Google removes post views, CTA, and search analytics from Google Business

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Questions answered in this article:

• Why have my Google Business views and direction requests dropped?
• Why can't I see the number of views on my posts or pictures?

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Google Business Profile Analytics

As a business owner, you want to know how your customers are finding and interacting with your business online. That's where Google Business Profile Analytics comes in. This powerful tool provides you with insights into how customers are engaging with your business profile on Google, including data on clicks, calls, and directions requests.

But did you know that Google has updated its Business Profile Analytics tool to help you gain even more valuable insights into your business's online performance? In this blog post, we'll look at the latest updates to Google Business Profile Analytics and how they can help you optimize your online presence and attract more customers to your business.

What is Google Business Analytics?

Google Business Profile Analytics is a powerful tool for business owners, providing valuable insights into how customers are interacting with their business profile on Google. With this tool, you can track a variety of analytics, including the number of views your profile receives on Google Search and Google Maps, as well as customer actions such as website clicks, phone calls, and direction requests. You can also see the number of reviews your business has received and your overall star rating, as well as the search terms customers are using to find your business on Google. 

‍Changes to insights data in Google Business profiles

‍As per Google’s Deprecation schedule, Google has removed data regarding local post views, CTA actions, maps, and search impressions from the analytics page. We gathered the most important details to be aware of. Removing the analytics as a part of Google’s update in their Business Profile API. Businesses that use Google’s API should consider migrating to the new Business Profile Performance API.

In addition to the previously mentioned features that are being removed, there are a few more that will no longer be available on Google Business Profile Analytics. 

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Among them are the following: 

• Specific search queries (Brand, Discovery, and Direct), which will be replaced by information from Google Search and Google Maps organized by platform (Mobile and Desktop).
  

• Views on images uploaded by merchants and customers, 

This implies that businesses won't have access to the same information on direct and indirect search queries as well as how their Posts and images are performing.

The removal of these features and analytics is set to take effect on February 20th, 2023. Some businesses may already be experiencing a loss of these analytics in their profiles.

How is this affecting my performance tracking?

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The removal of these analytics is going to have an impact on how businesses can track the performance of their Google Business Profiles. Although many metrics are going away, essential metrics are still available for measurement.

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Some of the metrics that still are available

• Overall profile views.
• Device views.
• Top keywords.
• Amount of website visits through the profile.
• Amount of bookings and menu views*
• Amount of calls made from profile.

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*Available for restaurants.

New Google Business Insight metrics

While some metrics are going away, we are also getting some new ones. With the new metrics, businesses will be able to more precisely monitor the performance of their product sections and add images that show on their food menus.

Changes to view and direction request metrics 

New changes in the view metrics from aggregated to unique views and unique direction requests might result in a drop in the total number. 

Google has made changes to the way it measures views and direction request metrics, which may be the reason for a drop in your views or direction requests in 2023. The new measurement method now counts each unique view instead of every view of a profile, even if the same user views it multiple times in one day. This means that if a user views a profile three times a day, it will only be counted as a single view.

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Although this may cause the reported number of views to drop significantly, it provides businesses with a more accurate representation of how many people are actually viewing their local listings. The change enables businesses to better understand potential customers' behavior and interests by providing more granular insights into the number of unique views. By examining the unique views, businesses can identify trends in customer behavior, which can help them optimize their local listings for increased visibility and engagement. Additionally, businesses can be more confident that the views reported are coming from unique users, which may help them make more informed decisions about their local listing optimization strategies.

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Product section analytics

Product section analytics have been in the discussions around different forums for a while, and now Google is finally releasing analytics for them. With this feature, businesses can measure which products are viewed and clicked the most and build better product sections and improve their customer journeys with that information.

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Product analytics are already showing in some profiles, but most still have an empty space in their Business Profile Performance.

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Images in food menus on Google

For the images in the food menus, Google has already allowed uploading images to food menus for a while. The photos will be shown in the profiles when browsing the menu. Previously, the images were only uploaded to the image section of the profile.

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Now customers can see the photos of the business's food while scrolling through the menu, granted that the business is utilizing the feature and uploading high-quality images onto their business profile food menus.

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Google encourages businesses to upload images to their food menus to "increase dish views."