Google is now rolling out new performance reports within the Google My Business Insights section. These new reports have been a long time coming, with tip-offs of it back in August 2020 and then again last month. But now, these reports are finally live for you to access and test out folks!

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is the free local business directory that allows you to showcase your business online. It’s your virtual storefront and is very important for your business to appear in local online searches and on maps. It contains contact information, business details and other valuable information that should entice customers to your business.

Where does your listing appear?

When you search for a business on Google, the listed URLs on the left-hand side that you’re used to seeing is called the search engine results page (SERP). The section on the right-hand side will either be blank or contain a Google My Business listing. Find an example as below.

To access the new reports, here are the instructions that Google provided:

  1. Make sure you’re signed in with the account you used to sign up for Google My Business.
  2. To find your Business Profile, search on Google for your exact business name.
  3. If needed, select View profile to manage your Business Profile.
  4. Select Promote > Performance.
  5. At the top of the page, select a date range for your report and click Apply.

Then when you click on “See new profile performance,” you should see a screen that looks like this:

What the metrics mean?

The metrics given here show you the number of calls and messages you get within a 6-month timeframe. The data is also plotted month by month by Google. Beneath that, also shows you the search term that searchers use to find your Google business listing in Google search and Google Maps.

Unfortunately, the new Insights report doesn’t include stats like website clicks and triggered routes, nor does it show you if searchers found you on Google Search vs. Google Maps, as the Google Insights report does. The reports also do not show the views of photos, the quality of those photos, and other previous metrics available in the old performance report.

What this means for marketers?

The positive is that these new performance reports gives you a 6 months’ data, which is twice as long as the 3 months of data we received hitherto. But the new report still misses key data points, as mentioned above.

This seems like an early release, and I hope when it comes time for Google to replace the insights report with the performance report, all the data points are migrated over to the new platform. I trust that they would continuously improve this as usual.  

If you need any help with improving your online visibility and navigating Google’s platforms, our organic and paid search experts can help. Get in touch today, so we can discuss what you need. Thank you!

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