Read your Business Profile performance report

Every month, Google keeps count of how many people called you, asked for directions, or clicked through to your website from your profile. It’s free, it’s already there, and it only takes a few minutes to read.

In this lesson, you’ll read that report in ten minutes, and start a simple monthly record of what’s working.

You’ll need to be signed in to the Google account that manages your profile, and the profile has to be verified, because Google only shows these numbers for verified profiles. Have your W1 scorecard from Lesson 1.2 next to you, and page W14 of the workbook.

The report has a handful of numbers. Here’s what each one actually counts.

Interactions is the total of the actions people took on your profile.

Calls are taps on your call button. As we saw in the last lesson, that’s a tap, not an answered call.

Messages are the conversations people start with you, and bookings are completed bookings made through a booking provider.

Directions are requests for directions to you. Google adjusts this number for repeat taps, cancelled requests and spam.

Website clicks are clicks on the website link on your profile.

Views are the people who saw your profile on Google Search and Maps. Each person counts only once a day, so this can be lower than the numbers in Google’s emails.

And searches are the words people typed when your profile showed up.

If you run a restaurant, you may also see menu clicks, and shops may see product views.

Two more things to know. The searches list updates at the start of each month, and it can take up to five days to appear. So it won’t move in the middle of the month. And if you run Google Ads, the report includes actions from your ads too. So make a note of the months your ads were running.

Let’s do it. On a computer, go to business.google.com and click “Performance”. At the top, select a time period, then click “Apply”. On your phone, open the Google Maps app, tap “Business”, then “See more” next to Performance.

Choose last month. Now copy six numbers into the first row of W14: calls, messages, bookings if you take them, directions, website clicks, and views. They’re the same six you wrote down in Lesson 1.2, so you can compare.

Next to them, add two numbers from your reviews: how many new reviews you got last month, and your star rating today.

Then open the searches list, and write down the top three. Are people finding you for the work you actually want more of? Compare them with the priority searches you starred in Lesson 1.3.

And fill in the last column, the most important one: what you changed that month, and the date. New photos, a new service, new hours, a new page on your website. Without that column, you’ll never know what made the difference.

Do this in the first week of every month, after the fifth, so last month’s searches have had time to arrive.

And if you have several locations, the profile manager can download them all as a spreadsheet. Tick the profiles, then choose “Actions”, then “Insights”.

Now, how do you read it? Three rules.

One: compare like with like. Look at this month against last month, and against the same month last year, if your report goes back that far. If it doesn’t, your W14 becomes your history, so start it now. Many businesses are seasonal. A heating engineer in Manchester is busiest in winter. Air conditioning in Brisbane is busiest from December to February. A quiet month might just be the season.

Two: look at the trend over three months, not one day or one week. Numbers bounce around.

Three: check Google’s numbers against your own. Google’s calls are taps. Your call history and your bookings tell you how many became customers.

And if views hold steady but calls drop, people are still finding you, but fewer are choosing you. Look at your rating, your newest reviews, your photos and your hours before you worry about rankings.

One more step makes your website numbers clearer. If you tagged your website link in Lesson 2.4, you’re done. If not, do it now.

Open our free UTM builder, paste the page your profile’s website button should open, and copy the tagged link. It adds the three labels Google Analytics says to always use: a source, a medium and a campaign. Put that link in your profile’s website field.

Then, in Google Analytics, the Traffic acquisition report can show visits from your profile on their own line. Use the exact address of the page, so it opens directly.

A quick rules check. When you read your searches list, you’ll be tempted. You’ll see “emergency dentist” or “gel nails near me”, and think: let’s put that in our business name. Don’t. Google’s guidelines say your name should be your real-world name, and adding extra words to it could get your profile suspended. Put those words in your services, your description and your website instead.

Let’s recap. One: know what each number counts, and its quirks. Two: copy the same numbers into W14 every month, with what you changed and when. Three: compare like with like, and read trends, not single days.

Your task: fill in W14 for last month, today, and check your website link is tagged. In the next lesson, we’ll add the last piece of your monthly record: where you show up across your area.

Prefer to have this done for you? Flexi Local’s reports show the calls, directions and clicks Google sends you, with your rating and reviews, in one report. The course works the same either way.