Google Posts have descended from the SEO heavens (aka Google), providing us with a great Google My Business tool that is basically a form of free branded advertisement! Google Posts allow you to transform your business search engine results into something that can be really impactful for prospective and returning clients alike. This video-supported blog dives into all things Google Posts. Below, video 1 (Google Posts – Intro) introduces you to Google Posts—the purpose, their looks, etc.—and video 2 (Google Posts – Implementation) shows you how to implement Google Posts. This article is meant to supplement the videos. With this, I encourage you to watch the videos and read this article. Enjoy!

The Purpose (Why, Google? Why?)

For a long time Google has encouraged businesses to take advantage of the Google My Business (GMB) platform and to be as engaged with it as possible—this includes posting photos, responding to Google reviews, and posting updated business information (e.g. hours, etc.). Owning and managing this listing can get you into the Local Pack, which helps you show up in some of the top search results for specific keywords.

With Google Posts, businesses are now able to engage with customers in an explicitly beneficial way: by showing in essence a free, branded advertisement to promote a product, event, promotion, or even just more information about their business. This, finally, is the first incentive (other than ranking higher in Google) that businesses have had to use the GMB platform. In Google’s mind, this will keep business owners/managers frequenting GMB often, and ensure they’re posting updated information.

Google Posts Expire After 7 Days

All posts that are not made into an event expire after 7 days. Any post that is made into an event (an event itself, or a promotion) expire after the event date. There is currently no scheduling tool within the platform to schedule posts in advance—this means a new post must be made at least every 7 days. This lack of scheduling tool, to me, is a perfect example of how Google is attempting to keep businesses coming back into their GMB profiles to regularly update them.

Implementation Of Google Posts

Implementing a Google Post is surprisingly a very easy task. Along with reviews, photos, and listing insights, Google Posts can be managed through the Google My Business dashboard. The steps include:

• Step 1: Sign in to Google My Business.
• Step 2: Click “Manage Location” in card view, or the blue GMB icon in list view.
• Step 3: Click on “Posts” in the left sidebar menu.
• Step 4: Create your post.

I strongly encourage the use of an image to create a more captivating Google Post. We haven’t done any research into CTR of Posts that include an image versus those that don’t—it is purely speculation at this point. However, images can easily attract more attention in this format (see for yourself in the intro video above, if you haven’t watched it yet). Note that there are image size constraints, but that’s an easy adjustment that can be made with any image tool (e.g. Preview, Photoshop, etc.).

Analytics – Tracking Your Google Posts

Tracking Google Posts is vital; it lets you to see the success of a Post. This also allows you to check conversion rates of certain promotions, etc. Though, be cautious with analyzing these results, because this only shows on branded advertisements (i.e. it’s limited to people already searching for your brand). Within Google Posts, you’ll be able to see an eye icon which signals how many “impressions” the Post has received. In other words, how many people have scrolled past the Post (not necessarily how many people have actually viewed the Post). You’ll also see a number for how many people have engaged with the post. Nevertheless, it’s important to also track these data and clickthrough rates through Google Analytics for more accurate results and deeper understanding.

This can easily be done using Google’s URL Builder, which creates a UTM code. Once the UTM code is crafted for that URL, you should implement the URL into the button section of your Google Post. This will track all visits to your website from the Google Posts. This data can be viewed within Google Analytics under the “source/medium” section.

In Conclusion, Google Posts Are The Coolest Thing On The Block

Google Posts are a revolutionary tool for your brand, business, and overall digital marketing goals. They benefit Google My Business’s mission to get owners into the platform more frequently, while also providing a pretty cool incentive and tool for owners to take advantage of. Wpromote is actively performing several case studies, and the early results are promising. Check back and stay up to date with our blog for more information about Google Posts!

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