Google Business posts: what to write and how often

Google Business posts are the one part of your listing that you write. Not the reviews, which customers write; not the details, which are fixed. That block and the photos. And it is exactly the part almost nobody uses: immaculate listings, with opening hours and services, and a last post from a year ago.

What a post is and where it shows up

It is a short message with a photo and a button that appears inside your listing, both in search and on the map. Google explains in its help centre how it gathers and uses business listing information and how what the user sees is put together.

The difference with a social network is who reads it. On Instagram you interrupt someone who was looking at something else. Here it is read by someone who has already searched for your business or one like it, and who is one button away from calling you. That is why the tone is not shop window: it is counter.

The three formats and what each is for

The official help page on creating and managing posts lists the available types. In practice three get used.

Update

The everyday one: something that changed or that you want to tell. A new product, a service you now offer, a change of hours, a job finished. It is what gets used eighty per cent of the time.

Offer

It carries dates and conditions. It is for real campaigns, with a start and an end. If your «offer» runs all year, it is not an offer: it is your price, and it belongs on the website.

Event

With a date and a time. An open day, a workshop, a fair where you have a stand. It goes up beforehand, not on the day.

What to write: the three-line formula

A post is not an article. Little fits and it shows up truncated, so the order matters more than the length.

• First line, the concrete bit. It is the only part certain to be read. «We change tyres same day» beats «At our garage we care about your safety».
• Second, the detail that removes doubt. A price, a lead time, a condition, a brand you work with.
• Third, what to do now. And the button that closes it.

Four examples from businesses around here, to make it concrete: a hairdresser posting that Tuesday mornings have slots; a garage explaining they do the pre-MOT check in an hour; an accountancy office saying they are taking on new self-employed registrations for next month; a bike shop showing the seasonal service at a fixed price. None of them sells smoke: they all say something you can check.

The same news, written two ways

An example beats a rule. Written badly: «At our garage we have been offering the best service to our customers for over twenty years. Get in touch, no obligation!». It says nothing the shop next door could not copy and paste, and it gives no reason to do anything today.

Written well: «We are booking pre-MOT checks for October. One hour at the garage, fixed price, and we tell you in writing what needs sorting before the test». Same company, same service, but here there is a date, a duration, a way to pay and a promise you can check. That is the whole difference, and it is not more work: it is two minutes of thinking before writing.

The button: which one and where it goes

Every post takes one button, and that is where many go wrong. Two rules that never fail: pick the verb you actually want to happen (call, book, buy, learn more) and send people to the page that answers what you just said, not to the home page. If you post the bike service, the button goes to the bike service page. Sending everything to the home page is like picking up the phone and hanging up.

The photo: the one you took

Real photos of the place and the work do better than stock images: it shows, and people compare what they see with what they are going to find. Landscape, well lit, no text on top and no collage. If a recognisable person appears in the photo, ask permission before posting it. How to prepare photos and at what weight is in photos for your website, and it works the same for the listing.

What Google will not let you post

There is a content policy for posts and it is worth reading once: it is in Google help on photo, video and post content. What we come across most: promises that cannot be backed up, content with nothing to do with the business, images with the price written across them and text in block capitals to grab attention. The exact rules are published by Google and it keeps changing them, so the link is worth more than any list we copy here.

And one practical consequence: a rejected post does not announce itself. It simply does not appear, and you find out when you go in to look.

How often to post without going mad

The number is not the point; the point is that the listing does not look abandoned. One a week is plenty for a local business, and that rhythm holds once you stop waiting for something interesting to happen. The calendar we use with our clients splits the month like this:

• One about a service: a specific one, explained the way you would explain it to a customer at the door.
• One as proof: a finished job, a before and after, a good review retold in your own words.
• One real update: stock arrived, hours change, there is a slot free.
• One frequent question: the thing everyone asks on the phone, answered in five lines.

With those four slots there is no blank month. And the fourth one, the questions, is what saves the most phone calls.

How to tell whether they are working

The listing has its own performance section, and that is where you look: calls, clicks through to the website, direction requests and which searches people find you with. Posts do not usually move that number in one go; what they do is hold it up and give you material to learn what people care about.

Then there is the homemade measure, which in a local business is worth as much as the dashboard: ask «how did you find us?» for two weeks and write it down. If «I saw you on Google» shows up, you are on track. On what to watch across the whole listing, not just the posts, see the Google Business listing guide.

What it costs to have us do it

Listing posts are included in the presence plans, published on our pricing page with VAT on top and no lock-in:

• Presencia Básica, 400 € a month: 3 articles on your site and 3 posts on your listing, with every review answered.
• Presencia Media, 750 € a month: 5 and 5, plus campaign management.
• Presencia Avanzada, 1,500 € a month: 7 and 7, campaigns and social media.

How we write those posts is set out in Google Business articles. And if what you are missing is reviews rather than posts, start with how to get them without risking it: they carry more weight.

We work from Palamós, with listings in Girona and Barcelona

We look after listings for businesses across the province of Girona and the Barcelona area from Palamós, and we post every week with photos you send us over WhatsApp. If you want a quick opinion, send us your business name and we will tell you what your listing is missing, with no commitment.