The people who see your Facebook posts are mostly people who already follow you. The people who see your Google Business Profile posts are people who just searched for you, or for what you do, and are deciding whether to call. That’s a very different audience, and most local businesses ignore it.
Google posts won’t replace social media. But they cost almost nothing to do, and they put fresh, specific information in front of customers at the exact moment they’re comparing you with someone else.
What a Google Business Profile post is
From your profile, you can publish short posts with a photo or video, some text and a button. Google’s help article on creating posts on your Business Profile lists three types:
- Update: general news, with an optional button linking to your website
- Offer: a deal with start and end dates, an automatic “View offer” button, and optional coupon code and terms
- Event: something with a title, start and end dates and times
On mobile, posts appear in the Updates or Overview tabs of your profile on Search and Maps. On desktop, they show in a “From the owner” section. You can schedule posts and set them to repeat. Posts older than six months are archived unless you’ve given them a date range.
One newer feature is worth knowing if you run a café, restaurant or pub. At the time of writing, Google offers featured posts for single-location food and drink businesses in a handful of countries including Australia. These can pull from your Facebook or Instagram as well as your Google posts, and when they’re available they show in place of reviews on mobile. If you’re in hospitality (we built the site for 85 Thai, for example), check whether it’s switched on for your profile.
How they differ from social posts
| Google Business Profile posts | Facebook and Instagram posts | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees them | People searching for you or your type of business | Mostly existing followers, plus whoever the algorithm shows |
| When | At the moment of looking for a business | Whenever someone is scrolling |
| What works | Practical, specific, current information | Personality, people, behind the scenes, entertainment |
| Lifespan | Visible until archived (six months for updates) | Mostly seen in the first day or two |
| Engagement | Clicks to call, website, directions | Likes, comments, shares, messages |
| Effort to post | Low | Higher, especially for Reels |
The practical difference is tone. A social post can be a joke about the Monday coffee queue. A Google post should answer “should I go there?” for someone who doesn’t know you yet.
What Google posts are good for
- Seasonal services. “Booking air conditioner services for spring now. Most of Ballina and Lennox Head covered.”
- Offers with real dates. “Winter lunch special, Monday to Thursday until 31 August.”
- Events. Live music, workshops, open days, markets.
- New work. A finished job with the suburb and the type of work.
- Changes customers need to know. Holiday hours, a new location, a new service.
What they’re not good for: reposting a meme, a “happy Friday”, or a long story about your weekend.
Rules that get posts rejected
Google checks posts against its content policy and marks some “Not approved”. A few things catch people out, according to Google’s posting guidelines:
- Phone numbers in the text can get a post rejected if Google can’t verify the number belongs to your business. Add any extra numbers to your profile first, or leave them out of the post.
- Low-quality text such as misspellings, gibberish or text that adds nothing.
- Regulated products. Businesses selling alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, financial services and similar can post, but the post shouldn’t describe the regulated products themselves. That’s worth knowing for bottle shops, pubs and pharmacies.
One job, two posts
The easy way to do both is to start with the same photo and write two versions. An example for a made-up Italian restaurant:
Instagram: Our chef’s nonna is in town and she’s been “supervising” the ragu all week. We’ve never been so nervous. Slow-cooked beef ragu is back on from Friday. 🍝
Google update: Slow-cooked beef ragu is back on the menu from Friday, dine in or takeaway. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm. Bookings for groups of 6+ through the website. [Button: Book]
Same news, same photo, five extra minutes. The social version builds affection with people who already like you. The Google version converts a stranger who’s deciding where to eat tonight. Hospitality is where this split tends to work best, because “where should we eat tonight?” is such a common search.
A simple routine:
- Pick one social post a week that has practical value: a new service, an offer, a finished job, an event.
- Rewrite it for Google in two to four sentences: what, where, when, and what to do next.
- Use the right type. Offer if there’s a deal with dates, Event if there’s a date and time, Update for everything else.
- Add a button that matches the next step (Call, Book, Learn more).
- Schedule it while you’re there, or set a repeat for regular events.
If you’re reposting a customer’s photo, get their permission first. We explain how in reposting customer content: getting permission properly.
Photos make or break it
Google posts are small on screen, so the photo has to read at a glance. Bright, uncluttered, showing the actual thing. A dish from above. A finished bathroom from the doorway. Your team outside the shop. If your photo library is thin, a commercial photography session can cover your profile, posts and website in one go.
Start here
If your profile isn’t fully set up yet (categories, services, hours, photos), sort that before you post. Our Google Business Profile setup guide walks through it. Once it’s done, one Google post a week is a realistic target. Google Business Profile setup is part of our local SEO work (from $450 plus GST), and if you’d rather not write the weekly social versions yourself, that’s what our social media management covers.