Intro

INC BEN AND CLAIRE QUOTES ON WHY GMB INSIGHTS IS IMPORTANT

Ben: “GMB Insights are far from perfect, as with any tool there merely a benchmark that points you in a direction. GMB Insights, in particular, are not very accurate, and can sometimes suffer from data outages. However, they can give you an indication as to how you are doing. Although not covered in this study, keyword queries are very valuable as they can show you what keywords you are displaying for.”

Claire: “GMB insights are incredibly important for local businesses, they should use them to benchmark performance and revisit regularly in order to help them judge the efficacy of their local marketing efforts. However, interpretation of GMB insights can prove tricky and it’s important that businesses don’t expect parity between GMB insights and other Google data that’s available to them (for example via GSC and GA) – GMB insights data is just part of the data puzzle that businesses need to consider in order to make informed business decisions.”

Contents

• How Customers Search For Your Business
• Where Customers View Your Business on Google
• Common Actions Customers Take on Listings
• Conversion Rates from Views to Actions
• Phone Calls: Day of the Week and Time of Day
• Photo Quantity
• YOY Growth in Views, Actions, and Searches
• Industry Data and Downloads
• Meth0dology

How Customers Search For Your Business

In Google My Business, local businesses can see the number and proportion of types of search that customers use to find their listings. In this study, we explored how many direct and discovery searches the average business receives, as well as how this differs by industry, by country, and over time.  We did not explore Branded searches in this study due to these appearing in GMB partway through the dataset.

Direct search

A customer directly searched for your business name or address.

Discovery search

A customer searched for a category, product, or service that you offer, and your listing appeared.

Proportions of Direct and Discovery Searches Per Google My Business Listing

Key Findings

• An average business is found by 157 direct searches each month, and 852 discovery searches. This totals 1,009 searches per month
• 84% of searches are discovery, while 16% are direct
• Businesses in the UK see the highest proportion of direct searches

Average Monthly Direct and Discovery Searches Per Google My Business Listing

The average business receives 1,009 customer searches each month, with 84% of these coming from discovery searches.

Looking across countries, businesses in the USA receive 11% of views through direct searches – with a total search volume of 1,035. In the UK, this is 19%, but fewer searches (887). Canada receives the highest number of average direct and discovery searches (1229), at a rate of 13% direct to 87% discovery searches.

Grouped Average Monthly Direct and Discovery Searches Per Google My Business Listing

But, viewing the average for all businesses does not tell the whole story. 83% of businesses get seen in discovery searches more than 25 times per month, with 34% being seen more than 1,000 times!

Of course, discovery searches may be lower intent than direct searches, with multiple businesses competing for the attention of the searcher. In order to maximize their chances, businesses should aim for the top positions in local searches, as well as growing the number of positive reviews. Our Local Services Ads Click Study found that the local pack receives 32% of clicks in SERPs without Local Services Ads. Within this, respondents that clicked on local searches were most likely to do so because of review ratings, the number of reviews, and the position in results.

While a far smaller piece of the pie, direct searches are important to local businesses as they indicate the searcher is already aware of the business by experience or reputation. 79% of businesses receive more than 25 direct searches per month. 13% receive more than 1,000 – though this is likely to be chains or incredibly popular local businesses, so don’t feel too bad if you don’t match up!

Direct searches are difficult to achieve, but for businesses with a significant number of these, it’s important to ensure your TRIGGERED Google My Business listing is as complete and filled out as possible to answer all the questions these searchers may have about your brand that helps them to make a final decision.

Average Monthly Direct and Discovery Searches and Rates For Top Industries

For more information on differences in Google My Business Insights between industries, download the full data below. 

As you’d expect, there are notable differences between industries. Businesses that are infrequently used (and may be needed quickly) tend to be those with the highest discovery rates, including locksmiths, repairs, and legal services. All of these three are likely to be needed quickly in emergencies, so it’s likely they receive a great many leads from those in need searching Google – without having the time to do much more research!

Industries with high direct rates seem likely to be businesses that require a little more research, as well as recommendations from friends and family.

