David Hunter — July 26, 2019 — July 26, 2019
With Google My Business Insights, you are getting an in-depth look as to how people are finding your business listing in local search. Business owners who utilize these GMB insight reports have a huge advantage over those that do not, as these reports give a great deal of information that can be used to optimize Google My Business listings. Learn about all GMB Insights and how you, as a business owner, can use them to your advantage.
GMB Listing Views
“How customers find your listing” will be the first graph you see when entering the insights tab in Google My Business. This graph not only shows you how many customers have found your business but also how they found it based on their search. There are three different methods that a user could have used to find your business in local search: direct searches, discovery searches, and branded searches.
- Direct search occurs when a user directly searches Google for your business name or location. This type of search is most popular in cases where the customer is already familiar with your business.
- Discovery search is when your business appears on a search engine results page (SERP) based on the search of a category, product, or offered service similar to yours.
- Branded search happens when a customer searches for your brand or a brand related to your business.
It is important to note that if a user finds your business through more than one of these different methods, they would be counted multiple times, once for each method used.
Local Search Queries
Search queries are a great way to see which search terms customers are using to come across your business listing. This is useful when it comes to optimizing your website content, as well as creating better Google Posts and even Ads to engage new and existing customers. Queries can be viewed in time segments from the last week, month or quarter. It is important to check these as often as possible to see which search terms are trending and ultimately which terms you should be utilizing.
GMB Listing Views on Maps vs. Search
Google gives users two ways of finding your business: via Google Search listings or Google Maps listings. This section of the insights report shows which method encourages the most views on your business listing.
It is important to note that the light orange data is a total of both the listing on maps and the listing on search. For example, in the image below, even though the graph looks like it says 125 views on search, it is actually just the 50 added to the 75 views on maps. For easier viewing, check only one option at a time on the right-hand side.
GMB User Engagement
The “Customer Actions” graph allows business owners to see a full report on how many users visited their website, requested directions, or called the business. It is essentially a way to follow how your customers are engaging with your business after finding it on Google. If engagement seems low for your business, it may be a good indicator that something within your GMB listing can be improved.
Similar to the “Where Customers Find You on Google” insights, the totals of each section are added together, making the totals a bit misleading. For easier viewing, check only one option at a time on the right-hand side. The following two Insight reports dive deeper into direction requests and phone calls.
GMB Direction Requests
GMB Direction Request Insights shows you the area where customers are requesting directions from. Having this information can help business owners optimize their website and GMB listings more locally to the areas they seem to be most popular in.
GMB Phone Calls
GMB Direction Request Insights shows you the area where customers are requesting directions from. Having this information can help business owners optimize their website and GMB listings more locally to the areas they seem to be most popular in.
GMB Photos
GMB Photo Views and Photo Quantity are the only insights that compare your total photo views and amount to the competitors around you. Unlike the graphs of requested directions and phone calls, the Photo Views graph does not add the two data points together, giving an accurate view of the totals when looking at them at the same time. The comparison of competitors will only appear if there are enough businesses like yours in your area. If there are not, you will just see a graph of your business’ photo views and quantity.
Get the Scoop with Google My Business
These seven insight reports offered by Google give your business information about what you are doing with your listing versus what your competitors are doing with theirs. This is a huge advantage because taking the information presented by the Google My Business insight reports and making changes based on what you see will help ensure visible results for your business.
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