Mastering GMB Insights – 5 Key Metrics Every Local Business Should Monitor

Google’s GMB (Google My Business) profiles allow businesses of all sizes to reach consumers searching for their products, services, or locations. The profiles also showcase business information, photos, Google Posts, and customer reviews.

Depending on the location, an existing profile may exist and need to be claimed. Here’s how to do that.

Clicks

Knowing how searchers found your business is key to improving your local strategy. GMB insights break this down by direct searches (searches that include your business name or address), branded searches, and discovery searches — each of which can be viewed in detail in the left-hand menu under “Views on Google Search and Maps.” Direction requests and calls are also included.

For home service providers, clicks can indicate that potential customers are ready to call or book an appointment. This metric can also help you gauge the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by comparing clicks to impressions, as a high number of clicks indicates interest in your ads.

Similarly, food businesses can keep an eye on their online order volume, helping them identify peaks and troughs in traffic. Keeping an eye on this can help you plan menu updates and other marketing campaigns to encourage growth during busier times while identifying the need for new equipment or staff during quieter ones.

Conversions

For businesses that use Google’s messaging feature to communicate with customers (to chat, request directions, or book appointments), this metric tracks the number of unique messages received. Monitoring this metric can help you identify the topics your audiences are most interested in so you can add relevant FAQs to your site.

This is an important metric to track, as a strong conversion rate can save you money on advertising campaigns by allowing you to reach more people with your budget. Conversely, a weak conversion rate can indicate areas of your website or business that need to be improved. A few simple improvements can boost your conversion rates and give your marketing strategy a big bang for the buck.

Visits

The visits section in GMB insights combines data from website actions (customers visiting your site) and phone call actions (customers calling your business). This metric is very important to monitor as it will give you an idea of how many visitors are coming to your physical location and potentially making sales.

You can also view how your listing is found online by tracking the searches leading to your page. This metric will help you understand what keywords and phrases people use to find your business and help you target advertising campaigns.

Another useful insight is the direction requests insights that track the general areas where your customers request directions from your business. This is helpful as it can identify specific neighborhoods where you may want to focus marketing efforts. It will also tell you how far away your customers are requesting directions from your business, allowing you to tailor your advertising strategy better accordingly. It will also show you how many photo views your business has compared to similar businesses.

Reviews

A strong online review profile is important to any local marketing strategy. Consumers are more likely to trust a business that has a high number of reviews. This is a key metric to monitor in GMB Insights, and it can help you gauge the success of your GMB optimization efforts, particularly when converting searches into customers.

Another important metric is the average review score. This measures your overall rating on Google Search and Maps and is a key factor in converting potential customers. The more you prioritize customer satisfaction, the better your average rating will be.

Finally, the last metric to look at is total searches. This is the number of people who viewed your GMB listing in search. This is a good metric to track over time and can help identify seasonal consumer trends. This metric also allows you to see what search terms your listing shows up for. This can be a helpful way to optimize your listing by targeting specific keywords and creating relevant content for those searches.

Phone Calls

In a digital age where many customers prefer to email or text, phone calls remain one of the most important ways businesses connect with their customers. Callers often need reassurance or have questions that can’t be addressed through a written message. Telephone communication allows businesses to add a human touch and build customer loyalty.

Using GMB Insights to track the number of calls and driving directions requests you receive can help you measure the success of your local marketing strategy. For example, if you see an increase in GMB Insights click-to-call and Google Analytics visits but low actual traffic to your store, it may be time to invest in new business signage or a better mobile website.

It’s also important to understand the times of day that most of your searchers are looking at your listings, which you can find by interpreting your “Views on Maps” and “Maps views” metrics in GMB Insights. This information can help you plan when to target your ads based on when most people are searching for your services.