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Unlock Insights and Easily See How People View Your Business on Google

Google provides you with helpful insights on how people interact with your business listing – even if they don’t visit your website! See how you can unlock these free insights and use them to your advantage.

Author: Jeremy Harrison

September 15, 2021

Last article I talked about how local businesses who claim their Google My Business listings seem to have an edge over bigger brands in search results.

This time, I’m going to show you another huge benefit of claiming your Google listing:

Google provides you with helpful insights on how people interact with your business listing – even if they don’t visit your website! – and how you can use this to your advantage.

Let’s jump right in and I’ll get you up to speed.

Every month Google sends me an e-mail similar to the following (for all of the Google My Business accounts I manage):

Google My Business Insights E-mail

Cool, right? You get a quick snapshot of valuable information sent directly to your e-mail from Google. As you can see, Google is showing you how many times your business has been found, and the resulting actions people took, along with a comparison from the previous month.

Simply armed with the information above, you’ve got access to actionable insights that are completely invisible to businesses who have failed to claim their Google My Business listing!

Low on phone calls? Adjust your listing to encourage people to call you.
Low on website visits? Consider including an additional link in your profile to one or two pages on your site you know would entice people to visit your website.

But to really provide examples what you can do with this information, I want to quickly show you what happens when you click on the “SEE FULL REPORT” link in the e-mail image above.

Guess what? You get even more helpful insights in a full report! (Thanks, captain obvious! 🙂 ) 

Here’s the first chart, showing you how customers searched for a real business*:

Direct vs Discovery Searches in Google My Business Insights

*data will vary slightly from the first image above due to me viewing the full report several days after Google’s e-mail.

“Direct” searches are a good indicator of the health of your branding. Do people know your business well enough to search for you specifically? This chart helps you figure that out (i.e., a search for “Spire Advertising”).

“Discovery” searches are a good indicator of your SEO and content efforts. How well are you reaching people who have never heard of you but are searching for products/services similar to what you have to offer (i.e., a search for “ad agency in ashland ohio”)?

*Pro Tip* – I like to have a healthy mix of “Direct” and “Discovery” searches – close to 50/50 if possible, so I know I’m reaching a good mix of new visitors but also have a strong brand presence online. If your chart is heavily weighted one way or the other, you’ll want to make some adjustments to your content or advertising.

The second chart shows where people are seeing your business in search results:

Search vs Maps Google Business Insights

Is being on Google Maps worth it? Don’t most people just find me via a simple Google search? This chart helps you answer those questions – and you’ll likely be shocked by your results. Check out the data above from a real business. Do you see that nearly ⅓ of the people searching are interacting with their Maps listing?

That’s pretty significant. Consider the information that shows up in a Maps listing:

  • Location & Directions
  • Phone Number
  • Hours of Operation
  • Reviews
  • Photos & Videos
  • Industry Categories
  • Website Links…

… and more.

Without claiming your business and keeping it up to date, all of the information above is at the mercy of random web viewers, customers, or even competitors.

Finally, the chart below showing ACTIONS people are taking after seeing this listing:

Customer Actions in Google My Business Insights

This is a good example because you can see the actions are evenly spread out. However, if you were to find one of these possible actions falling significantly behind, you’d know what you might want to fix. For example, let’s say you’re not getting phone calls. You could try making sure you have a local number listed instead of an 800 number, or in your business description actually asking people to call.

There are additional charts and data points available when you view your Google My Business Insights, but I’ll let you create your account to find out what else is included in your dashboard. 🙂

Get Started and Get Ahead

Remember that all of this data is completely invisible to any business out there who hasn’t yet claimed their Google My Business account. If that’s you, I’d highly suggest claiming your account today. It’s a free Google resource that gives you a ton of helpful tools to make your business stand out.

Questions? Let me know in the comments below!


To learn more about what tools you could be using, be sure to download the 47-Point Local Growth Checklist Jeremy put together for local small business leaders!

Grab the secrets we used to rapidly scale our local service business in rural Ohio. Get it here »


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