options next to the pie chart – Direct, Discovery, and Branded.
Direct
Direct search refers to customers who find your listing by typing in your business’ name or address directly.
Discovery
Discovery search refers to customers who find your business through searches like ‘salons near me.’ This falls under a particular category – product or service.
Branded
Branded search refers to customers who find your listing via brands related to your business.
Where customers view your business on Google
The data in this graph shows where your customers are viewing your business on Google. Whether it’s on the search page of Google or Google Maps. Depending on the higher amount of impressions, you can optimize your website for better ranking and traffic. E.g., If customers are looking for your listing on Google Maps, make sure to put in the right directions and address with basic information for their convenience.
Customer actions
As the name suggests, this graph shows you what exactly your audience is doing on your website. From browsing through your website to requesting directions or contacting you. You can click on each pointer and look for specific numbers to understand your customer’s interactions with your listing in a better way.
Directions requests
Below Customer Actions, you will find Direction Requests displaying exactly how many times a customer has requested directions to your listing. Since the requests show zip code, city, state, you can use this information to target your ads to that specific area.
Phones calls
Phone calls show you a graph that displays the number of times a customer has called your business via your Google My Business listing, and an additional option helps you know what time you receive the most calls from your customers.
Popular times
According to the graph, you can see when your listing is crowded with your audience during the day. The graph is updated on an hourly basis, and you can use this information to schedule updates and posts about your listing to draw attention and bring in more traffic.
Photos
Under this section, you will see Photos Views and Photo Quantity. The photo views graphs show the number of times a customer has viewed pictures from your listing or compared it to other listings. The photo quantity graph shows the total number of pictures appearing on your listing. Uploading pictures on your listing is a great way to bring in more traffic since customers usually refer to photos to understand a product better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is the purpose of Google My Business insights?
Google My Business Insights allows businesses to know how people are engaging with their Google Map Presence:
- How many people asked for directions to their hub, which could be indicative of footfalls
- How many people tried contacting through email or phone number.
- What people felt about their services
- At what times or for what keywords are their services the most searched for
Q2. How to check GMB post views?
Here’s how to check GMB post views:
- Access your Google My Business Account through the Business profile manager
- Now when you check each post through the admin account, you will see how many people viewed/clicked them.
Q3. Is Google My Business listing free?
Yes, this listing doesn’t cost anything. It’s absolutely free! But it would have time-consuming verification procedures in place, as Google doesn’t want shady businesses on its Maps.
Q4. How long do posts stay on Google My Business?
How long your post stays on Google My Business will heavily depend on what type of content it is:
- What’s New and Offer type of posts will be active for 7 days.
- Product Posts will be live till the time you decide to remove them.
- Event posts will be active from the time you posted them up until the scheduled date.
- And a COVID-19 related post will stay live for 14 days.