Average Monthly Direct and Discovery Searches Per Google My Business Listing

Viewing monthly averages over time presents some interesting trends. Both Direct and Discovery searches slow down in Q4, though this is likely due to holidays. [INDUSTRIES BUCKING THE TREND ROSIE]

Direct searches saw significant growth in August 2018. This jump could potentially be attributed to a change in mid-August that saw Google My Business beginning to report on queries about businesses.

When comparing Q4 in 2017 and 2018, both saw growth. Discovery searches grew by 6% year-on-year, while Direct searches grew by a significant 38%. This could be due to the above change, or it could suggest that searchers are beginning to use Google My Business to find information about businesses they already know on a regular basis. Our research into consumers’ use of Google My Business and local business websites found that 64% have used GMB to find contact details for a local business.

To read more on annual growth, head to the end.

Where Customers View Your Business on Google

Google My Business Insights explores where searchers are viewing the business’s Google My Business listing.

View on Search

A customer found the business via Google Search, including local pack results from search.

Views on Maps

A customer found the business via Google Maps.

Proportion of Views on Maps and Search Per Google My Business Listing

Key Findings

• On average, local businesses receive 1,260 views each month – 943 views on Search, and 317 views on Maps
• 75% of Google My Business listing views are on Search
• XX ROSIE

Average Monthly Views on Search and Maps Per Google My Business Listing

On average, businesses receive 943 Search views and 317 Maps views each month.

Businesses in the UK have the highest proportion of Maps views, with 32% coming through this way. In comparison, businesses in the USA receive 26% of views from Maps results. If you have any thoughts on why this may be so different in the UK, let us know in the comments. Could it be down to our reliance on Google Maps when driving making this more ‘normal’, compared to the USA having services such as Mapquest that guide us? In the US, Google Maps is preferred by 67% of navigation app users. ROSIE This could be linked to the higher proportion of direct searches as shown above. ROSIE LINK

Canadian businesses have the highest average views overall, with 1,225 Search views and 416 Maps views each month.

Whether your customers are searching using Search or Maps, it’s critical to ensure your business appears high up in results, and look as good as your competitors. While what shows up can be different between industries, having great photos and high review ratings could be the difference between a customer choosing you.

Google My Business is clearly a critical channel for local businesses, with 96% being viewed at least 25 times per month in search results, and 86% receiving more than 25 in Maps.

And there’s plenty of space for high numbers, with 49% of businesses receiving more than 1,000 average Search views per month, and 33% receiving 1,000+ on Maps.

Of course, a view does not mean that a local business went on to receive a customer. There’s huge potential here, and those businesses doing well in local results are likely to get lots of value from Google My Business. We cover estimated conversion rates below.

ROSIE TALK ABOUT INDUSTRIES

Monthly Median Values Per Business In This Industry

For more information on differences in Google My Business Insights between industries, download the full data below. 

As with much of the rest of this report, hotels are the clear leaders in Google My Business. They receive 47% of their views from Search, and 53% from Maps, while restaurants receive 54% of their views from Search, and 46% from Maps. Bars receive a similarly even split, with 52% of views coming from Search.

Most other industry types seem to be swayed towards Views on Search, so it’s highly likely that these industries are benefitting from the increased frequency of people visiting these through both directions and more. ROSIE CONTINUE EVERYONE IS BEING LOUD.

And, as you’d expect, service area businesses such as photographers, landscapers, and tradesmen receive a far smaller proportion of views via Maps.

Average Monthly Views on Search and Maps per Google My Business Listing

Looking over the time frame, there has been a dip in median Search views per month since August 2018. While some of this can be attributed to seasonality, it does seem that average monthly views slightly slipped at the end of 2018. But, with more businesses setting up Google My Business listings by the day, it could be that more businesses are battling for top positions, leaving those falling into the lower positions with fewer views.

Between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018, there was a drop of 7% views on Search. Median Maps views, on the other hand, grew by 4%, and remained fairly static throughout the time period. DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES DIFFERENT TRENDS ROSIE

To read more on annual growth, head to the end.

