How often should I post on my Google Business Profile?

Who reads a post on your profile?

Someone who has already found you. A post shows on your Google Business Profile, in the Updates or Overview tab on a phone and in the From the owner section on a computer (Google Business Profile Help), and the person reading it is deciding right now whether to call you or the business listed next to you.

That changes what a post is for. Write it as a note to a stranger who is one tap from calling, and tell them something they can act on today: you have openings this week, the seasonal service they need has started, or here is what a job like theirs looked like when you finished it.

Does posting more often help you show up?

Not that Google says. Its help page on posts covers what a post is and how long it stays visible (Google Business Profile Help). It does not say that posting moves a business up in the map pack, and we do not claim that it does. Anyone who sells you a posting schedule as a ranking method is selling a hope.

Post for the reader instead. A profile whose newest post is from this month reads as a business that is open and paying attention. A profile whose newest post is five months old, or that shows none, leaves the reader to guess. That is the whole case for posting, and it is enough.

How often is often enough?

Once a month at the least, which is tighter than the one clock Google sets. A post older than six months is archived unless it carries a date range (Google Business Profile Help), so a new post every six months keeps one on your profile. Two posts a year is thin, though, and both will be old for most of the time they show.

A better rule is to post when something changes, and to make sure something changes at least once a month. Every business has a calendar of its own, such as the week a season's work starts or a slow stretch you would like to fill. Write a post a few days before each of those dates, and add one when a job worth showing is finished. The post editor can also schedule a post to publish later, or repeat it weekly or monthly (Google Business Profile Help), so you can write the seasonal ones in one sitting.

• Once a week if you have real news that often: a busy trade in season, a practice with a new service, a shop with new stock.
• Twice a month as a working default: one post about what is coming, one about a job or a change.
• Once a month as the floor you never go under, even in the quiet season.

What should a post say?

Something true this week that a caller would want to know. Google gives you three kinds of post to choose from: an update, an offer or an event (Google Business Profile Help). Pick the one that fits what you have to say and write two or three plain sentences.

A photo of the real work or the real place does more than a stock image, because the reader is trying to picture you at their door. Name the town or the neighborhood when the job was there, and leave out the slogan. Add the post's action button and point it at the page where a customer can book, rather than typing a phone number into the text. Google says a post with a phone number in its description might be rejected if the number cannot be verified as connected to the business (Google Business Profile Help).

What happens to your old posts?

Google archives a post once it is six months old, unless the post has a date range set (Google Business Profile Help). A post with dates on it is therefore handled differently from one without. Google requires dates on every offer (Google Business Profile Help), so set the date the deal really ends.

Archiving is the reason a burst of posting does not last. Twenty posts in January leave a profile with nothing current by August. Spreading the same twenty across the year keeps one on the page every month, for the same effort.

Who should write them?

You, if you can keep the rhythm, because you know what changed this week. If you cannot, hand it to someone who works from access you grant as a Manager, never from your password; the access guide shows how. Send them a photo and a line about the job, and let them write the post. At a practice that treats people, a post is about a service or the place, never a patient, so nothing you send for a post should name or show one.

GBP Care is our plan for that. Your Google Business Profile kept complete and active: weekly posts, hours and attributes, photo requests and a monthly insights report. Review replies stay separate: a post is for the reader on your profile now, and a reply belongs under the review that asked for it.

Questions

Can I publish the same post on my profile and on social media?

Yes, but cut it for the profile. A social post talks to people who follow you; a profile post talks to a stranger deciding whether to call. Keep the photo and the plain facts, and drop the hashtags and the chat.

Is it a problem if I stop posting for a few months?

Not one Google names. What happens is that your newest post ages, and at six months Google archives it unless it has a date range (Google Business Profile Help), so the profile goes quiet. Set one post a month as the floor and the gap never opens.

Should an offer post carry an end date?

Yes, and Google requires it: an offer post needs a title, dates and a time (Google Business Profile Help). Use the date the deal really ends, and put the terms in the post so nobody reads it as broader than it is.

Does a service-area business post about anything different?

Mostly about where it has been. Without a shop to photograph, a service-area business posts the finished job and names the town, so a reader in that town sees you already work there.