Google Business Profile Posts: How Often and What to Post

What Google says posts are for

Google's help page on creating and managing posts says posts let you share announcements, offers, updates and event details with customers on Search and Maps, and that these updates help customers decide whether to visit. Posts can carry text, photos or videos. Customers find them in the Updates or Overview tab of the profile on mobile, and in the "From the owner" section on a computer.

There are three types:

• Updates share information about the business. You can add a description, a photo or video, and a button. Google says the button should send customers to a website where they can finish the action, such as booking or ordering.
• Offers promote a sale or deal. They need a title, dates and a time, and they show a View Offer button automatically. You can add a coupon code, a link, and terms.
• Events promote something happening at your business. They need a title and start and end dates and times. If you give no start or end time, Google shows the event as lasting 24 hours on the event dates.

Every post is reviewed against Google's content policy before it goes live. While it is Pending it does not show on Search or Maps, and a post marked Not approved will not show until you fix what broke the policy.

Do old posts hurt a profile?

Google does not say that a stale post lowers your ranking, and nothing in its local ranking guidance refers to posts at all. Claims that Google applies a "freshness" penalty after a set number of days do not appear in its documentation.

What Google does document is the archive rule. Posts older than 6 months are archived unless the post has a date range. A profile that stops posting therefore ends up with an empty "From the owner" section. For a customer deciding between two restaurants at lunchtime, a profile with this week's special says more than one with nothing. That is a customer problem before it is a ranking problem, and it is cheap to fix.

How often to post

Match the post type to what is happening in the business. A guide we use with restaurants:

Post type	When to use it	Pace
Update	A new dish, a changed menu, a holiday opening schedule, a new booking link.	Whenever something changes, and at least once a month.
Offer	A dated promotion with a start and an end.	For each promotion, scheduled to start before the day it applies.
Event	Live music, a tasting, a set-menu night, a workshop.	A week or two ahead, with real start and end times.

Google lets you schedule a post and set it to repeat weekly, monthly or on a custom schedule. One sitting a month can load the next four weeks. Check the calendar again on the day, because a scheduled post for a dish that sold out helps nobody.

What a good post contains

Google's own tips are specific. Add a descriptive title, event start and end times, and offer details. Keep it professional, without misspellings, extra characters or auto-generated filler. Only link to websites you trust. Keep content family-friendly. Edit a post if the details change.

A few rules catch people out:

• A post with a phone number in its description may be rejected if Google cannot connect the number to your business. Google's policy suggests a Call now button, which uses the verified number on your profile.
• Hotels cannot create offer posts.
• Businesses in regulated industries, which Google says usually include alcohol, can use posts but should not include content about the regulated products.

A made-up example of a useful Update for a restaurant: the title names the dish, the text says which days it runs and what comes with it, the photo is of the real plate, and the button goes to the booking page. Nothing in it needs the words "best" or "top".

Posts are one signal among several

A profile gets chosen on distance, relevance and prominence, as Google's ranking page says. Posts do not replace reviews, a correct category or accurate hours. If you want to see how the pieces fit, read how Google Maps ranking works and how customers find a business. The glossary has a short entry on Google posts, and the location pages for Manila and the Philippines cover the wider work.

How to tell whether posting is worth the time

Open the performance report in your profile. Google defines these measures as the number of times customers clicked the call button, asked for directions, or clicked the website link, plus bookings that a third-party provider records. Note the weeks you post and the weeks you do not, and compare them over several months. You will not prove cause from this, because many things move at once, but a post that is followed by no change in website clicks over a long run is a reason to change what you write.

If you would like help setting up a posting routine, talk to LocalEnhance.