What is Google My Business?
Google My Business (GMB) is one of the most popular local search tools. It’s free and easy to create, manage your clients 'Google My Business' listing, and allows the business to show up in local search and maps results with the NAP(name, address, phone number) information, website link, and Google reviews.
By creating, verifying, and managing your GMB listing, you’ll be able to nab top local search results, manage reviews, and show up near the top of Google’s “three-pack” for local search results near the searcher.
For example, Marketing agencies in Texas.
How can I link my Google My Business Account to ReportGarden?
Navigate to ReportGarden -> Accounts.
Click on Link Account
Click on Google My Business.
You will be redirected to Google My Business authentication screen. Enter your credentials, and give access to ReportGarden to read campaign performance data.
You will be redirected back to ReportGarden and the account will be visible in ReportGarden
Accounts and locations
When an account is linked, you will see that there is only one account visible in the accounts section.
When you use the linked account during reporting, you will see that for the google my business account, you have an extra option called locations, which contains the list of all the locations that are associated with the account that is linked.
Google My Business Metrics and Dimensions
Google My Business orders a wide variety of analytics, which are listed as below
Dimensions
The following dimensions are available for Google My Business
Dimension | Description |
Time | Date - group by daily, weekly, monthly and yearly |
Reviews | Reviews on Google provide valuable information about your business to both you and your customers. Business reviews appear next to your listing in Maps and Search, and can help your business stand out on Google. |
Location | The address of your business. |
Measures
The following measures are available for Google My Business
Measures | Description |
Language code | The language of the location. Set during creation and cannot be updated. |
Summary | The description of your local post. |
Call to Action Type | The type of your call-to-action button whether Learn More, Reserve, Sign Up, Buy, Get Offer. |
Call to Action URL | The URL of your call-to-action button. |
State | The state where your business is located. |
Search Url | A URL for this business. If possible, use a URL that represents this individual business location instead of a generic website/URL that represents all locations, or the brand. |
Topic | The topic of your local post. |
Location Name | Location name should reflect your business's real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, and stationery, and as known to customers. |
Maps Views | The number of times the resource was viewed on Google Maps. |
Search Views | The number of times the resource was viewed on Google Search. |
Website Actions | The number of times the website was clicked. |
Driving Direction Action | The number of times driving directions were requested. |
Phone Actions | The number of times the phone number was clicked. |
Merchant Photos Views | The number of views on media items uploaded by the merchant. |
Customers Photos Views | The number of views on media items uploaded by customers. |
Reviews Count | The total number of reviews. |
City | The city of your business. |
Country | The country code of your business. |
Merchant Photos Count | The total number of media items that are currently live that have been uploaded by the merchant. |
Customers Photos Count | The total number of media items that are currently live that have been uploaded by customers. |
Comment | The reviews given by your customers about your business. |
Updated Time | The timestamp for when the reply was last modified. |
Reviewer Name | Name of the reviewer. |
Star Rating | The rating given to your business like 3,4 and more. |
Location Reply | Represents the location owner/manager's reply to a review. |
Location Reply Update Time | The timestamp for when the reply was last modified. |
Location Name | Represents the name of the location owner/manager's replied to the review. |
Reviewer is Anonymous | The review given by the customers who had opted to remain anonymous. |
Google my Business is renamed to Google Business Profile and new metrics are added. You could find the information here.
Data Freshness and reporting durations
Google My Business is a hybrid connector
Reviews and local posts are periodically fetched and stored in the system everyday
Metrics like map directions, etc are fetched live when the widget is being create
Limitations
While reporting 'Google My Business,' you cannot select more than 10 Locations at a time. If you'd like to add more than 10 locations, reach our support team at [email protected]
Search queries data is only available after the entire month is completed.
It takes upto 5 days for the data to stabilize. Here is the documentation from google which shows the same limitation
https://support.google.com/business/answer/9918094?hl=enIn reporting, if you choose the current date, you will not get the data. It is a limitation from the API of 'Google My Business.'
FAQ
The data that I see in Google My Business dashboard is not matching with what I see in ReportGarden
Ensure that the right date range is selected
Ensure that the right metrics are selected
Check for any filters
I cannot see my location in the location dropdown while creating the widget
New locations are auto-updated int the system periodically. If you do not see the new location, please go to the linked account and click on Refresh Account. The new locations, along with the posts and reviews will be updated in a few minutes.
I cannot see the old posts and reviews for my location
The account might have been archived. Due to such reasons, we will not be fetching the data for the Google My Business account. When the account is unarchived, please request [email protected] to refresh your data manually
I cannot see the latest posts and reviews from my location
It might happen that your listing is not yet verified. In such cases, we will not be able to view the data for the particular location