Importance of Posts

[Ampere]

How important is it to consistently make posts in GMB for a small SAB such as a plumber, electrician, etc?

My original understanding was that the posts were only seem by people who were looking up your business directly. In that situation, I could see posts being like a billboard promoting a service that you offer.

But does putting posts up help you rank better in GMB? If so, will that also translate to helping your website rank better in the organic results?

 

[useyourwords]

This is a very tricky question to answer, but I can give you some insight into things I have seen.

I haven't found any direct link between GMB posts and better GMB rankings or better organic rankings.

Having said that, I do believe I have seen some cases where some clients have had more interactions on their GMB listings via reviews etc, because of customer engagement with their GMB posts.

This has arguably led to better GMB rankings indirectly because of 'real' reviews and posts views.

The businesses and posts have been rather unique though, and are not your regular types like plumbers and trades. This has allowed for the posts to be highly engaging.

 

[whitespark]

Posts get decent views, and if done right, they can drive conversions too. They're easy to do and worth the minor time investment. A lot of businesses are posting to Facebook anyway, so cross-post to GMB!

Offer posts in particular are pretty rad. They get excellent visibility in the mobile results, right under your main NAP info.

 

[Ampere]

Posts get decent views, and if done right, they can drive conversions too. They're easy to do and worth the minor time investment. A lot of businesses are posting to Facebook anyway, so cross-post to GMB!

Offer posts in particular are pretty rad. They get excellent visibility in the mobile results, right under your main NAP info.

Thanks for the info.

Just for my curiosity, all those things you mentioned are only after the customer found your business and clicked to it, correct? The posts themselves won’t actually increase your rankings to make your business easier for customers to find in the first place, right?

The offers are what I like to use. But I am drawing a blank after trying to re-write a unique offer for the same services so many times. Since my type of business is not one that customers come too often, I was thinking about using the same offers over and over. I just want to make sure that wouldn’t affect my rankings on Google.

 

[Diogo Ordacowski]

I think of posts as "doorway" opportunities into my website and not as a means to "rank" better. When posts have compelling images, messaging, and CTA, they can drive an engaged searcher into my website's content - perpetually. I find that posts from months ago still let in new users into my websites.

In addition, GMB features like keyword search (example 1) make it even more compelling for you to post. Gaining keyword associations with posts, reviews, and Q&A is a great way to let your customers find exactly what they need during their "research" mode.

 

[whitespark]

Yes, what @Diogo Ordacowski said. You don't do posts for rankings, you do them for conversions. They appear in the Local Finder when people are researching businesses. It's not only when they Google you by name. Do posts to make your listing stand out and get the clicks from the people searching.

 

[Ampere]

Thanks guys!

So it's ok to repost the content and image from older posts for a business that does not get used often by the same person?

For example, my offer for a surge protector installation. I have a good image, I have a good write-up. I can keep using that?

I find that posts from months ago still let in new users into my websites.

Older posts still show? I thought they went away after 7 days.

 

[whitespark]

No problem to keep recycling your offers. Do you have the "Products (beta)" feature in your GMB dashboard for your location? If so, make some products! Those have awesome visibility too.

 

[Ampere]

No problem to keep recycling your offers.

Ok, great!

The reason why I thought that might be a problem is because Google doesn't give you any way to repost the post. You have to put the image up and type everything out again.

Do you have the "Products (beta)" feature in your GMB dashboard for your location? If so, make some products! Those have awesome visibility too.

I don't have that tab, I will look out for it though!

 

[Diogo Ordacowski]

Older posts still show? I thought they went away after 7 days.

When you say "go away," I think you mean a traditional post that, after going live, has 7 days of prominent placing in search results within the knowledge panel (KP). That is true. But it doesn't "go away," after the 7th day. It just disappears from prominent search placement. It'll still be part of your publicly accessible posts record. Those are posts that customers can still engage with... they just need to dig around a bit to find it. My data shows that they do. People are clicking around in maps and search engaging with many features that are present in the KP: products, appointment links, posts, Q&A, etc....

Here's my thought on this, if you have a variety of posts that properly represent many topics that can cover a variety of consumer interests... then chances are, at some point in time, a customer will find a post that resonated with them enough to click into the website. Job done.

 

[Monica Simpson]

I think anyone can make a post engaging. There's a plumber on Instagram who posts fantastic photos of how clean his work is, artsy shots of the pipe layout and tools with a brief educational piece about what each one does. These can also go somewhere on the webpage page with some good alt tags and you can link to it.