Impact on GMB profile on traffic

[HoosierBuff]

Hi All,

Thought I would share a data point as an FYI.

I had a client in a very rural area that does Garage doors. They did not have a GMB profile so we created one.

As expected - when the GMB profile went live, traffic to the site went down. They went from an average of 100 visits per week to an average of 60 visits per week. The GMB profile averaged roughly 140 "listings on search" per week.

always interesting to see this happen live.

My conclusions:
1. The GMB profile definitely steals traffic to the site, it could be as much as 40%
2. The GMB profile was reported as having 140 views in search per week.

Undetermined if, net of everything, the client came out ahead. Site traffic before was 100 with zero GMB views, and then went to 60, with 140 GMB views.

I'd have to think they are ahead, but, the data doesn't tell that story as is.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Is that graph "All Users" (e.g., all traffic sources)? Just trying to make sure there wasn't a different segment applied.

 

[Scott Bassano]

It could be interesting to compare phone calls pre and post.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Unless you're using a segment, shouldn't GMB traffic be counted in "organic" in GA?

If not and there's no place for GMB traffic in GA (which is really surprising to me), we "recover" it through UTM's.

Maybe I'm missing something here. If I am, my bad.

 

[HoosierBuff]

I used all users for the traffic data because they don't really have any other major sources, its all direct and organic. . . I never trust how they might count GMB traffic in GA, so I felt this was conservative.

Would have loved to have phone calls, and UTM tracking but, we didn't set that up.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

I don't think the drop in traffic was because of the GMB page.

 

[HoosierBuff]

I don't think the drop in traffic was because of the GMB page.

Really? I'm intrigued, but, that seems inconceivable. . . think about the scenario:

Person searches for Random, Rural Garage Door Company by name

Pre GMB: The only search result is/are the company pages that appear #1 and #2 in Google (and other citation sites below it). No GMB at all. If a person wants the phone number, they have to click on the website

Post GMB: When the company is searched by name the GMB profile shows up, dominates the page, and has the phone number and other info right there.

not only that, the drop in organic traffic seems to tie directly to the rise in GMB traffic.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Oh, you're not saying that GA doesn't report traffic through GMB clicks. You meant that they're getting the info they need right there (phone, hours, address, etc.) and not clicking through to the website period?

Yeah, that makes total sense.

You could verify it by looking at GSC search terms report and see if there is a drop in clicks for branded terms.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

You do need to tag that URL with UTMs to get a better reading of how many people are actually coming from that page. I see GMB often get categorized into direct/(none) and once the parameters are live; that's usually the first drop I see.

I can definitely believe a traffic drop occurred because of GMB. Like @HoosierBuff mentioned, it's one less step to get what they really need... a phone number. Most people in a small town with a garage door issue will usually pick up the phone and call.

As long as total lead volume didn't drop, then everything should be good.

What kind of performance are you being measured on?

 

[Zhivko]

My conclusions:
1. The GMB profile definitely steals traffic to the site, it could be as much as 40%
2. The GMB profile was reported as having 140 views in search per week.

I can confirm, a GMB listing causes traffic to drop. People just rarely click on the link to the site. They find all the information they need right there in the GMB.

Undetermined if, net of everything, the client came out ahead. Site traffic before was 100 with zero GMB views, and then went to 60, with 140 GMB views.

I wish GMB Insights showed us more detailed and accurate information so we can actually be sure of this.

 

[Bernadette Coleman]

Hi All,

Thought I would share a data point as an FYI.

I had a client in a very rural area that does Garage doors. They did not have a GMB profile so we created one.

As expected - when the GMB profile went live, traffic to the site went down. They went from an average of 100 visits per week to an average of 60 visits per week. The GMB profile averaged roughly 140 "listings on search" per week.

always interesting to see this happen live.

My conclusions:
1. The GMB profile definitely steals traffic to the site, it could be as much as 40%
2. The GMB profile was reported as having 140 views in search per week.

Undetermined if, net of everything, the client came out ahead. Site traffic before was 100 with zero GMB views, and then went to 60, with 140 GMB views.

I'd have to think they are ahead, but, the data doesn't tell that story as is.

To that point, I recently read where the statistics say that 61.5% of every 100 mobile searches were zero click and 34.3% of every 100 desktop searches were zero click. So fewer searchers are clicking through, only about 66%. So your numbers look spot on.

 

[Cherie Dickey]

This makes sense to me - especially in a rural area where competition is low, word of mouth business is high, and folks likely are already looking for (or are familiar with) a specific business when they search.

I also would be interested to know if the client is receiving the same amount of actual phone calls as before. I'd wager they may be receiving more. As long as there is no GMB showing in the map pack, even when the website is ranking #1, the majority of "service + city" searches will choose ads or map pack results before clicking on organic. Folks finding what they are looking for with the GMB already know what they are looking for - you also want to attract new business though, and you're missing out on that when there is no GMB.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Did the customer give you any feedback to what happened to their lead volume? I know you mentioned you didn't have call tracking in place but did the business notice any change?

 

[Justin Mosebach]

I agree with @JoyHawkins. If the business didn't notice a difference in leads, it might simply mean that users are finding answers to their questions faster (in the SERP, rather than on the site). The business owner is going to care about getting the lead, not if the lead came directly from the SERP or from the website.

(It pains me to say that as an SEO, because that means it's more difficult to show value to the client.)

 

[officialryguy1]

Unless you're using a segment, shouldn't GMB traffic be counted in "organic" in GA?

If not and there's no place for GMB traffic in GA (which is really surprising to me), we "recover" it through UTM's.

Maybe I'm missing something here. If I am, my bad.

I believe the issue is that GMB listings lead to "no click" searches. People may have only needed the phone number or address and going to the site is an obsolete action at this point.

 

[Dan Foland]

@Justin Mosebach

If you don't already I suggest using a tracking number for your clients GMB profiles. It helps capture your impact.

 

[Pam Weber]

Last couple days we've noticed appointment link and UTM's disappearing from some clients. Anyone else having those issues?

 

[TomGuard]

It's GMB. Your web traffic will go down. But have your leads gone up?

Just did some research on this over a 90 day period. After segmenting Analytics, downloading Insights and call tracking data on some service industry franchises, GMB profiles generated up to 90% of the phone calls and 72% of website traffic.

Filter dimensions in GA to organic, then city.

 

[Tim Colling]

it's one less step to get what they really need... a phone number.

Yup!