The Most Common Actions Customers Take on Listings

While views and searches are incredibly important, the real value for local businesses (and where marketers can most easily demonstrate their value!) is from the actions customers take after viewing a business on Google.

Visit your website

A customer views the business’s website.

Request directions

A customer requests directions to the business.

Call you

A customer clicks on the listing to call the business.

Proportion of Customer Actions Per Google My Business Listing

Key Findings

• On average, 56% of actions on GMB listings are website visits
• A typical business receives 59 actions from their Google My Business listing each month
• Actions represent just 5% of views for the average business

Average Monthly Customer Actions Per Google My Business Listing

Across countries, website visits are the most frequently seen actions on Google My Business. The average business receives 33 clicks each month from their GMB listing, with 59 actions overall.

Australian businesses have the highest number of average website clicks (36), as well as the highest number of calls (18). In fact, Australian businesses have the highest monthly actions, with a median of 67. In the US, direction requests were important.

In a recent survey, we found that 64% of consumers have used Google My Business listings to find a local business’s address or phone number. This is clearly a critical channel for consumers wanting to take action on a business, but doesn’t take into account untrackable actions, such as customers looking up the business and going to visit without directions, or calling without clicking from GMB. Adding call tracking to numbers on Google My Business may be useful to understand how much value the GMB listing is having.

Likewise, direction requests aren’t split between new and existing customers. For example, I often request directions to the BrightLocal office through Maps so I can check bus times, and this would be counted as one request in our Google My Business Insights. Each unique user will only be counted once in a time period, but businesses that may see lots of people using sat navs to get to (such as tourist attractions), may see more directions requests.

It remains incredibly important to maintain both a presence on Google My Business, and a useful and accurate website for local businesses. Only 8% of consumers never look at websites when choosing a local business, with 38% of consumers recalling visiting a website from the business’s GMB listing.

But there is plenty of opportunities for businesses to improve their own actions. Ben Fisher, Steady Demand, said: “I am not surprised to see a higher clickthrough to the website. I would attribute this to more profiles being filled out completely. Google even states that a business profile that is complete will get on average 7x more clicks than empty ones. ”

Grouped Average Monthly Customer Actions Per Google My Business Listing

17% of businesses received a median of 0 monthly directions requests. Considering we removed businesses that had 0 throughout the entire period so that we could track the usage by businesses that are using this feature, this shows that many businesses aren’t getting many here – though many industries do have these features enabled but wouldn’t receive many direction requests or calls due to the nature of the business.

According to Moz’s Local Search Ranking Factors survey, call and direction requests are a ranking factor, as is the clickthrough rate from search results.

However, for some, this can be very valuable. 19% receive more than 100 direction requests per month, while 16% receive more than 100 calls per month. For businesses receiving a high number of calls, it’s important to have enough staff on hand to respond to customer queries quickly and in keeping with the expected customer experience. Services such as CallJoy could help take some of the load of for businesses receiving a high volume of calls. It may also be worth filling out your Google My Business listing with frequently asked questions in Q&A and alternative contact options to pre-empt calls that may come in with the same questions.

Of course, those that are high up in search results are likely to be those receiving the highest number of clicks, calls, and direction requests on a monthly basis, with some industries naturally receiving more than others.

Monthly Median Actions Per Business In This Industry

Car dealerships are the standout industry when comparing actions. They receive the highest average calls and website visits by a wide margin, and come only second to restaurants in direction requests. It’s important to note that car dealerships are a less frequently-needed service than industries such as bars or local stores, but, they’re also likely to be a little bigger than the average business. Car dealerships seems to be an industry that has understood the potential Google My Business can have – with our Google Reviews Study finding that the average dealership has 106 reviews.

Insurance and automotive businesses are the most likely to receive a high proportion of calls from their Google My Business listing. It’s important to remember that different industries will have different behaviors from customers, and to not be disheartened at low numbers in Google My Business Insights. Benchmarking against those in your industry is likely to give a far more valuable picture of how businesses like yours can get the best from GMB.

