If you’ve noticed a decline in your Google Business Profile (GBP) metrics and wondered why your Google profile views have decreased, don’t worry. This dip is a result of a recent Google API update that aims to improve data integrity and provide accurate local search terms for businesses. Let’s explore the changes in Google Business Profile performance insights..
Understanding Google Business Profile Insights
GBP Insights provide valuable data on a business’s local search performance, including profile views, searcher behavior, and interaction patterns. Unlike other free Google tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics, GBP Insights focus specifically on local search presence and performance.
By regularly monitoring local performance, businesses can gain insights into their local search trends across mobile and desktop platforms. This includes understanding how often specific search terms lead to their Business Profile.
The platform also offers various search-based metrics to measure customer engagement and performance, making it a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes, from small companies to large multi-location brands.
Decoding the Changes in Google Business Profile Insights
Google recently made changes to its APIs, affecting how it defines specific metrics on GBP, such as profile views, searches, and direction requests. This update aims to enhance the quality of data available on GBP.
As a result, Google removed certain data points from the Business Profile performance insights dashboard, including post views and clicks, query volumes grouped by direct, brand, and discovery, and views across user-uploaded photos. Consequently, businesses will have reduced visibility into the performance of their Posts and photos.
However, businesses will still have access to map views (desktop and mobile), search views (desktop and mobile), website clicks, call clicks, driving direction clicks, and keyword queries.
The most significant change is that previously, if a business profile appeared on Search or Maps, it would count as a view. If a customer clicked on a GBP to check reviews and then clicked ‘directions,’ it would count as two additional views. Now, all these interactions are considered a single unique user interaction within a 24-hour period. This means you may see a decrease in profile views compared to previous periods, but the data provides a more accurate representation of customer interactions.
What to Expect?
With Google’s new API update, your Google Insights page will now provide a search breakdown, allowing you to see the specific search terms that led customers to your GBP. This data presents an excellent opportunity to gain insights into your search engine optimization (SEO) and the keywords driving traffic to your business.
You can also expect new insightful customer interactions, including:
- Business Bookings: Number of bookings received from the business profile
- Food Orders: Number of food orders received from the business profile
- Business Conversations: Number of unique conversations received through the business profile
Stay ahead of the curve by understanding these changes and leveraging them to your advantage. With Pandor Marketing by your side, we’ll help you navigate these changes and optimize your digital marketing strategy.
