Are GMB Posts Still Working For You?

[JoyHawkins]

I am a huge fan of Google Posts but lately we have found that since Google moved them to the bottom of the Knowledge Panel we are seeing clicks on them decrease a lot. For example, this is an attorney we have been doing posts for since September. You can see the trending decline in clicks from the GMB Posts to his website.

We were doing posts that encouraged people to book an appointment and found that clicks to the Appointment URL have also decreased at the same time period. This graph shows clicks to the appointment URL.

Since this strategy seems to be less effective than it used to be, I'm curious to know if you guys are experiencing the same thing or if anyone has found other strategies with Posts that seem to be working well now? Please list examples and the industry you're working with. I'd also love to see data if you can share!

 

[Dan Foland]

I'm noticing a decline in views and clicks on my end too. We work with attorneys and law firms and have seen a decrease all over the board.

Views and clicks have decreased roughly 50-60%. We've stopped using Google Posts all together for some of our clients. The results often aren't worth our time.

Though, I imagine other more impulse driven industries (local shops, restaurants etc.) see a better ROI.

 

[Brian Barwig]

The views on my posts have been similar to past campaigns, though interactions are way down. Glad to see it's not just my clients.

 

[Phil Rozek]

Same here. The drop in clicks started when Posts moved to the bottom of the knowledge panel.

That's why I've doubled down on my expiration-date workaround, so we can put up a post and just let it simmer, and not have to conjure up a new one every 7 days.

 

[nmosier]

Hi Joy.

I've definitely noticed a drop as well. The biggest impact I've seen is on a multi-location eye care site. 68% drop in sessions from posts Oct-Nov compared to Aug - Sept. 100% drop in appointment request form completions.

 

[Rosa]

definitely noticed a drop. Our clients used to average 70-80 views per week. now we are down to 1-10 views.

 

[Diogo Ordacowski]

@JoyHawkins - I filtered my GA to Google Posts only. Here's July - Dec 2018. I am seeing the trend you're seeing and the steep drop off matches your September 27 2018 update perfectly.

These are for hundreds of locations under the "apartment building, apartment complex, etc" category so it's fairly controlled. For sure, these businesses have not seen as great Google Posts sourced traffic as they did pre Sept 27.

 

[mattheffner]

I've noticed a similar drop as well for clients although our approach was more focused on growing or maintaining rankings on key search terms and it does seem to still have a moderate effect on that. Is anyone tracking whether it's still helping to boost rankings at all?

 

[vivekrpatel]

We are experiencing similar to our law firm, dental clinic client as well as to our own marketing firm. We have been doing only blog post and since Google moved them to the bottom of the Knowledge Panel we are seeing fewer clicks.

I think, there can be a plenty of reasons, post quality, keep updating only blog posts, etc. Providing nothing new to users.

As I'm a huge fan of GMB post and to make this strategy most effective I've started updating a post with different content ideas to let the users know what we are doing (apart from the blog post). Just like: Upcoming activities or recently completed activity, featuring our employee who is with us for a long, job opening, birthday celebration, indoor/outdoor game, who has joined our company, etc.

I'm hoping to see changes in the next couple of months.

 

[BenFisher]

I have not seen a drastic change, although we have been posting 4-5 times a week for clients, and are seeing some great results. However, I do want to mention, I have seen that Google is testing moving the location of posts back to the top Google Testing Posts and Description Position in Local Finder. | Local Search Forum

 

[Jason Stovall]

I have not seen a drastic change, although we have been posting 4-5 times a week for clients, and are seeing some great results. However, I do want to mention, I have seen that Google is testing moving the location of posts back to the top Google Testing Posts and Description Position in Local Finder. | Local Search Forum

Did this happen recently? Most of my local b2c associates have not seen this yet, then again most of them are in small mom and pops eateries?

 

[BenFisher]

I started to see this on Thanksgiving, mostly in the music school category and I think Insurance.

 

[JohnS]

@JoyHawkins - definitely seeing a decline. So I am playing with adding sale events in the photo section with some clients. The photos appear higher up then the Posts do now.

 

[Bryan Bloom]

Same here. The drop in clicks started when Posts moved to the bottom of the knowledge panel.

That's why I've doubled down on my expiration-date workaround, so we can put up a post and just let it simmer, and not have to conjure up a new one every 7 days.

Hi Phil... expiration date workaround??

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Bryan Bloom, I try not to plop down links here, but here's the workaround I alluded to: Google My Business Posts Shelf-Life Hack: How to Keep Your Posts from Expiring Soon | LocalVisibilitySystem.com

 

[JohnS]

@Phil Rozek All I have used this year is Event posts with call-to-actions. Especially helpful with multiple locations so you don't have to change them every 7 days. Unfortunately, now that they are located at the bottom it is hurting the CTR.

Personally, I don't understand Google's thinking on this. What customer wants their sale events posted below the fold on their website?

 

[Rasmus Himmelstrup]

We saw a decline in sessions from GMB posts in August 2018 and again as noted in October. However we are seeing a slight increase in the first weeks of January.

This is a retailer and data is across 70 locations.