Average Monthly Customer Actions Per Google My Business Listing

When looking across the time period of our study, there was significant growth in average website visits from March 2018, that remained fairly steady for the rest of the year. Comparing Q4 in 2017 and 2018, there was a 29% growth in the number of website clicks. Calls grew by 22%. While both average calls and website visits are relatively low, this suggests a trend of local businesses benefitting more from their Google listings, and receiving even more high-intent enquiries.

However, average direction requests dropped by 13% across the time period. Perhaps this could be linked to the growth in significant growth in direct searches, suggesting that more customers are viewing GMB listings of businesses they already know about, and thus don’t need to find.

Ben Fisher reviewed this data, and said: “Google My Business continues to grow as a transactional layer of the internet for local businesses. If we look at the growth in calls and direct impressions, this is a good signal that users have much deeper intent when doing a search, and know who and what they are looking for. Also, since calls are tracked mainly on mobile, this shows an increase in mobile maps usage. What I find is surprising is the decline in driving directions, I would think this would rise with the growth in mobile usage.”

Conversion Rate from Google My Business Listing Views to Actions

But perhaps the most useful growth to understand is the link between the number of views the average local business receives, and the clicks, calls, and direction requests they receive from customers from GMB listings.

Between October and December 2017, local businesses received 1,370 views on Maps and Search, and an average of 53 actions from customers. By the same period in 2018, overall views had slightly dropped, but actions had grown to 64 per month.

This equates to a conversion growth of 25% – growing from 3.87% to 4.83%. To compare, the conversion rate from view to click, call, or direction request was 4.68% across the whole timeframe.

As per the theme, car dealerships have the highest conversion rate (7%), followed by dentists, family services, health and fitness, and pet services with a conversion rate of 6% each. Photographers, marketers, and locksmiths have the lowest proportion of actions per GMB listing view. To help you benchmark, download the full industry breakdowns at the end.

Phone Calls

We viewed the average number of calls reported in Google My Business Insights between September 2017 and December 2018. We have shown these as a proportion of overall calls, rather than numbers, to better represent what the average business would see in their Google My Business Insights.

Day of the Week

A typical local business receives 94% of its calls from Google My Business between Monday and Friday, in line with traditional working hours for many types of business.

Businesses tend to receive more calls at the beginning of the week, seeing a sliding scale through to Friday.

However, of course, this trend differs across industries. Restaurants receive 32% of their calls at the weekend, with locksmiths not far behind with 31%.  Likewise, bars receive 36% of calls on Fridays and Saturdays.

To help you benchmark, we’ve included all this data in the downloads at the end.

Time of Day

The average business tends to receive the most calls between 10am and 12pm on Mondays.

In fact, local businesses appear to receive a split of calls from GMB between 9am and 5pm, as you’d expect!

But again, this can be very different depending on the type of business. Restaurants receive 51% of their calls after 5pm – likely due to customers phoning to place orders or book tables. Of course, with many businesses opting to add reservation options to their GMB listings, overall call numbers could drop if customers get used to this service.

Locksmiths too receive a high proportion of calls outside of traditional hours, with 34% after 5pm, and a further 8% before 9am.

Photo Quantity

This data explores the median number of photos per business. In this section, we only viewed businesses that had at least one photo on their Google My Business listing. Photos include both those uploaded by the business, and shared by customers.

Key Findings

• Google My Business listings with photos have an average of 11
• Hotels have the most photos on GMB, with an average of 150 each
• 6% of Google My Business listings only have one photo

Google reports that, “Businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions to their location from users on Google, and 35% more clicks through to their websites than businesses that don’t have photos.”

When looking at businesses that do have photos, we found that the median business has just 11 photos. Canadian businesses have the most photos on GMB (13), with the UK falling behind with 10.

Local marketing expert Claire Carlile explained why images are important: “We exist in very visual internet culture where we curate images carefully in view of what we believe they say about us both personally and professionally – why can’t we extend the same careful curation to our images on GMB? Given what we know about the importance of images in a business profile businesses desperately need to get on board with making more of their photos. They need to add images to GMB regularly, curate and spring clean their images on a reasonably regular basis, and also encourage customers to take photos at their location and upload these onto Google maps, wherever relevant. If businesses invested half as much effort into building out their image portfolio on GMB as they did on adding images on Facebook or Instagram they’d be in a much better position.”

6% of businesses have just one photo on Google My Business, with a further 24% having between 2 and 5.

GMB encourages users to set their cover photo and logo, and suggestions that Google may (or now it seems, may not) be adding prominence to photos with new logo and photo displays, so there may be an uptick in the number of photos the average business has in the near future.

However, 13% of businesses have more than 13% photos on their GMB listings, including both photos uploaded by the business, and by customers.

Of course, the number of photos a business has on its Google My Business listing drastically differs by industry.

While some industries lend themselves more to images, it’s also important to note that Local Guides are often asked to add photos they’ve taken when visiting businesses. Of course, while many customers may take photos of their food in a restaurant, it’s unlikely others will visit a legal practice or accountancy firm and do the same. This means that it’s even more important for the less photogenic businesses to ensure their photo library is up-to-date, and paints their business in the best light.

On average, hotels have a whopping 150 images. Tourist and entertainment spots have 29, though of course this will be swayed depending on how big the attraction is.

Claire Carlile explained the differences between industries: “People take plenty of photos on their holidays – I’m guessing that ‘customer photos’ are really boosting the number of images in four of the top 5 industries here. As for car dealerships, can we credit Greg Gifford for positively influencing the local marketing efficacy of dealerships? Or do people just take A LOT of photos of themselves buying cars? There are so many ways to create opportunities for people to take photos at your location – I was surprised when my tiny dealership in Wales created a ‘big reveal’ experience for my new car. Creating photo-worthy experiences is key to driving photo uploads from customers. Of course, some industries are unlikely to get customer photos uploaded, and for these industries the importance of regular upload of good quality owner photos is magnified manyfold.”

Annual Change in Average Monthly Google My Business Insights Per Listing

When comparing the last quarters of 2017 and 2018, there have been some significant gains, as well as a few dips.

Although growing from a lower base than some of the other metrics, direct searches, website clicks, and calls all saw significant growth in 2018. Direct searches saw the most growth, jumping 38%, and suggesting a shift towards searchers using GMB to find information on businesses they already know.

Google My Business is a critical tool for local businesses, with tons of potential for being found by new customers, and creating decisions before the customer has even got in touch. But, it’s still underused, with many local businesses not having yet claimed their listings, and clearly, many not using it to its full potential.

To track your own GMB Insights, our Google My Business Audit tool gathers all key local ranking signals in one place, making it simple to compare listings against competitors, as well as having six times more data than Google My Business. And for those of you already using Google My Business Audit, we share regular advice on our blog to help maximize the potential of GMB listings.

Industry Data

Download Google My Business Insights Per Industry

Methodology

For this study, we explored anonymous data for 45,264 local businesses across 36 industries in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

To do this, we reviewed data from a randomly chosen sample of Google My Business Insights between September 2017 and December 2018. Businesses did not necessarily have data for every month in the timeframe, and businesses that did not have an active Google My Business listing have been removed where relevant. Businesses that did not receive data for the whole period or a significant period were removed from data comparisons in order to measure the effectiveness of Google My Business features for businesses that have them (for example, removing businesses that do not have an option for customers to call from their local business listing). Businesses that have no photos were not included in the photos data.

In line with BrightLocal’s main audience, the dataset is based on businesses from the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. This included 32,843 businesses in the US, 2,913 in Canada, 3,857 in Australia, and 5,651 in the UK. Averages are based on averages of the whole dataset.

The 36 industries were created by grouping business categories. We did this to ensure we had a large enough sample to draw conclusions from industries. For more information on the number of businesses in each industry, download the full dataset in the table above. (ROSIE LINK)

Throughout the data, averages are taken from the median.

For more information on this study, or for any questions you may have about the Google My Business Insight Study’s findings, please let us know on content@brightlocal.com.

How do your Google My Business Insights compare? Leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts.

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